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YEKATERINBURG: FACTORIES, URAL SIGHTS, YELTSIN AND THE WHERE NICHOLAS II WAS KILLED

Sverdlovsk oblast.

Sverdlovsk Oblast is the largest region in the Urals; it lies in the foothills of mountains and contains a monument indicating the border between Europe and Asia. The region covers 194,800 square kilometers (75,200 square miles), is home to about 4.3 million people and has a population density of 22 people per square kilometer. About 83 percent of the population live in urban areas. Yekaterinburg is the capital and largest city, with 1.5 million people. For Russians, the Ural Mountains are closely associated with Pavel Bazhov's tales and known for folk crafts such as Kasli iron sculpture, Tagil painting, and copper embossing. Yekaterinburg is the birthplace of Russia’s iron and steel industry, taking advantage of the large iron deposits in the Ural mountains. The popular Silver Ring of the Urals tourist route starts here.

In the summer you can follow in the tracks of Yermak, climb relatively low Ural mountain peaks and look for boulders seemingly with human faces on them. You can head to the Gemstone Belt of the Ural mountains, which used to house emerald, amethyst and topaz mines. In the winter you can go ice fishing, ski and cross-country ski.

Sverdlovsk Oblast and Yekaterinburg are located near the center of Russia, at the crossroads between Europe and Asia and also the southern and northern parts of Russia. Winters are longer and colder than in western section of European Russia. Snowfalls can be heavy. Winter temperatures occasionally drop as low as - 40 degrees C (-40 degrees F) and the first snow usually falls in October. A heavy winter coat, long underwear and good boots are essential. Snow and ice make the sidewalks very slippery, so footwear with a good grip is important. Since the climate is very dry during the winter months, skin moisturizer plus lip balm are recommended. Be alert for mud on street surfaces when snow cover is melting (April-May). Patches of mud create slippery road conditions.

Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg (kilometer 1818 on the Trans-Siberian Railway) is the fourth largest city in Russia, with of 1.5 million and growth rate of about 12 percent, high for Russia. Located in the southern Ural mountains, it was founded by Peter the Great and named after his wife Catherine, it was used by the tsars as a summer retreat and is where tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed and President Boris Yeltsin lived most of his life and began his political career. The city is near the border between Europe and Asia.

Yekaterinburg (also spelled Ekaterinburg) is located on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains in the headwaters of the Iset and Pyshma Rivers. The Iset runs through the city center. Three ponds — Verkh-Isetsky, Gorodskoy and Nizhne-Isetsky — were created on it. Yekaterinburg has traditionally been a city of mining and was once the center of the mining industry of the Urals and Siberia. Yekaterinburg remains a major center of the Russian armaments industry and is sometimes called the "Pittsburgh of Russia.". A few ornate, pastel mansions and wide boulevards are reminders of the tsarist era. The city is large enough that it has its own Metro system but is characterized mostly by blocky Soviet-era apartment buildings. The city has advanced under President Vladimir Putin and is now one of the fastest growing places in Russia, a country otherwise characterized by population declines

Yekaterinburg is technically an Asian city as it lies 32 kilometers east of the continental divide between Europe and Asia. The unofficial capital of the Urals, a key region in the Russian heartland, it is second only to Moscow in terms of industrial production and capital of Sverdlovsk oblast. Among the important industries are ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, machine building and metalworking, chemical and petrochemicals, construction materials and medical, light and food industries. On top of being home of numerous heavy industries and mining concerns, Yekaterinburg is also a major center for industrial research and development and power engineering as well as home to numerous institutes of higher education, technical training, and scientific research. In addition, Yekaterinburg is the largest railway junction in Russia: the Trans-Siberian Railway passes through it, the southern, northern, western and eastern routes merge in the city.

Accommodation: There are two good and affordable hotels — the 3-star Emerald and Parus hotels — located close to the city's most popular landmarks and main transport interchanges in the center of Yekaterinburg. Room prices start at RUB 1,800 per night.

History of Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg was founded in 1723 by Peter the Great and named after his wife Catherine I. It was used by the tsars as a summer retreat but was mainly developed as metalworking and manufacturing center to take advantage of the large deposits of iron and other minerals in the Ural mountains. It is best known to Americans as the place where the last Tsar and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918 and near where American U-2 spy plane, piloted by Gary Powers, was shot down in 1960.

Peter the Great recognized the importance of the iron and copper-rich Urals region for Imperial Russia's industrial and military development. In November 1723, he ordered the construction of a fortress factory and an ironworks in the Iset River Valley, which required a dam for its operation. In its early years Yekaterinburg grew rich from gold and other minerals and later coal. The Yekaterinburg gold rush of 1745 created such a huge amount of wealth that one rich baron of that time hosted a wedding party that lasted a year. By the mid-18th century, metallurgical plants had sprung up across the Urals to cast cannons, swords, guns and other weapons to arm Russia’s expansionist ambitions. The Yekaterinburg mint produced most of Russia's coins. Explorations of the Trans-Baikal and Altai regions began here in the 18th century.

Iron, cast iron and copper were the main products. Even though Iron from the region went into the Eiffel Tower, the main plant in Yekaterinburg itself was shut down in 1808. The city still kept going through a mountain factory control system of the Urals. The first railway in the Urals was built here: in 1878, the Yekaterinburg-Perm railway branch connected the province's capital with the factories of the Middle Urals.

In the Soviet era the city was called Sverdlovsk (named after Yakov Sverdlov, the man who organized Nicholas II's execution). During the first five-year plans the city became industrial — old plants were reconstructed, new ones were built. The center of Yekaterinburg was formed to conform to the historical general plan of 1829 but was the layout was adjusted around plants and factories. In the Stalin era the city was a major gulag transhipment center. In World War II, many defense-related industries were moved here. It and the surrounding area were a center of the Soviet Union's military industrial complex. Soviet tanks, missiles and aircraft engines were made in the Urals. During the Cold War era, Yekaterinburg was a center of weapons-grade uranium enrichment and processing, warhead assembly and dismantlement. In 1979, 64 people died when anthrax leaked from a biological weapons facility. Yekaterinburg was a “Closed City” for 40 years during the Cold Soviet era and was not open to foreigners until 1991

In the early post-Soviet era, much like Pittsburgh in the 1970s, Yekaterinburg had a hard struggle d to cope with dramatic economic changes that have made its heavy industries uncompetitive on the world market. Huge defense plants struggled to survive and the city was notorious as an organized crime center in the 1990s, when its hometown boy Boris Yeltsin was President of Russia. By the 2000s, Yekaterinburg’s retail and service was taking off, the defense industry was reviving and it was attracting tech industries and investments related to the Urals’ natural resources. By the 2010s it was vying to host a world exhibition in 2020 (it lost, Dubai won) and it had McDonald’s, Subway, sushi restaurants, and Gucci, Chanel and Armani. There were Bentley and Ferrari dealerships but they closed down

Transportation in Yekaterinburg

Getting There: By Plane: Yekaterinburg is a three-hour flight from Moscow with prices starting at RUB 8,000, or a 3-hour flight from Saint Petersburg starting from RUB 9,422 (direct round-trip flight tickets for one adult passenger). There are also flights from Frankfurt, Istanbul, China and major cities in the former Soviet Union.

By Train: Yekaterinburg is a major stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Daily train service is available to Moscow and many other Russian cities.Yekaterinburg is a 32-hour train ride from Moscow (tickets RUB 8,380 and above) or a 36-hour train ride from Saint Petersburg (RUB 10,300 and above). The ticket prices are round trip for a berth in a sleeper compartment for one adult passenger). By Car: a car trip from Moscow to Yekateringburg is 1,787 kilometers long and takes about 18 hours. The road from Saint Petersburg is 2,294 kilometers and takes about 28 hours.

Regional Transport: The region's public transport includes buses and suburban electric trains. Regional trains provide transport to larger cities in the Ural region. Buses depart from Yekaterinburg’s two bus stations: the Southern Bus Station and the Northern Bus Station.

Regional Transport: According the to Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT): “Public transportation is well developed. Overcrowding is common. Fares are low. Service is efficient. Buses are the main form of public transport. Tram network is extensive. Fares are reasonable; service is regular. Trams are heavily used by residents, overcrowding is common. Purchase ticket after boarding. Metro runs from city center to Uralmash, an industrial area south of the city. Metro ends near the main railway station. Fares are inexpensive.

“Traffic is congested in city center. Getting around by car can be difficult. Route taxis (minivans) provide the fastest transport. They generally run on specific routes, but do not have specific stops. Drivers stop where passengers request. Route taxis can be hailed. Travel by bus or trolleybuses may be slow in rush hour. Trams are less affected by traffic jams. Trolley buses (electric buses) cannot run when temperatures drop below freezing.”

Entertainment, Sports and Recreation in Yekaterinburg

The performing arts in Yekaterinburg are first rate. The city has an excellent symphony orchestra, opera and ballet theater, and many other performing arts venues. Tickets are inexpensive. The Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater is lavishly designed and richly decorated building in the city center of Yekaterinburg. The theater was established in 1912 and building was designed by architect Vladimir Semyonov and inspired by the Vienna Opera House and the Theater of Opera and Ballet in Odessa.

Vaynera Street is a pedestrian only shopping street in city center with restaurants, cafes and some bars. But otherwise Yekaterinburg's nightlife options are limited. There are a handful of expensive Western-style restaurants and bars, none of them that great. Nightclubs serve the city's nouveau riche clientele. Its casinos have closed down. Some of them had links with organized crime. New dance clubs have sprung up that are popular with Yekaterinburg's more affluent youth.

Yekaterinburg's most popular spectator sports are hockey, basketball, and soccer. There are stadiums and arenas that host all three that have fairly cheap tickets. There is an indoor water park and lots of parks and green spaces. The Urals have many lakes, forests and mountains are great for hiking, boating, berry and mushroom hunting, swimming and fishing. Winter sports include cross-country skiing and ice skating. Winter lasts about six months and there’s usually plenty of snow. The nearby Ural Mountains however are not very high and the downhill skiing opportunities are limited..

Sights in Yekaterinburg

Sights in Yekaterinburg include the Museum of City Architecture and Ural Industry, with an old water tower and mineral collection with emeralds. malachite, tourmaline, jasper and other precious stone; Geological Alley, a small park with labeled samples of minerals found in the Urals region; the Ural Geology Museum, which houses an extensive collection of stones, gold and gems from the Urals; a monument marking the border between Europe and Asia; a memorial for gulag victims; and a graveyard with outlandish memorials for slain mafia members.

The Military History Museum houses the remains of the U-2 spy plane shot down in 1960 and locally made tanks and rocket launchers. The fine arts museum contains paintings by some of Russia's 19th-century masters. Also worth a look are the History an Local Studies Museum; the Political History and Youth Museum; and the University and Arboretum. Old wooden houses can be seen around Zatoutstovsya ulitsa and ulitsa Belinskogo. Around the city are wooded parks, lakes and quarries used to harvest a variety of minerals. Weiner Street is the main street of Yekaterinburg. Along it are lovely sculptures and 19th century architecture. Take a walk around the unique Literary Quarter

Plotinka is a local meeting spot, where you will often find street musicians performing. Plotinka can be described as the center of the city's center. This is where Yekaterinburg holds its biggest events: festivals, seasonal fairs, regional holiday celebrations, carnivals and musical fountain shows. There are many museums and open-air exhibitions on Plotinka. Plotinka is named after an actual dam of the city pond located nearby (“plotinka” means “a small dam” in Russian).In November 1723, Peter the Great ordered the construction of an ironworks in the Iset River Valley, which required a dam for its operation. “Iset” can be translated from Finnish as “abundant with fish”. This name was given to the river by the Mansi — the Finno-Ugric people dwelling on the eastern slope of the Northern Urals.

Vysotsky and Iset are skyscrapers that are 188.3 meters and 209 meters high, respectively. Fifty-story-high Iset has been described by locals as the world’s northernmost skyscraper. Before the construction of Iset, Vysotsky was the tallest building of Yekaterinburg and Russia (excluding Moscow). A popular vote has decided to name the skyscraper after the famous Soviet songwriter, singer and actor Vladimir Vysotsky. and the building was opened on November 25, 2011. There is a lookout at the top of the building, and the Vysotsky museum on its second floor. The annual “Vysotsky climb” (1137 steps) is held there, with a prize of RUB 100,000. While Vysotsky serves as an office building, Iset, owned by the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company, houses 225 premium residential apartments ranging from 80 to 490 square meters in size.

Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center

The Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center (in the city center: ul. Yeltsina, 3) is a non-governmental organization named after the first president of the Russian Federation. The Museum of the First President of Russia as well as his archives are located in the Center. There is also a library, educational and children's centers, and exposition halls. Yeltsin lived most of his life and began his political career in Yekaterinburg. He was born in Butka about 200 kilometers east of Yekaterinburg.

The core of the Center is the Museum. Modern multimedia technologies help animate the documents, photos from the archives, and artifacts. The Yeltsin Museum holds collections of: propaganda posters, leaflets, and photos of the first years of the Soviet regime; portraits and portrait sculptures of members of Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of various years; U.S.S.R. government bonds and other items of the Soviet era; a copy of “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, published in the “Novy Mir” magazine (#11, 1962); perestroika-era editions of books by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Vasily Grossman, and other authors; theater, concert, and cinema posters, programs, and tickets — in short, all of the artifacts of the perestroika era.

The Yeltsin Center opened in 2012. Inside you will also find an art gallery, a bookstore, a gift shop, a food court, concert stages and a theater. There are regular screenings of unique films that you will not find anywhere else. Also operating inside the center, is a scientific exploritorium for children. The center was designed by Boris Bernaskoni. Almost from the its very opening, the Yeltsin Center has been accused by members of different political entities of various ideological crimes. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00am to 9:00pm.

Where Nicholas II was Executed

On July, 17, 1918, during this reign of terror of the Russian Civil War, former-tsar Nicholas II, his wife, five children (the 13-year-old Alexis, 22-year-old Olga, 19-year-old Maria and 17-year-old Anastasia)the family physician, the cook, maid, and valet were shot to death by a Red Army firing squad in the cellar of the house they were staying at in Yekaterinburg.

Ipatiev House (near Church on the Blood, Ulitsa Libknekhta) was a merchant's house where Nicholas II and his family were executed. The house was demolished in 1977, on the orders of an up and coming communist politician named Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin later said that the destruction of the house was an "act of barbarism" and he had no choice because he had been ordered to do it by the Politburo,

The site is marked with s cross with the photos of the family members and cross bearing their names. A small wooden church was built at the site. It contains paintings of the family. For a while there were seven traditional wooden churches. Mass is given ay noon everyday in an open-air museum. The Church on the Blood — constructed to honor Nicholas II and his family — was built on the part of the site in 1991 and is now a major place of pilgrimage.

Nicholas and his family where killed during the Russian civil war. It is thought the Bolsheviks figured that Nicholas and his family gave the Whites figureheads to rally around and they were better of dead. Even though the death orders were signed Yakov Sverdlov, the assassination was personally ordered by Lenin, who wanted to get them out of sight and out of mind. Trotsky suggested a trial. Lenin nixed the idea, deciding something had to be done about the Romanovs before White troops approached Yekaterinburg. Trotsky later wrote: "The decision was not only expedient but necessary. The severity of he punishment showed everyone that we would continue to fight on mercilessly, stopping at nothing."

Ian Frazier wrote in The New Yorker: “Having read a lot about the end of Tsar Nicholas II and his family and servants, I wanted to see the place in Yekaterinburg where that event occurred. The gloomy quality of this quest depressed Sergei’s spirits, but he drove all over Yekaterinburg searching for the site nonetheless. Whenever he stopped and asked a pedestrian how to get to the house where Nicholas II was murdered, the reaction was a wince. Several people simply walked away. But eventually, after a lot of asking, Sergei found the location. It was on a low ridge near the edge of town, above railroad tracks and the Iset River. The house, known as the Ipatiev House, was no longer standing, and the basement where the actual killings happened had been filled in. I found the blankness of the place sinister and dizzying. It reminded me of an erasure done so determinedly that it had worn a hole through the page. [Source: Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, August 3, 2009, Frazier is author of “Travels in Siberia” (2010)]

“The street next to the site is called Karl Liebknecht Street. A building near where the house used to be had a large green advertisement that said, in English, “LG—Digitally Yours.” On an adjoining lot, a small chapel kept the memory of the Tsar and his family; beneath a pedestal holding an Orthodox cross, peonies and pansies grew. The inscription on the pedestal read, “We go down on our knees, Russia, at the foot of the tsarist cross.”

Books: The Romanovs: The Final Chapter by Robert K. Massie (Random House, 1995); The Fall of the Romanovs by Mark D. Steinberg and Vladimir Khrustalëv (Yale, 1995);

See Separate Article END OF NICHOLAS II factsanddetails.com

Execution of Nicholas II

According to Robert Massie K. Massie, author of Nicholas and Alexandra, Nicholas II and his family were awakened from their bedrooms around midnight and taken to the basement. They were told they were to going to take some photographs of them and were told to stand behind a row of chairs.

Suddenly, a group of 11 Russians and Latvians, each with a revolver, burst into the room with orders to kill a specific person. Yakob Yurovsky, a member of the Soviet executive committee, reportedly shouted "your relatives are continuing to attack the Soviet Union.” After firing, bullets bouncing off gemstones hidden in the corsets of Alexandra and her daughters ricocheted around the room like "a shower of hail," the soldiers said. Those that were still breathing were killed with point black shots to the head.

The three sisters and the maid survived the first round thanks to their gems. They were pressed up against a wall and killed with a second round of bullets. The maid was the only one that survived. She was pursued by the executioners who stabbed her more than 30 times with their bayonets. The still writhing body of Alexis was made still by a kick to the head and two bullets in the ear delivered by Yurovsky himself.

Yurovsky wrote: "When the party entered I told the Romanovs that in view of the fact their relatives continued their offensive against Soviet Russia, the Executive Committee of the Urals Soviet had decided to shoot them. Nicholas turned his back to the detachment and faced his family. Then, as if collecting himself, he turned around, asking, 'What? What?'"

"[I] ordered the detachment to prepare. Its members had been previously instructed whom to shoot and to am directly at the heart to avoid much blood and to end more quickly. Nicholas said no more. he turned again to his family. The others shouted some incoherent exclamations. All this lasted a few seconds. Then commenced the shooting, which went on for two or three minutes. [I] killed Nicholas on the spot."

Nicholas II’s Initial Burial Site in Yekaterinburg

Ganina Yama Monastery (near the village of Koptyaki, 15 kilometers northwest of Yekaterinburg) stands near the three-meter-deep pit where some the remains of Nicholas II and his family were initially buried. The second burial site — where most of the remains were — is in a field known as Porosyonkov (56.9113628°N 60.4954326°E), seven kilometers from Ganina Yama.

On visiting Ganina Yama Monastery, one person posted in Trip Advisor: “We visited this set of churches in a pretty park with Konstantin from Ekaterinburg Guide Centre. He really brought it to life with his extensive knowledge of the history of the events surrounding their terrible end. The story is so moving so unless you speak Russian, it is best to come here with a guide or else you will have no idea of what is what.”

In 1991, the acid-burned remains of Nicholas II and his family were exhumed from a shallow roadside mass grave in a swampy area 12 miles northwest of Yekaterinburg. The remains had been found in 1979 by geologist and amateur archeologist Alexander Avdonin, who kept the location secret out of fear that they would be destroyed by Soviet authorities. The location was disclosed to a magazine by one his fellow discovers.

The original plan was to throw the Romanovs down a mine shaft and disposes of their remains with acid. They were thrown in a mine with some grenades but the mine didn't collapse. They were then carried by horse cart. The vats of acid fell off and broke. When the carriage carrying the bodies broke down it was decided the bury the bodies then and there. The remaining acid was poured on the bones, but most of it was soaked up the ground and the bones largely survived.

After this their pulses were then checked, their faces were crushed to make them unrecognizable and the bodies were wrapped in bed sheets loaded onto a truck. The "whole procedure," Yurovsky said took 20 minutes. One soldiers later bragged than he could "die in peace because he had squeezed the Empress's -------."

The bodies were taken to a forest and stripped, burned with acid and gasoline, and thrown into abandoned mine shafts and buried under railroad ties near a country road near the village of Koptyaki. "The bodies were put in the hole," Yurovsky wrote, "and the faces and all the bodies, generally doused with sulfuric acid, both so they couldn't be recognized and prevent a stink from them rotting...We scattered it with branches and lime, put boards on top and drove over it several times—no traces of the hole remained.

Shortly afterwards, the government in Moscow announced that Nicholas II had been shot because of "a counterrevolutionary conspiracy." There was no immediate word on the other members of the family which gave rise to rumors that other members of the family had escaped. Yekaterinburg was renamed Sverdlov in honor of the man who signed the death orders.

For seven years the remains of Nicholas II, Alexandra, three of their daughters and four servants were stored in polyethylene bags on shelves in the old criminal morgue in Yekaterunburg. On July 17, 1998, Nicholas II and his family and servants who were murdered with him were buried Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg along with the other Romanov tsars, who have been buried there starting with Peter the Great. Nicholas II had a side chapel built for himself at the fortress in 1913 but was buried in a new crypt.

Near Yekaterinburg

Factory-Museum of Iron and Steel Metallurgy (in Niznhy Tagil 80 kilometers north of Yekaterinburg) a museum with old mining equipment made at the site of huge abandoned iron and steel factory. Officially known as the Factory-Museum of the History of the Development of Iron and Steel Metallurgy, it covers an area of 30 hectares and contains a factory founded by the Demidov family in 1725 that specialized mainly in the production of high-quality cast iron and steel. Later, the foundry was renamed after Valerian Kuybyshev, a prominent figure of the Communist Party.

The first Russian factory museum, the unusual museum demonstrates all stages of metallurgy and metal working. There is even a blast furnace and an open-hearth furnace. The display of factory equipment includes bridge crane from 1892) and rolling stock equipment from the 19th-20th centuries. In Niznhy Tagil contains some huge blocks of malachite and

Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha (180 kilometers east-northeast of Yekaterinburg) has an open air architecture museum with log buildings, a stone church and other pre-revolutionary architecture. The village is the creation of Ivan Samoilov, a local activist who loved his village so much he dedicated 40 years of his life to recreating it as the open-air museum of wooden architecture.

The stone Savior Church, a good example of Siberian baroque architecture. The interior and exterior of the church are exhibition spaces of design. The houses are very colorful. In tsarist times, rich villagers hired serfs to paint the walls of their wooden izbas (houses) bright colors. Old neglected buildings from the 17th to 19th centuries have been brought to Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha from all over the Urals. You will see the interior design of the houses and hear stories about traditions and customs of the Ural farmers.

Verkhoturye (330 kilometers road from Yekaterinburg) is the home a 400-year-old monastery that served as 16th century capital of the Urals. Verkhoturye is a small town on the Tura River knows as the Jerusalem of the Urals for its many holy places, churches and monasteries. The town's main landmark is its Kremlin — the smallest in Russia. Pilgrims visit the St. Nicholas Monastery to see the remains of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye, the patron saint of fishermen.

Ural Mountains

Ural Mountains are the traditional dividing line between Europe and Asia and have been a crossroads of Russian history. Stretching from Kazakhstan to the fringes of the Arctic Kara Sea, the Urals lie almost exactly along the 60 degree meridian of longitude and extend for about 2,000 kilometers (1,300 miles) from north to south and varies in width from about 50 kilometers (30 miles) in the north and 160 kilometers (100 miles) the south. At kilometers 1777 on the Trans-Siberian Railway there is white obelisk with "Europe" carved in Russian on one side and "Asia" carved on the other.

The eastern side of the Urals contains a lot of granite and igneous rock. The western side is primarily sandstone and limestones. A number of precious stones can be found in the southern part of the Urals, including emeralds. malachite, tourmaline, jasper and aquamarines. The highest peaks are in the north. Mount Narodnaya is the highest of all but is only 1884 meters (6,184 feet) high. The northern Urals are covered in thick forests and home to relatively few people.

Like the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States, the Urals are very old mountains — with rocks and sediments that are hundreds of millions years old — that were one much taller than they are now and have been steadily eroded down over millions of years by weather and other natural processes to their current size. According to Encyclopedia Britannica: “The rock composition helps shape the topography: the high ranges and low, broad-topped ridges consist of quartzites, schists, and gabbro, all weather-resistant. Buttes are frequent, and there are north–south troughs of limestone, nearly all containing river valleys. Karst topography is highly developed on the western slopes of the Urals, with many caves, basins, and underground streams. The eastern slopes, on the other hand, have fewer karst formations; instead, rocky outliers rise above the flattened surfaces. Broad foothills, reduced to peneplain, adjoin the Central and Southern Urals on the east.

“The Urals date from the structural upheavals of the Hercynian orogeny (about 250 million years ago). About 280 million years ago there arose a high mountainous region, which was eroded to a peneplain. Alpine folding resulted in new mountains, the most marked upheaval being that of the Nether-Polar Urals...The western slope of the Urals is composed of middle Paleozoic sedimentary rocks (sandstones and limestones) that are about 350 million years old. In many places it descends in terraces to the Cis-Ural depression (west of the Urals), to which much of the eroded matter was carried during the late Paleozoic (about 300 million years ago). Found there are widespread karst (a starkly eroded limestone region) and gypsum, with large caverns and subterranean streams. On the eastern slope, volcanic layers alternate with sedimentary strata, all dating from middle Paleozoic times.”

Southern Urals

The southern Urals are characterized by grassy slopes and fertile valleys. The middle Urals are a rolling platform that barely rises above 300 meters (1,000 feet). This region is rich in minerals and has been heavily industrialized. This is where you can find Yekaterinburg (formally Sverdlovsk), the largest city in the Urals.

Most of the Southern Urals are is covered with forests, with 50 percent of that pine-woods, 44 percent birch woods, and the rest are deciduous aspen and alder forests. In the north, typical taiga forests are the norm. There are patches of herbal-poaceous steppes, northem sphagnous marshes and bushy steppes, light birch forests and shady riparian forests, tall-grass mountainous meadows, lowland ling marshes and stony placers with lichen stains. In some places there are no large areas of homogeneous forests, rather they are forests with numerous glades and meadows of different size.

In the Ilmensky Mountains Reserve in the Southern Urals, scientists counted 927 vascular plants (50 relicts, 23 endemic species), about 140 moss species, 483 algae species and 566 mushroom species. Among the species included into the Red Book of Russia are feather grass, downy-leaved feather grass, Zalessky feather grass, moccasin flower, ladies'-slipper, neottianthe cucullata, Baltic orchis, fen orchis, helmeted orchis, dark-winged orchis, Gelma sandwart, Krasheninnikov sandwart, Clare astragalus.

The fauna of the vertebrate animals in the Reserve includes 19 fish, 5 amphibian and 5 reptile. Among the 48 mammal species are elks, roe deer, boars, foxes, wolves, lynxes, badgers, common weasels, least weasels, forest ferrets, Siberian striped weasel, common marten, American mink. Squirrels, beavers, muskrats, hares, dibblers, moles, hedgehogs, voles are quite common, as well as chiropterans: pond bat, water bat, Brandt's bat, whiskered bat, northern bat, long-eared bat, parti-coloured bat, Nathusius' pipistrelle. The 174 bird bird species include white-tailed eagles, honey hawks, boreal owls, gnome owls, hawk owls, tawny owls, common scoters, cuckoos, wookcocks, common grouses, wood grouses, hazel grouses, common partridges, shrikes, goldenmountain thrushes, black- throated loons and others.

Activities and Places in the Ural Mountains

The Urals possess beautiful natural scenery that can be accessed from Yekaterinburg with a rent-a-car, hired taxi and tour. Travel agencies arrange rafting, kayaking and hiking trips. Hikes are available in the taiga forest and the Urals. Trips often include walks through the taiga to small lakes and hikes into the mountains and excursions to collect mushrooms and berries and climb in underground caves. Mellow rafting is offered in a relatively calm six kilometer section of the River Serga. In the winter visitor can enjoy cross-mountains skiing, downhill skiing, ice fishing, dog sledding, snow-shoeing and winter hiking through the forest to a cave covered with ice crystals.

Lake Shartash (10 kilometers from Yekaterinburg) is where the first Ural gold was found, setting in motion the Yekaterinburg gold rush of 1745, which created so much wealth one rich baron of that time hosted a wedding party that lasted a year. The area around Shartash Lake is a favorite picnic and barbecue spot of the locals. Getting There: by bus route No. 50, 054 or 54, with a transfer to suburban commuter bus route No. 112, 120 or 121 (the whole trip takes about an hour), or by car (10 kilometers drive from the city center, 40 minutes).

Revun Rapids (90 kilometers road from Yekaterinburg near Beklenishcheva village) is a popular white water rafting places On the nearby cliffs you can see the remains of a mysterious petroglyph from the Paleolithic period. Along the steep banks, you may notice the dark entrance of Smolinskaya Cave. There are legends of a sorceress who lived in there. The rocks at the riverside are suited for competitive rock climbers and beginners. Climbing hooks and rings are hammered into rocks. The most fun rafting is generally in May and June.

Olenii Ruchii National Park (100 kilometers west of Yekaterinburg) is the most popular nature park in Sverdlovsk Oblast and popular weekend getaway for Yekaterinburg residents. Visitors are attracted by the beautiful forests, the crystal clear Serga River and picturesque rocks caves. There are some easy hiking routes: the six-kilometer Lesser Ring and the 15-kilometer Greater Ring. Another route extends for 18 km and passes by the Mitkinsky Mine, which operated in the 18th-19th centuries. It's a kind of an open-air museum — you can still view mining an enrichment equipment here. There is also a genuine beaver dam nearby.

Among the other attractions at Olenii Ruchii are Druzhba (Friendship) Cave, with passages that extend for about 500 meters; Dyrovaty Kamen (Holed Stone), created over time by water of Serga River eroding rock; and Utoplennik (Drowned Man), where you can see “The Angel of Sole Hope”., created by the Swedish artist Lehna Edwall, who has placed seven angels figures in different parts of the world to “embrace the planet, protecting it from fear, despair, and disasters.”

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation (official Russia tourism website russiatourism.ru ), Russian government websites, UNESCO, Wikipedia, Lonely Planet guides, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Yomiuri Shimbun and various books and other publications.

Updated in September 2020

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The Sverdlovsk Region territorially covers practically the entire Middle Urals and part of the Northern Urals . The region is usually associated with the Urals in general, and the city of Yekaterinburg, its administrative centre, is called the capital of the Urals . This city is also the centre of the Urals Federal District.

Flora and Fauna

Water resources, landmarks and tourism, konzhakov stone, serebryansky kamen (stone), denezhkin stone & the kvarkush range, kachkanar mountain, the peter the gronsky aka petrogrom rocks, the devil's fortress, the seven brothers rocks, mount bunar, the urals mars, reserves, national and natural parks, picturesque rivers, the revun rapids, zoo nurseries, major cities, yekaterinburg.

In earlier times, the region was part of the Siberian province, then part of the Trans-Ural region of the Perm province of the Russian Empire. As an administrative unit, the Sverdlovsk Region was separated from the Urals Region in 1934 and finally appeared on the maps as an independent entity. It received its name from the regional centre – the city of Sverdlovsk, which is actually Yekaterinburg, but the city was renamed in the Soviet times to commemorate the revolutionary Yakov Sverdlov. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the city was given back its historical name – Yekaterinburg, but the region was not renamed, thus the discrepancy. The same story happened with Saint Petersburg and Leningradskaya Region.

The Sverdlovsk Region borders the Komi Republic and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region in the north, the Tyumen Region in the east, the Kurgan and Chelyabinsk Regions in the south, the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Perm Territory in the west.

There is a conditional border between Europe and Asia running from north to south through the whole Sverdlovsk Region. The area of the region is 194 307 sq. km., the length from north to south is 660 km, the distance between the western and eastern extremes is about 560 km. The population of the region is 4.3 million people. There are 47 cities in the Sverdlovsk Region.

The relief of the region is diverse. The western part is mountainous, whereas the central and eastern parts are plain. The Main Urals Range extends from north to south. The highest point in the Sverdlovsk Region is Konzhakov Stone (1,569 m).

The vegetation is dominated by coniferous and mixed forests, mainly birch, pine, spruce, less often aspen and cedar, while in the extreme south-east there are some forest-steppes. Forests cover about 82.3% of the territory. Mountain slopes up to 600 m high are covered with dark coniferous northern taiga forests (spruce, fir, cedar). The mountains, passes, plateaus starting from the height of 800 m and higher are covered with rocky tundra.

The fauna of the Sverdlovsk Region is filled with typical forest representatives. There are 66 species of mammals, 6 species of reptiles, 9 species of amphibians, 228 species of birds, and 48 species of fish.

The watershed between the basins of the main tributaries of Russia's two largest rivers, the Irtysh and the Kama, runs along the ridges of the Ural Mountains and the eastern foothills in the south of the Sverdlovsk Region. The region's river network includes 18,414 rivers with a total length of more than 68,000 km. They are characterized by mixed feeding (by ground and meltwater, and atmospheric precipitation) with a predominance of snow (snow feeding is about 85-90% in the southern areas of the region and about 60-65% in the Ural Mountains ). The rivers freeze in late October-November and open up in April. The main river in the Irtysh basin is the Tobol with its tributaries of the first, second and third-order: the Iset, Tavda, and Tura (tributaries of the Tobol); the Nitsa, Pyshma, Tagil (tributaries of the Tura); the Lozva, Sosva, and Pelym (tributaries of the Tavda). The main rivers in the Kama basin are the Chusovaya River (a tributary of the Kama River) and its tributary – the Sylva River, and the Ufa River (a tributary of the Belaya River).

Swamps and marshlands occupy about 10.53% of the total area of the region (20461 sq. km.). The largest marshes are located in the north-east, in the Tavda river basin.

The Sverdlovsk Region has more than 5,850 lakes and artificial water bodies with the total area of about 1.35 thousand sq.km., including about 2000 lakes with the area of more than 0.01 sq.km, as well as a number of even smaller lakes (according to the Institute of Lake Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences).

The largest lakes in the region are the Pelymsky Tuman (its area is 65 sq.km) and the Vagilskiy Tuman (half the size of its bigger brother, it is 31.2 sq.km.). The largest artificial lakes are the Beloyarskoye reservoir on the Pyshma River and the Volchikhinskoye reservoir on the Chusovaya River. The Sverdlovsk Region takes the last place by the total area of lakes and artificial reservoirs, as well as by lakes among the regions of the Ural Federal District. The size and number of lakes, artificial reservoirs, swamps and wetlands is unstable and tends to change depending on natural factors such as water regime, climatic phenomena, swamping, etc. and anthropogenic factors, viz. excessive drainage or, conversely, watering of territories, regulation of river flows, etc.

Underground water reservoirs are also powerful and aplenty in the Sverdlovsk region which ranks the third in terms of the volume of forecasted groundwater resources (after the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area).

The climate of this area is moderately continental. The Ural Mountains partially protect the region from cyclones and anticyclones. Strong winds and snowstorms are quite rare. As we move away from the Main Ural Mountain Range and towards the south of the region, the air temperature increases and the amount of annual precipitation decreases. But on the whole, despite the large territory of the region, climatic conditions in all parts are quite similar. Seasons are well-pronounced, and precipitation is evenly distributed throughout the calendar year. Summer is warm, characterized by moderately hot weather without any extremes. The warmest month is July, with an average daily temperature of +21 to +26°C (+70 to +79 F), and in the mountains, it is only +14 to +16°C (+57 to +61 F). If you get very warm and dry air from Kazakhstan and Central Asia at this time of year, the daytime temperature can reach +35 to +40 ° C (+95 to +104 F), whereas the invasion of the Arctic air can bring some frosts at night frosts. Winter is freezing cold with dense snow cover. January is the coldest month of the year, with average daily temperatures ranging from -14 to -20°C (+7 to -4 F). However, during the Arctic cold air onslaughts, there are severe frosts down to -48 to -50 °C (-54 to -58 F), and in the northern parts of the region down to -55 °C (-67F). Thaws are also possible when the day temperature rises to +8°C (+46 F) in winter, but this is very rare.

The Sverdlovsk Region is one of the largest industrial centres in the country due to extensive mining. In terms of industrial output, it ranks second in Russia after the Moscow Region. There are rich deposits of bauxite, gold, various minerals, platinum and asbestos. The territory is blessed with many deposits of precious and semiprecious stones, they are mainly located in the so-called ‘gem strip’ running on the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains .

There are many interesting places in the Sverdlovsk Region that attract travellers. In 2017, it was included in the top 10 most popular tourist regions of Russia. This area is especially suitable for aficionados of active rest.

Beautiful and majestic mountains attract herds of tourists in summer and winter alike. You can go hiking, skiing or drive snowmobiles here. The highest of the mountains are in the north of the Sverdlovsk region together with the main peak Konzhakov Stone (1,569 m). Tourists sometimes call the mountain Konzhak. The mountain is 450 km north of the city of Yekaterinburg. There is no cellular communication, but you can spend the night in a tent. Every year on the first Saturday of July, on the slopes of this mountain massif there is held an International Mountain Marathon Konzhak. It is a challenging 42-km distance running along the mountain trails and rock rivers of Konzhakov Stone , over the rivers and snows fields. The run goes from the river Konzhakovka to the top of the mountain and back.

Next to Konzhakov Stone , in its eastern spur, there is Serebryansky Kamen Mountain (also called Serebryanka). The mountain is almost 300 m lower, but it is as frequently visited as Konzhak. The top of the mountain is crowned with huge and steep rock bastions. Its spurs are like the spine of a dragon. In winter, the mountain is often compared to the kingdom of the Snow Queen, so everything here is majestic and impregnable (rocks, ice and snow). On the slope of the mountain in the olden days there used to be a rescue base, the only remnant of that is a sauna. If necessary, you can stay there for a sleepover (it accommodates 3-4 people). The nearest connection with the Ministry of Emergency Situations is at the tourist base Serebryansky Kamen at the intersection of the highway Karpinsk-Kytlym with the river Serebryanka. Here you can spend the night, visit the bathhouse, there is a parking lot as well.

Other high mountain ranges include the Main Urals Range , the nearby Denezhkin Stone Range and the Kvarkush Range. Between the Main Ural Ridge and Denezhkin Stone Mountain there is the Zvezda camping site. There are also no cellular communications or regular transport links in the area. On the Kvarkush Range you can visit the Zhigalan Falls, a five-stage waterfall which is considered one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the Urals . By the end of autumn, the waterfall freezes, which attracts fans of ice climbing.

In the central and southern parts of the region, the mountains are low but easily accessible and no less beautiful. Among them are Mounts Kachkanar , Volchikha , Shunut , Sinyaya (Blue) , Azov-Mountain , and the Merry Mountains.

Kachkanar mountain is 270 km away from Yekaterinburg by the Serov road. It is a ridge with two peaks – Great Kachkanar (878 m) and Little Kachkanar (866 m). It is better to start climbing from the top of Mt Malaya. There was founded a monastery called Shad Tchup Ling (Place of practice and realization) on the northeast spur of this mountain in 1995 by Lama Sanje Tenzin Dokshitom (Mikhail Sannikov). When you come up to the beginning of the log path to the monastery, you are invited to take a brick with you up to the monastery so that your path would cease to be some common walking, but will gain the meaning. The bricks are needed for the construction of the site which is still underway today. There are several monks living on the mountain at any time of year. The guests are welcomed by the Awakening stupa. A stupa is a Buddhist commemorative monument usually housing sacred relics associated with the Buddha or other saintly persons. Another stupa is hidden in the rocks from prying eyes. Anyone can come to the monastery as a guest with an overnight stay or as a volunteer worker. From the monastery, the trail continues to Camel Rock, from where you can enjoy views of the town of Kachkanar and the huge steps of the Kachkanar Mining and Processing quarry (EVRAZ KGOK, formerly called KGOK Vanadiy, an iron ore producer). A small lake formed by flooding a quarry is located 500 m from the beginning of the trail to the monastery. From here, bypassing the monastery, there is another road to Camel Rock.

If you are pressed for time, within the city limits of Yekaterinburg there are beautiful rocks with bizarre forms, the most famous of them are the rocks of Peter Gronsky (aka Petrogrom or Grony), the Devil's Fortress, and the Seven Brothers. Tourists admire their beautiful views, and climbers train here to conquer the rocks of varying difficulty.

The rocks of Peter the Gronsky are stone remains on top of the Upper Iset granite massif (370 m high). The height of the rocks themselves is 15 m. They have several names. On the maps, they are called the rocks of Peter the Gronsky . In the Soviet times, it was believed that revolutionary workers headed by Peter Gronsky hid their weapons here and held mausoleums. However, local historians believe that Peter Gronsky, who lived at the Iset railway station in those years, could not participate in the revolutionary events, because he was still very young. Scientists call the rocks Petrogrom, in honour of Peter the Thunderer. They say that lightning strikes here very often. And among the tourists, there's a simpler name – Grony aka Thunderstorms. According to archaeological excavations, in ancient times there was a metallurgical production here, the ore was supplied here from the Sugra mine. Nowadays, it is a popular weekend route oftentimes taken with children at any time of year. From the rocks, there is a picturesque view of Lake Iset. The Petrogrom Rocks are located to the north-west of Yekaterinburg. You can get to them by public transport: by train to Nizhny Tagil, go 479 km to the station. The trail to the rocks starts on the right of the stop. A visit to the Petrogrom Rocks can be combined with a trip to the rocks of the Devil's Fortress and Iset Lake.

The Devil's Fortress is both a mountain (the absolute height is 347 m) and a rocky massif on its top. The rocks are a mighty granite ridge with a height of 20 m having a folded structure. As for the name, one version of the place was "damned or devilish" because if you look at such an erratic heap of granite slabs them seem so unnatural as if laid out by an evil force. In the process of excavations, there were found traces of ancient people staying here. Probably the first locals made sacrifices here to appease the gods. Mass visitation to the Devil's Fortress began at the end of 19th century after the Ural railway was opened. In 1980-1985, this place was closed to visitors. During this time the territory was cleared, garbage was taken out and the area was equipped with a climbing wall, one of the first in the USSR. For climbers, the northern side of the remains is of the greatest interest. The southern side is more gentle and goes down as if in steps to the valley of the Semipalatka river, a tributary of the Iset River. A wooden staircase leads to the very top of the Devil's Fortress. You can visit the Devil's Fortress by taking a train from Yekaterinburg to Iset station, the rocks are 6 km from this station.

The Seven Brothers Rocks, one of the most popular rock idols in the Middle Urals , are the highest rocks in the vicinity of Yekaterinburg. They are located at the top of Mount Semibratskaya (422 m) and belong to the Upper Iset granite massif. The height of the idols is up to 32 m. In the upper part, the mount is dividing into separate stone columns of folded structure, reminiscent of giants or brothers, from which the name comes. Actually, there are more than seven ‘brothers’, and next to them there is a remnant called ‘a sister’. There are many legends associated with the name of the rocks, and most of them imply that the brothers turned into stone. No traces of ancient people were found here. It could be connected with the prohibition for ordinary people to visit this place because it was believed that gods lived there. Nowadays there are a lot of tourists here, climbers have the training and sometimes competitions. Nearby (1.5 km) are the Rocks of Three Sisters. There are indeed three stone idols of no more than 20 m high. It is easy to climb to the south side. On the north side, there is an interesting big grotto. You can get to the Seven Brothers from the town of Verkh-Neyvinsk (7 km) and to the village itself take a train from Yekaterinburg.

Mount Bunar (612 m), which is the highest in the vicinity of Verkh-Neyvinsk and Novouralsk, has the Bunar idols. There are no idols on the top itself, they are scattered all over the slopes of Mount Bunar . It is not easy to find them among the dense taiga filled with windbreak. There is a belief that there are 999 idols in these forests. You climb one of them, you open your eyes to the next one. By the way, real idols which were worshipped by the peoples who lived here in ancient times must remain hidden from curious eyes. Most of the tourists manage to find two rock sculptures which are called very dramatically: the First and the Second. Not far from Mount Bunar , there are mineral deposits. To the south of Mount Bunar on the Kamenka River, there is one of the few deposits of green garnet in the Urals - a diamond-like demantoid. In the east, in the environs of the former mountain, there is now the Zaplotny Stone quarry where they mine tourmalines, chlorites, sphenes, and radiated zeolite. It is better to start the trip to Mount Bunar from Belorechka settlement or from the railway station Neivo-Rudyanskaya.

The relief of the Urals Mountains made it possible to build many ski centres in the Sverdlovsk Oblast. The largest of them are located on Belaya, Volchikha, and Yezhovaya mountains. In the city of Nizhny Tagil on Mount Dolganaya there is a ski jump complex where international competitions are held.

In the Sverdlovsk Region, you can see ethereal landscapes which the locals call the Urals Mars. Unusual beautiful landscapes reminiscent of Martian and sometimes lunar ones appeared on the place of former clay quarries. The official name of this place is Poldnevoy Section of the Troitsko-Baynovsky refractory clay deposit located south of the town of Bogdanovich, near the Poldnevoy village. The deposit is 20 km long and has an area of about 75 sq.km. It is one of the largest reserves in the Middle Urals. The clays have different colouring ranging from white and light grey to black with admixtures of iron oxides and humus matter. Due to this, the local clay quarries differ considerably in colour from each other. Clay hills have the appearance of ridges of different sizes. There are several lakes with water of orange and brown-red colour which is explained by the presence of pyrite in water. Bathing in such water is dangerous. Walking in this area can be likened to walking on another planet.

Thanks to karst phenomena, there are many caves, gaps, sinks, arches and other karst formations in the mountains. However, the exploration of grottoes and caves continues to this day and even geographers make very tentative guesses about their numbers. There are about 80 caves in the Sverdlovsk Region that are more than 50 meters long and deeper than two meters.

The longest caves are the Severnaya Cave (2,250 m long), the Bolshaya Yurtishenskaya Cave (930 m long), the Tayozhnaya Cave (850 m long), the Smolinskaya Cave (630 m long), and the Druzhba Cave (500 m long).

The deepest caves are the Sadykovskaya (88 m), the Tayozhnaya (64 m), the Saranskaya (49 m), the Vetrovaya (45 m), and the Volkovskaya Mine (44 m).

The most popular caves in the Sverdlovsk Region are the Smolinskaya, Druzhba, and the Arakayevskie caves. The Smolinskaya Cave is located two kilometres from the village of Beklenishcheva in the Sukholozhskoye District. The Druzhba Cave is located near the Iset River and the Revun rapids. The Arakayevskie caves can be found near the village of Arakayevo in the Deer Streams Nature Park.

The Sverdlovsk region has many interesting places to visit:

• Nature reserves Denezhkin Stone , Visimsky
• Nature parks Deer Streams , Chusovaya River, Bazhov’s Places;
• National Park Pripyshminskie Pinewoods
• Nature and mineralogical reserve Rezhevskaya

Fans of water trips will be interested in rafting along the picturesque rivers Chusovaya, Sosva, Lozva, Serga, Iset, Rezh, Kakva, Ivdel, Tagil, Ufa, Neiva, Pyshma, Shishim, Serebryanka, Sulem, Ay, and Bardym. The most stunning of them is the Chusovaya River. On the banks of many rivers, there are plenty of beautiful rocks of various shapes and sizes.

For the lovers of extreme pleasures, the Revun rapids on the Iset River are the biggest temptation. The Iset River is a calm, not a mountain river but for 500 m it turns into a bubbling stream and shows a duel of water and stone. The complexity category of the rapids varies depending on the season and water level in the river from the 2nd to the 5th at the end of March or in April during the flood. It is often possible to watch rafters' competitions or training sessions in canoes, catamarans, kayaks on the Revun rapids. Beklenishchevskie rocks (20-30 m high) surrounding the rapids lure all types of climbers, experienced and beginners alike. In 1989, the last All-Union Tourist Con was held here. In the vicinity of Revun, just 1.5 km away, there is the Smolinskaya cave (500 km downstream, on the opposite bank and 800 m deep into the forest to be exact), which can be visited after rafting.

The following zoo nurseries are located in the Sverdlovsk Region:

• Maral farm Visimskiye Zori. Marals are large semi-wild deer brought here from the Altai. It is situated in Visim settlement, 180 km from Yekaterinburg.
• Zoo in Pridannikovo village, 200 km from Yekaterinburg.
• Irbit ostrich farm in the town of Irbit, 205 km from Yekaterinburg.
• The equestrian sports club Kapriol which keeps horses, reindeer, and white camel. You can order a tour, or go for a walk to the Seven Brothers Rocks. The club teaches horseback riding. It is located in Verkh-Neyvinsky, 70 km from Yekaterinburg.
• Deer reserve UZGA. It is situated not far from Itkul, near Sysertskoye Lake, 116 km from Yekaterinburg.
• Kholzan bird of prey nursery near the village of Kashino, 46 km from Yekaterinburg.

Those who want food for thought and a calmer but no less interesting experience should go to the major cities of the Sverdlovsk region where you can visit their temples and monasteries, museums, and get acquainted with local culture and traditions.

The main pearl among the cities of the Sverdlovsk region is its capital city – Yekaterinburg. You can get to Yekaterinburg in one of the following ways:

• Fly by plane to Koltsovo Airport.
• Take a train to the station of Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk-Sortirovochnaya station).

You can take a bus, suburban train or a taxi to other towns of the region from Yekaterinburg.

By order of Peter the Great, the city of Yekaterinburg, also spelt as Ekaterinburg, was originally established in the Urals as an industrial and trade centre. In 1723, the Yekaterinburg plant was built on the Iset River. This year is also considered the birthday of the city. Its founders are Vasily Tatishchev and Georg Wilhelm de Gennin. The city received its name in honour of the wife of Peter I, the future Empress Catherine I. The city has a favourable geographical location. Yekaterinburg is located on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains , in the Middle Urals. The Ural Mountains in this place are low, they are basically hills, which provides favourable conditions for the construction of railways and large roads here. The Koltsovo International Airport is also located here. Now Yekaterinburg is one of the largest transport and logistics hubs. The city has many shopping and office centres. Yekaterinburg is the most compact city with a population of one million people in Russia. Its area is 490 sq. km. In terms of population (about 1.5 million people) it is the fourth city in Russia after Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Novosibirsk. The main river of the city is the Iset. There are also ponds within the city limits: the Urban, the Upper Iset, and the Lower Iset ponds. All the tributaries of the Iset in the city except the Patrushikha River were hidden underground in the past years. Yekaterinburg is the only city in the Urals with metro, and for a long time, it was considered the shortest in the world.

It is convenient to start a brief acquaintance with the history of the capital of the Urals with the Plotinka - the dam of the city pond that gave rise to the plant and the city of Yekaterinburg itself. A stone's throw from it, there is a monument to the founders of the city (Tatishchev and de Gennin), a chapel in honour of Catherine I and a fountain called the Stone Flower. In addition to the dam and the pond, you can visit the exhibition of large-size equipment of Ural factories in the open air. A walk along the embankment of the city pond and along the Iset River in the centre of the city will open views of the old buildings preserved here. In summer, you can take a boat ride on the pond.

Another attraction is the Temple on Blood built on the site of the Ipatyev’s house. It is believed that during the Civil War in 1918 in the basement of Ipatyev's house the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family were executed. The cathedral was built in the Russian-Byzantine style and divided into the Lower and Upper Temples. There are a firing room and a small museum in the tomb chapel of the Lower Temple.

Across the road from the Temple on Blood, on Voznesenskaya Hill, there is a palace and a park which is sometimes called the Yekaterinburg Acropolis. The estate of the Ural Kharitonov-Rastorguyev dynasty includes a park with an artificial pond and a gazebo-rotunda on it.

To get acquainted with the panorama of the city, it is worth visiting the observation deck of the skyscraper Vysotsky (the 52nd floor, height of the platform 186 m). There is also an observation deck in the business centre of Antey.

There are many theatres in Yekaterinburg, as well as a philharmonic, circus, zoo, and an aqua park. Museums are plenty as well, there is the Museum of History of Yekaterinburg, Museum of Ural History and Archaeology, Museum of Nature, Museum of Radio, Museum of Fine Arts. In addition, the museum complex is located in the Literary Quarter. In the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, you can see the world's oldest wooden sculpture – the Big Shigir Idol, its age according to the latest estimates is 11.6 thousand years. The most modern museum in Yekaterinburg is Boris Yeltsin’s Museum located in Yeltsin centre. Yeltsin Center itself has become a large public, cultural and educational centre, which hosts many bright, interesting events in the city.

Among the natural sights within the city limits the most interesting are the rocks of Shartash stone tents and lake Shartash, and the Baran peninsula on Upper Iset pond.

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• Preparing and Sailing a Snipe

[caption id="attachment_9018" align="alignnone" width=""]http://www.friedbits.com/[/caption]By: Peter Commette(This article is adapted from another written by someone else, who wishes not to be mentioned.) Boat Design When speed sailing in a straight line, all Jibe Tech Snipes built after summer 2006 (30571 or higher number) and all Persson or Persson-like Snipes, regardless of year, are basically created equal. Because of this, a used Snipe is an excellent way to get into the class. Before purchasing any used boat there are a couple of things to check. First, weigh the boat. It may have corrector weights that can be removed to make it minimum weight. Second, check the mast. The Sidewinder Gold is the standard. (photo courtesy of Fried Elliott http://www.friedbits.com/) ...

By: Peter Commette (This article is adapted from another written by someone else, who wishes not to be mentioned.)

Boat Design

When speed sailing in a straight line, all Jibe Tech Snipes built after summer 2006 (30571 or higher number) and all Persson or Persson-like Snipes, regardless of year, are basically created equal. Because of this, a used Snipe is an excellent way to get into the class.

Before purchasing any used boat there are a couple of things to check. First, weigh the boat. It may have corrector weights that can be removed to make it minimum weight. Second, check the mast. The Sidewinder Gold is the standard.

(photo courtesy of Fried Elliott http://www.friedbits.com/ )

Boat Preparation

Hull: After purchasing your Snipe, I recommend taking your boat to a professional to have it faired every four years of so. Fiberglass boats shrink as they age, and a fairing job is the only way to maintain the hull in top form. When fairing, carry the round on the chines to the maximum width; from the maximum width back, sharpen the chine to the transom; sharpen the transom on the bottom and all the way up the sides. After that, just use soap and water to keep it clean. Hullkote works well, too.

The Snipe Class has a moment-of-inertia test to control the weight in the ends of the boat. The builders install corrector weights under the fore- and afterdecks, because that’s the quickest way to meet the “swing” test. However, I prefer to concentrate the correctors together, aft of the skipper. This will allow you to slide the boat forward on the jig, until it just passes the test.

Blades: A good rudder is minimum weight (6 pounds), max width, with the max width at about 35% back, and a sharp trailing edge. Don’t ruin your light rudder with a heavy tiller or hiking stick.

The daggerboard is fairly straight forward. It should be chocked so it is all the way aft in its trunk and tight side to side.

Check your board with a straight edge to make sure it’s absolutely flat. The aluminum plate is rolled, so it has a slight curve. You can straighten the board by placing it across two supports and jumping on it.

The trend in leading-edge shape of these aluminum plates has evolved to a parabolic tip that gradually tapers into the board using all of the 1″ bevel allowed.

The trailing edge will hum if its taper is too abrupt. It is important to use the full 1″ width of the allowed taper to fair in the edges gradually. The trailing edge should be as sharp as possible. The bottom of the board should be tapered as well, to a chisel point or a parabolic leading edge shape.

Most boards come with a cut-out which can reduce the weight by as much as 5 lbs. If you sail with a very strong crew, you can “cheat” the MOI test with a non-cut out board.

Masts: Getting the rig right is the most important thing you can do for speed in a Snipe. The first step is to find a good mast. As a general rule, bendier masts are better than stiff ones.

Bendy masts are good for two reasons. First, The Snipe is very sensitive to mainsheet tension. A bendy mast gives the mainsheet a lot of range of adjustment, which makes trimming less critical in medium air. It also makes it easier to prebend in light air.

The second reason has to do with how the Snipe Class measures masts. You can trick the moment of inertial test by bringing an underweight mast up to weight with an internal sleeve or web at spreader height.

Although bendier masts are better than stiff ones, the Proctor Miracle and the Sidewinder Junior and Black go too far. The Sidewinder Gold is the best.

If your mast is too stiff, don’t abandon it. First, cut out the external sail-track web that reinforces the mast below the gooseneck. This allows the mast to bend down low. If you have the old Sidewinder Standard, cutting the web will make it like a Sidewinder Gold.

Second, look up the sail track; see if the taper at the tip deflects forward. If yes, bend it straight.

Third, cut the butt of the mast so the aft edge is 3/16″ longer than the front edge. This compresses the back of the mast and forces it to bend forward.

Fourth, raise your shrouds to maximum height on the mast. This separates them from the headstay and also forces more bend into the spar.

Fifth, make sure that your main halyard locks exactly at the maximum height. The higher the mainsail the more leverage the leech has to bend the mast.

Finally, consider moving the spreader bracket down the mast a little.

Spreader Angle, Length and Chainplate Position: This is a critical adjustment for the Snipe. It’s different for every mast, boat, and crew weight. Finding your “magic” setting often requires a bit of experimentation.

To determine the proper length and angle, first you need to consider where your shrouds are positioned on the deck. This is different for every builder. The trend has been to move the shrouds as far forward and outboard as is legally allowed (60″ behind stem). The Jibe Techs after 2006 (30571 or higher number) and the Perssons are pretty much the same. The more forward your chain plates, the wider spreader angle you need; and the more outboard your chainplates, the more spreader length.

Also consider both the type of mast and the weight of the crew. Bendier masts must be “powered up” with longer, less-swept spreaders. Stiffer masts are depowered by shorter spreaders with more aft sweep. Remember, masts from the same manufacturer can vary up to 7 percent in weight, so don’t copy your neighbor’s settings just because he has the same model as you. The heavier, more athletic the crew, the more power you tune into the rig with spreader length and angle. Spreader length is measured with spreaders locked aft. The average-weight crew, sighting up the sail track when sailing upwind in moderate conditions, wants to see a mast that is straight sideways. A lighter team would be looking for about 1/4″ of bend to weather at the spreaders; a heavyweight crew wants about 1/4″ to leeward. This 1/2″ range in side bend translates into a 1/2″ difference in spreader lengths. Length is measured from the shroud through the spreader bracket pin to the mast, under the spreader.

To determine the correct amount of spreader angle, or sweep, take a look at how the mainsail sets in heavy air with the vang on hard. In these conditions you will get “overbend wrinkles” from excessive mast bend. These wrinkles run from the clew to the lower half of the mast. By pulling on the mast aft lever, you should be able to remove all of these wrinkles. If you still have overbend wrinkles in the spreader area, you need to widen the spreader angle.

Hiking Straps: The crew’s straps must be far enough away from center line and angled out, so that the crew can quickly get his or her feet under them.

Skipper’s Straps. When reaching in planing conditions, the crew moves aft to the skipper’s straps, and the skipper moves aft and tightens up his hiking straps or uses a single, short reaching strap that is just tight enough so he or she can’t be “fire hosed” out of the boat.

When running in surfing or planing conditions it is nice, but not essential, that the skipper have sailboard-style foot straps mounted on the floor in front of the reaching strap. Then he can lock his feet to the floor, and slide in and out to help balance the boat without tugging on the tiller or mainsheet.

Jib sheeting: Most boats still are rigged for facing aft. The advantage to facing aft is it gives you better balance when tacking in big seas, because you don’t have to duck under the vang.

Some have simple cleats mounted on cars that are pinned to adjustable tracks. This works well. Another trimming system that has become popular is to use a twing on the jib sheet to adjust the for-and-aft lead upwind. This twing is led to the crew on the weather side. The twing deflects the sheet down and inboard.

Some of the top crews trim the jib straight from ratchet block, but this is not practical for a crew under 130 pounds because the pull is too hard. Even with a ratchet, you still need some sort of cleat, accessible to both skipper and crew, for cleating the pole off the wind.

Pole Launcher: By pulling on the launcher line, the jib clew is pulled to the pole end, and the inboard end of the pole is then launched from the end of the boom toward the mast. Make sure that the block on the mast is at least 1″ above the gooseneck and that it floats back enough so that the rope bearing point is behind the widest part of the mast. The turning block at the deck should be behind the widest part of the mast when the mast is at its neutral or base position.

Control Lines: I lead the jib Cunningham, as well as the jib leads, the mast aft, the mast forward, and the boomvang to the crew on the deck. In the deck recess between the skipper and crew are the main cunnigham and traveler.

The jib halyard exits from the daggerboard trunk, and is angled or swivels for easy cleating from the rail. It needs to have at least 15″ to 18″ or more of throw, so the jib can be flown out and away from the boat on a run. Most sailors use anywhere from a 6:1 to 12:1 cascade inside the trunk. The 6:1 works about as well as the 12:1 with less tail to pull.

The split-mainsheet system is the class standard. A rope bridle is sewn to the after end of the mainsheet, which is then trimmed inside the aft boom block when the mainsheet is trimmed hard. Except for very light air, no matter how hard you trim, the boom will remain centered until the bridle is “let down” with the traveler adjustment.

In practice, the split mainsheet’s 1:1 purchase is unmanageable for any skipper under 130 pounds in a strong breeze. For smaller skippers or consistent heavy-air conditions, a 2:1 mainsheet makes more sense.

The Augie Equalizer or “AE” attaches to the split tail as it runs along the deck from the outboard deck traveler blocks, one AE control line attaching on either side of the traveler center line piece. In very light air to light/medium air, by pulling the windward AE line, you can center the main and get more twist in the mainsail at the top than the split mainsheet would otherwise allow.

Before the Mast Goes up

Make sure the mast is straight: Two saw horses are enough for mid-mast bends. You need to use a cantilever method for low mast bends.

Main halyard length: The shackle pin should lock 1/4″ lower than the bottom of the top mast band.

Spreader adjustment bolts: Start with making sure that the adjustment bolts extend the same distance in front of each spreader.

Stays and turnbuckles: 2.5 mm Dieform stays and Staymaster turnbuckles are the standard.

Length of spreaders: Limber Mast: 17 1/4″; Stiff Mast: 16 3/4″, measured from shroud through pin in bracket to side of mast on bottom of spreader. For boats with chain plates positioned at the maximum outboard location (like the Perssons and Jibe Techs after 30571) and sailed by an average-weight crew. If chain plates are mounted inboard, spreader length should be reduced accordingly. Heavy crews should add 1/4″ in spreader length, light crews should subtract 1/4″.

Tip to tip measurement: Limber Mast: 30 1/2″; Stiff Mast: 29″, measured from spreader tip to spreader tip. For boats with chain plates at the maximum forward position sailed by an average-weight crew. Reduce accordingly for boats with aft chain plates.

Last way to make sure that the spreaders are deflecting evenly before the mast goes up: Run shockcord from spreader tip to spreader tip. Sight the mast from the butt looking toward the shockcord. Put a level next to the butt of the mast and level the mast, so that its bolt rope side is pointing straight up. If the spreaders are even, the shockcord should look perfectly horizontal to you.

Jib trim mark on spreaders: Just as a reference, and not as a rule of trim, put contrasting tape or a magic marker line on the spreaders at 31 CM from the side of the mast. This is a good inside position. You will rarely trim inside of that mark, and many times you will trim at that mark or wider.

Mast butt or heel position: The mast butt should be max forward. The old standard was 60″ back from the stem. That 60″ rule is gone, with the only restriction now being the front end of the mast partner, which has been standardized by rule. For simplicity, for a Persson, we just measure from the front of the Persson boardwell; the same measurement of 60″ back from the stem is equal to 39 CM forward from the front of the boardwell. I sail at 40 CM…this week; most sail at 39 CM; some sail at 38 CM.

After Putting the Mast Up

Forestay length: I like my mast to stop at about 1″ forward of the aft part of the mast partner. Do not have forestay on for tuning or the stays will be too tight for tuning in the heavy air ranges. Attach a shockcord 12″-18″ up from the deck to keep the forestay from sagging into the jib upwind and interfering with the pole during jibes off the wind.

The mast partners: The partners should have about a 1/32″ of play on each side of the mast. This makes it easy to center the mast, and allows it to stay in column as the rig stretches upwind.

Put some tension on the forestay or on the jib halyard and look up the back of the mast; adjust the chocks on either side of the mast until the mast appears straight side to side.

Mast even side to side: Put pressure on the jib halyard, pull a tapemeasure to the top of the mast on your main halyard and lock it in place. Measure to your chainplate pin to make sure that the mast is not leaning one way or the other.

Equalize spreader back sweep: The last method for equalizing the spreader sweep is to cram on the jib halyard and/or to put on mast ram forward so that the spreaders lock. Stand off to the side of the boat about 20′ away or a little more. Look at the stay near you through to the stay on the other side of the boat. They should be perfectly in line.

Tune the mast: As per your sailmaker’s tuning guide. After you have the mast tuned at the standard rake that your sailmaker suggests, put a mark on each side of the mast with corresponding marks on the partner, the turnbuckles or Staymasters, and the jib halyard wire and mast. This is your “Neutral” or base position. The standard rake is for all-purpose, medium-air conditions.

General tuning notes: Make sure that your jib halyard, when it is pulled to base or neutral, has no more than one inch before it bottoms out. This allows the jib to fly out the farthest when you are off the wind, and it allows for a little tighter halyard if the wind comes up during a race. To accomplish this, you may need to add some line to the job halyard wire at the point where it attaches to the head of the jib.

Always attach the jib wire at the tack as far forward as possible.

In light air and slop, the jib halyard is eased as much as a half inch to straighten the mast and to make the jib fuller and easier to trim. In a breeze the turnbuckles or Staymasters are tightened to firm up the rig. Class rules prohibit adjustment of shrouds while racing, so that during a race, a little more jib halyard tension will take care of the jib sag induced by the extra breeze, or you may try dropping your traveler.

The mast lever or mast fore and aft control (also known as “mast ram”) is a critical adjustment. In very light air and chop, or in light air and flat water, it is used to add prebend, sometimes as much as 1/4″ to 1/2″. In choppy conditions or when vang sheeting, the ram is used to restrict bend. In heavy air upwind, the proportion of vang tension to ram aft is varied with sea conditions. For example, in rough seas, 1/4″ of added aft ram at deck level, with a corresponding ease of the vang, will give the mainsail more power and twist for better speed.

Mark everything, but here are the important ones: identify the cleats for the various control lines; mark on deck 7″ down on the traveler; mark mainsheet in a number of spots on either side of the upwind trim at the forward boom block; 88″, 89″, and 90″ marks on deck for jib leads (measured from the jib tack pin); numerous marks on the vang line on the static part of the vang system that doesn’t move; mark jib sheets in numerous places around where they trim at the ratchet; marks from 13″ to 18″ off centerline on the splashrails at each inch mark; mark with tape or a marker at 31 CM from mast on each spreader; mark, at the very least, the neutral settings for halyard, on the deck for the mast position in the partner, and Staymasters.

Sail Trim Upwind

Mainsheet: A good starting point for medium air is to trim the main until the upper batten is parallel to the boom, which usually is when the upper leech telltale starts to die. Trimming one or two ratchet clicks harder on your mainsheet is good for occasional pinching, and a similar ease on the sheet will allow you to foot.

In very light winds, the top batten will hook to weather due to the large roach of the sail and the weight of the boom. Adding 1/4″ to 1/2″ of forward mast lever will help alleviate this a little. In heavy air the upper batten will naturally angle out 10 degrees from parallel.

Watch the top leech telltale. For the most part, you want it to be on the edge of streaming/not streaming.

Traveler: Use it! In light air and flat water the traveler is centered. In light air and chop, drop the traveler down an inch or two and trim until the leech is firm. You can develop better footing power by dropping the traveler 1″ and sheeting one “click” harder on the mainsheet. This will give you some good power.

The traveler is an important control in medium air; reach for it first to depower when the wind builds from 10 to 15 knots. With the traveler down you can still sheet the main fairly hard to maintain mast bend and headstay tension. The traveler is dropped three to four inches before it’s time to rely on the vang to bend the mast. In heavy air, I will drop the traveler as much as 7″.

Boomvang: In winds of 0 to 14 knots, just take the slack out of the vang. That way, the vang will only have tension on it when the main is eased for footing, a puff or to work through a wave.

By the time the wind is 15 knots, it is usually puffy and choppy. In these conditions you have to be able to play the main in and out in large amounts. To do this you need to “lock in” the mast bend with the ram and with boomvang tension; otherwise the mast straightens and the main gets too full as you dump the mainsheet for footing, a puff or to work through a wave. You also have to “lock in” headstay sag, or the jib will balloon out to leeward and cause lee helm whenever you ease the mainsheet. This is done with the aft lever and the boomvang.

When the wind is in the 15 to 20 knot range, the primary power control is the boomvang. Maximum vang for fully overpowered conditions is almost, but not quite, enough to cause the mainsail to turn “inside out” from overbend wrinkles. When you have way over-vanged, you will have lee helm when you ease the main in a puff.

Jib Lead and Sheet Tension: The Snipe goes best when the jib lead seems unnaturally far forward and the sheet seems over-eased. The standard jib-lead positions for most jibs is about 7′ 4″(88″) – 7′ 6″(90″) aft of the jib tack (jib wire) fastening point in a straight line over the splashrails. 7’5″(89″) is a good, safe starting point. As the wind comes up, let the lead out as much as 3″ in a lot of wind. In extremely light air, sometimes you can let the lead out about 3″ to trim wide without the sail “cupping.”

Once in a while in extreme light air, good speed can be achieved with moving the leads all the way aft and easing the twing to flatten out the jib, open the leech. You would think this is the “trimming wide” that you want in light air to keep the boat moving forward, especially in a chop, but you will be surprised to see that the intersection of the jib and the splashrail indicates that you are not trimming that wide, so that you have a nice combination of the sail having a nice shape and not having to sail too low to achieve it, while the jib has a nice open shape that keeps you moving forward.

Sheet tension is far more important than lead position. Snipe sailors measure tension by marking the foot of the jib where the vertical plane of the sail lands on the splash rail or the deck the maximum tension mark is made 15″-16″ off the centerline on each side of the mast, with the mast set in its “neutral position.” Only in medium air and flat water is the jib trimmed this hard. In choppy conditions it is eased 1″ or 2″ outside this mark and further out in big breeze. Maximum ease is fast also when it’s light and sloppy. Watch the leech telltale; if it dies, ease. Unlike the main, you never want it overtrimmed at any time. A majority of speed problems is caused by overtrimming the jib. If you feel slow, ease the jib and foot.

Sail Trim Off Wind:

Pin the spreaders so that they do not go forward of right angles in a good breeze, which will keep the mast from inverting off the wind and will allow you to carry your mast further back off the wind in a more powered up setting. Unpin in lighter to moderate breeze, so the boom can go out further.

Reaching: Despite its weight, the Snipe planes easily. Because the hull has a lot of rocker, it is very sensitive to fore-and-aft weight positioning. On a planing reach, the skipper slides aft and lock his feet into the reaching strap while the crew has the whole cockpit and must use it to full advantage. The goal is to keep the boat absolutely level, both side to side and on its fore-and-aft lines. When the stern lifts as a wave or puff hits, the crew slides aft and hikes on the skipper’s upwind straps to keep the bow from digging in. The bow lifts as soon as the boat is planing, so the crew slides in and forward to the front of the cockpit to keep the boat on its lines. This for-and-aft movement is not ooching if you don’t stop abruptly, push, or grab the deck. Holding the pole line aft of the cleat helps the crew move around the boat. Skipper and crew should hike with their bodies angled back at 45 degrees to centerline.

The daggerboard is always raised to full legal height off the wind, except when the pole reach is tight, or you are in displacement jib reaching; in both instances, it’s set three inches lower.

The use of aft-mast ram is critical to off wind speed. The farther aft you pull the mast, the straighter and more powerful the mainsail. If you pull too hard, however, the mast will reverse and take a permanent bend. In heavy air, always have the mast set at, or forward of the neutral position, especially when reaching with the pole up.

The jib halyard is eased slightly when jib reaching (1″), except in heavy air. When pole reaching the halyard is eased about 6″-8″, less if it’s a tight reach. A reaching hook for the weather sheet helps keep the pole from skying on a reach.

Most sailors know enough to trim the pole back as he wind goes aft, but you also have to either ease the halyard or retract the pole launcher a few inches, or the jib will be stretched tight and won’t fly properly. The reverse is true as you let the pole forward; either make the pole longer or tighten the halyard.

Running: In light air, a Snipe sails like a spinnaker boat. The pole is long, the jib is light and flies well away from the boat and to keep the jib flying you have to sail fairly tight jibing angles. Tactically it’s just as challenging as sailing with a spinnaker.

As you enter a lull, heel the boat onto its leeward chine, let the pole forward, and tighten the jib halyard. In a puff, shift your weight so the boat rolls onto its weather chine. This gives you the lee helm necessary to carve the boat down in the puff. The pole should come back as the halyard is eased.

In moderate to heavy air, the boat is sailed level for better control. Here, working “deep” is not as important as shifting your weight to best ride the waves. Heeling to weather, pulling the mast back and easing the vang does allow you to sail deeper, but invites an inverted mast. Sometime in a big sea, it is favorable to shorten the pole, so that it has less tendency to dip in the water. Bad things happen when the pole is dipped (break pole, invert mast, rip jib at the tack). The crew can solve the problem with a hand on the pole line behind the cleat; the crew uncleats the pole when it dips.

Setting the Pole on a Reach in a Breeze: For the lighter crew, technique is everything, and the skipper must help; it’s a two person maneuver. Many ways that work; this is the system I use: (1) sail high of rhumb line, get vang eased (if you forgot to ease it before you rounded the mark) and get board up; trim jib normally and sail fast; when skipper has boat moving and under control, skipper looks for being free of the fleet and a wave to ride down; (2) skipper bears off on wave and sails dead down wind; this makes it easy for crew to get the pole all the way out with the clew butted up against the pole; skipper trims the jib to reaching position, while crew puts windward sheet in reaching hook; (3) come up to course.

Sometimes in a breeze the clew does not butt up against the end of the pole because the wind gets in the jib before the crew can get the clew tight against the pole. If that happens, the skipper doesn’t need to panic. If it’s a matter of a foot or less, don’t ease the jib halyard; rather, get the boat going and wait for a lull or to be bearing off down a wave to fix. The way to fix the problem is to have the crew leave the pole line and jib sheet cleated, grab the pole and pull the pole back on the pole line in the direction of the mast.

Jibing the Pole: If on a reach, get the windward sheet out of the reaching hook first. The hardest jibe is from starboard to port, so I will address this: (1) Skipper trims leeward jib sheet hard and cleats it, so it’s partially trimmed for new jibe; (2) skipper overtrims mainsail to keep boom parallel to pole or the pole will get stuck in the triangular space formed by where the main bolt rope enters the boom, the tack, and the gooseneck, or it will get stuck in the vang where it attached to the boom or the forward mainsail block; (3) crew pulls pole line between cleat and block out to chainplate (length necessary to let the pole retract to a point just inside the jib wire and forestay); (4) crew places back hand (right hand on this jibe) at aft block clutching the pole line there and locks his hand in there so the hand does not move and accidently start trimming the line until ready (otherwise the pole won’t retract enough and will hang up on forestay); (5) crew’s forward hand (left on starboard jibe) uncleats the pole line and then grabs the vang and pulls the boom over while leaning over the top of the board to help the roll-jibe; (6) at same time, skipper yanks the windward jib sheet hard to keep the pole parallel to the boom and to help the shockcord retract the pole, while the skipper also is steering into the jibe; (7) as the boom passes over the head of the crew and is past centerline, the crew pulls up the pole on the new jibe. Big, long yanks on the line to set it; no baby yanks. If the pole does get caught in the boom, many times the only way to fix the problem is to jibe back and start over.

Dousing the Pole: Again, the hardest is a starboard rounding for the same reason that the starboard to port jibe is the hardest; the pole can get caught in so many areas caused by the pole failing to keep parallel to the boom. Many ways work; this is my method: (1) pull the pole back and overtrim the windward jib sheet; (2) if coming to the mark on a reach, get the pole out of the reaching hook; (3) the skipper pulls up the jib halyard while the crew shortens the pole a few inches, more in light air and less in heavy (in heavy air on a reach the pole does not need to be shortened); the object is to keep the pole parallel to the boom; (4) when the pole is retracted, the skipper overtrims the main, while the crew uncleats the pole and yanks hard on the windward jib sheet.

General Sail Fast Thoughts for All Boats

Placement of your body: In light air, try to center the weight as low in the boat as possible. In a hiking breeze do everything you can to get more leverage. Remember, you always will go faster if you hike harder, or do like I now do and get a crew that hikes real hard. Try to keep the skipper and crew’s weight together fore and aft.

Using your body, and using anything but your tiller to steer: Think of the rudder as a brake. Let’s go over the basics of cutting the umbilical cord to the rudder:

Trim main: boat heads up Ease main: boat heads down

Trim jib: boat heads down Ease jib: boat heads up

Raise board: boat heads down Lower board: boat heads up

Pull on vang: boat heads up Ease vang: boat heads off

Move forward: boat heads up Move aft: boat heads off

Lean in: boat heads up Lean out: boat heads down

Torque aft: boat heads up, but if you stay aft, the boat eventually will head down Torque forward: boat heads down, but if you stay forward, the boat eventually will head up

In waves, use all the kinetics the rules allow. Slide aft before hitting a big wave or torque aft, and slide or torque forward at the crest. Unweight before a wave and hike hard on the crest. Slide forward as you come into the boat in a dying breeze. The goal is to keep the boat absolutely flat or at a constant heel without rolling from side to side.

Good luck and smooth sailing!

Torquing is throwing the top part of your body (from rear end up) fore or aft and twisting the boat around a fulcrum, the board. Torquing works only in the moment, while all the other maneuvers rearrange the alignment of the center of effort and center of resistance, either fore and aft or side to side.

• Peter Commette

Manuel Cabrera

Fantastica Web, solamente a falta de una mejor traducción al Español. Muy buena para los que nos iniciamos (ya mayores) a la navegación con Snipe. Muchas gracias por todo. Saludos cordiales desde la Flota de Snipe de Valencia (España)

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ALDO PELLICCIOTTI

Muito bom artigo! Espero que ainda seja atual, Vou reiniciar tudo seguindo estas instruções

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