After a five-year break in professional yachting this colorful sport returns to the capital.
After a five-year break in professional yachting competitions, this colorful sport is back in Kyiv again. Professional yachts flocked to the southern part of the so-called Kyiv Sea, an artificial pool of water north of the city, for a brand-new competition called the Windmaster Regatta, Sept. 17-20. In these photos taken on the first day of the competition, six yachts are taking part in the race, sponsored by large companies and banks.
Organizers of the Windmaster Regatta said they strive to restore Ukraine’s old glory in the yachting sport, which has largely survived due to enthusiasts. Ukraine’s yachting athletes were famous in the world once, winning Olympic titles and world races. But the sport has declined steadily after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“This sailing competition will become an annual tradition as well as a push to teaching the new generation of yachtsmen new international standards, and a strive to return the old glory of a leader of yachting sport to Ukraine,” said Ihor Yushko, head of the Kyiv Yacht Club, the regatta’s main organizer.
To make its investment into the development of sailing sport in Ukraine, the Kyiv Yacht Club presented a training ship to the Vyshgorod children’s school of sailing.
