Lev Kovalev

A yachtsman with nearly forty years of experience and over 20,000 nautical miles under his belt.

A native of Irkutsk, since the mid-1990s he has been an active participant, organizer, and multiple winner of regattas on Lake Baikal and the Irkutsk Reservoir. He has taken part in regattas and cruises on Lakes Onega and Ladoga. At the Peter the Great Gulf Cup he met the standard for Candidate Master of Sport (sailing). In the late 1980s, as part of the crew of a Carter-30 yacht, he sailed from Nikolaev to Bulgaria, and from Nikolaev to Greece for an international regatta. In the year marking the 250th anniversary of the discovery of Russian America, as a crew member aboard the 14-meter yacht Baikal of the Hydra design, built in Irkutsk, he followed Bering’s route to Alaska and then on to San Francisco. The yacht Baikal became the first and last Soviet yacht to enter the waters of Fort Ross and drop anchor there. In 2018, he took part in one of America’s most prestigious offshore regattas, VicMaui 2018 — 2,500 nm nonstop from Victoria, Canada, to the Hawaiian island of Maui — followed by a nonstop delivery of the yacht back to Seattle. In March 2023, he sailed solo from Barcelona to the Bay of Kotor on the yacht Sheddi. In the Adriatic he has sailed to Croatia and to the Italian ports of Bari and Brindisi.

He enjoys alpine skiing.