Swelling sails against a bright blue sky is about as romantic as it gets. Those who want to fly down the river's surface, enjoy the sailors' camaraderie, or get their young ones to learn about yachting the Kyiv Cruising Yacht Club brings together some of the country's most experienced and most passionate boating fans.
The Kyivan
club in Osokorky district just turned 45. Founded by several private yacht
owners who didn’t have a place to moor their boats, the club is now the
nation’s biggest non-state organization. It is run by some 200 members,
representing three generations of yachtsmen, owning about 200 vessels of all
shapes and sizes.
Yachts hold
many surprises for the inexperienced. The 9-meter long boat Kupava, for
instance, looks tiny compared to ocean sailing cruisers. But the yacht,
designed and built by 62-year old Yuriy Bondar two and a half years ago, is
known for being the sixth Ukrainian boat to have sailed around the world.
Did you
know cement is also good for building boats? Metal nets are covered in cement,
producing a hull that is both strong and durable. Eero Talvitie, an expatriate
Finnish yachtsman in Kyiv, owns the 16-meter long ferro-cement boat Nord, built
by Kostyantyn Biryukovych, one of the club’s founders, 35 years ago. He is sure
his spacious yacht, which holds up to a dozen people including the captain
Talvitie and his assistant, has an advantage over wood- and steel-hulled ships
which cannot stay afloat the whole year round.
Talvitie,
60, took up yachting after sailing with Biryukovych, whose infectious
enthusiasm spreaded to anyone he took on board. Now the Finnish captain does
the same with his passengers, and has quite a few converts to boast about. One
of them is Leonid Sukhovsky, a Boeing 737 pilot, who served as a sailor on
several of the club’s ships to reach the status of member.
Its not a
problem for those who are persistent, Sukhovsky argues, joking that the club only
includes yachting fanatics. “Its like in aviation, where those who come just
for the money leave soon,” he said.
The 50-year
old captain of Aerosvit, Ukraine’s biggest passenger airline, spends much of
his time caring for his yacht Navigator. The work is very time-consuming but
Sukhovsky finds it relaxing. “They say yachtsmen in white shirts drink iced
champagne on board,” the pilot says. “That is far from the truth.”
Dmytry
Biryukovych, brother of Kostyantyn Biryukovych, poetically compares maintenance
work on a boat with the efforts of a loving man aimed at pleasing beautiful yet
capricious woman. Real yachtsmen truly obsess about their vessels, he
says.
Yachts need
constant care and renovation work, and most ships are taken ashore for the
winter months. The same is done before regatta’s or long journeys. Hulls have
to be cleaned from algae and flattened to make them slide faster over the
water’s surface.
The union’s land plot of two hectares is now a
choice piece of real estate. Still outside the city limits when it was founded
in the 1960s, the club has now found itself right next to the construction boom
in the left bank district of Poznyaky. As a result, there have been several
attempts to take over the site, but the yachtsmen have managed to beat them
off.
United by their hours of on-deck camaraderie,
the sailors say they are ready to fight for their big and little boats again if
needed. “For me the club means the people. Yachts come next,” says Talvitie.
The club invites those who want to try their
hand in sailing to join the crew of one of the yachts, or help out with the
construction work on one of several ships currently being built. Yachts can
also be rented at Hr 1000 for two hours on weekdays, or Hr 3500 for a day. The
club also includes a youth section offering kids aged 6-16 a chance to fall in
love with yachting.
Kyiv Post staff writer Denis Rafalsky can be
reached at [email protected]
