“Swift sterlet”: how the Belgorod citizen launched his swertbot

Ilya Radionova's sports boat plows the waters of the Staro-Oskol reservoir. He built it with his own hands.

Promise to complete

Ilya Radionov decided to get his own sailing vessel, inspired by the childhood experience of kayaking and working as a sailor on the Belgorod reservoir. On the Internet, the man found an ad for the sale of an unfinished Vaurien screwdriver for a French project in 1952 from plywood parts. It turned out that the ship was made by the son of the woman who placed the ad. He died after a serious illness.

“I promised that I would build a bot in memory of her son. And then she offered to take part of the already assembled building and all the details for free, said Ilya Radionov. - For a year and a half, in my spare time, I completed the hull of the sailboat, ordered an aluminum mast with a geek, bought sails and rigging. I borrowed a boat trailer from a friend. And in June, I experienced the “Speed Sterlet” here, at the Staro-Oskol reservoir. I live in Belgorod and built a yacht for the Belgorod Sea. But now, as you know, you can't sail there.”.

How was "Swift Sturgeon" born?

In his youth, Belgorod’s favorite publication was “The Hooligan”. Its editor Alexander Chernykh participated in the annual rafting through the Losevsky rapids of Vuoksa on inflatable rubber dolls. The joke tournament was called the Bubble Baba Challenge, and the editor’s team as part of the air partner – “Speed Sturgeon”. So Ilya Rodionov called his yacht.

In the first exit under sail, he went with his father Michael. On the forestave of the yacht, a champagne cork is fixed - a talisman with which the ship went to the water. More in detail - in the material "BelPress".

Earlier, the old Oskol athletes won the all-Russian rowing competitions.