As part of the Russia Day festival, students, graduates, and university staff participated in an educational and historical sailing adventure and regatta. 

On June 8, 2024, the HSE University fleet, consisting of six yachts, set off on the ‘Rublevskaya Circumnavigation’ sports and tourist sailing voyage. The journey lasted two days, travelling along the route: Strogino—Serebryany Bor—residential complex ‘Scarlet Sails’ —Lock System—Spartak Stadium—Spasskiy Zaton—House of the Government of the Moscow Region—Zhivopisnaya Bay—Rublevskaya Dam—Zhivopisnaya Bay—Stroginskaya Floodplain.

'This two-day trip gives members of the yacht club the opportunity to not only hone their yacht control skills, but also to visit amazing places in the Moscow region and become acquainted with its history. Likewise, they have the chance to visit natural attractions that are normally inaccessible to the public,’ says visiting instructor of the Department of Physical Education Andrey Maslov.

On June 9, members of the yacht club held a traditional event to clean up the shorelines. Having arrived for the night in Zhivopisnaya Bay, the yachtsmen set foot on land, strewn with traces of tourists’ careless holiday: the remains of fireworks, bottles, plastic, and other household waste. The sailors and captains of HSE University’s yachts united and quickly did away with the landfill that had formed on the shore over several years.

'Initiating eco events is a long-standing tradition of the yacht club: for many years, members and graduates have participated in environmental expeditions and shoreline clean-ups from Moscow to Vyborg,’ shared one of the trip organisers, a visiting lecturer at the Department of Psychology of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Olga Ananyeva. ‘Such events not only unite people in creative activities, but also educate new generations of sailors and teach them to take care of the environment. We would like to express our gratitude to the administration of HSE University, the Office for Alumni Relations and Career Development, and personally to the manager of the Career Development Unit, Vladimir Agafonov, for supporting the event.’

On the final day of the festival, June 12, an inter-university rowing competition was held, where the HSE University team took the third place. Next, the ‘Sails of Moscow’ regatta started—a yachting competition among higher educational institutions of the capital. More than 80 staff members, students and alumni participated in the water race. Among them were more than the regular members of the yacht club: the teams also included graduates and university employees who had little yachting experience.

The regatta was not the only water activity. HSE University graduates organized a paddle board fleet: a whole squad with flags of the alumni community ploughed the river surface.

Both HSE University students who already had yachting experience, and those less familiar with the sport could try themselves out as sailors and ship captains for the day. Sailing trips and full-fledged yacht training sessions were organised for festival guests.

This year, the event took place not only on the water, but on land as well. Festival guests gathered at the Sila Vetra yacht club to support our rowers and yachtsmen and to relax in the company of like-minded people, enjoying the picturesque views. The student organisation 'Training School' held a series of creative workshops, communication games and activities for children and adults on the shore, all while an HSE University graduate accompanied the event with a DJ set.