Russian crew to participate in prestigious yacht race Sydney-Hobart

On December 26th the prestigious annual yacht race Sydney-Hobart starts for the 58th time in Australia. The Russian team participates in the race.

Famous Russian yachtsman, silver winner of the 1996 Olympic games, two times world Champion of "Soling" class Georgy Shaiduko and four other Russian athletes will join 5 Australian yachtsmen on board the "Polar Star" yacht.

Shaiduko will share duties of the yacht skipper with the only woman participating in this race as a skipper Natasha Henly-Smith, who is also the co-owner of the "Polar Star" yacht. This is the second year at the races for the Russian team.

57 yachts from the ten countries of the world - Australia, Russia, Sweden, the USA, Great Britain, New Zealand, Netherlands, Poland, Belgium and France, will participate in the race.

The length of the distance, which is thought to be the most difficult of all nautical racing tracks, is 630 nautical miles.

The annual yacht racing Sydney-Hobart is very popular in Australia.

For the first time ensuring security of the participants of the race will be provided by the cutters of the "sea police" and helicopters. The provision of security for athletes became very important after the tragic event in 1998, when a heavy storm took the lives of 6 people, the organizers of the race disclosed.

The first yacht race Sydney-Hobart was held in 1945. The record of the competition is 1 day, 19 hours, 48 minutes and 2 seconds. It was set in 1999 by the Danish team on a 60-foot yacht "Nokia".