Yacht “Fazisi”
In 1988 a group of yachtsmen from the then Soviet Union set out to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race. They had nine months, no experience building a boat for such an event, and no money.
Given the magnitude of the project, the shortage of time — only nine months before the start — and the lack of experience in building a yacht for such an event, the decision was made to find people experienced in both yacht racing and boat building. The initial group came from the Kiev Cruising Yacht Club, Ukraine, and became the pivotal hub for the whole project from the very beginning.
The boat was built in the town of Poti, Georgia, on the Black Sea.
She finished eleventh in a field of the world's best yachts, and posted the next-to-longest 24-hour run of the race — a then-incredible 386 miles in a single day.
Further reading
- Создание яхты «Фазиси» — The Making of Yacht Fazisi, by Igor Mironenko (Russian). Read the PDF → (4.3 MB) · in the books section
- The Russians Are Coming, by Eugene Platon (Russian) — read on Issuu.
- Contemporary footage and crew accounts remain scattered across YouTube and second-hand booksellers.
