The dream team

The gliders of Kyiv’s powerboat athletes Andriy Berezyn and Oleksandr Fedorenko are ready for the start. Oleksandr’s compact red scooter is submerged on the structure, while Berezyn’s more massive boat is still being finished. In the couple of days left before the start in Khmelnytsky, a competent pilot can almost completely change the subtleties of his boat’s setup. In addition to Khmelnytskyi, the competition is held in Cherkasy, Dnipro and Dniprodzerzhynsk. The main event of the season, the European Championship, will take place in Ternopil. Andriy Berezin said that the president of the Ukrainian Federation of Motorized Boaters, V. Shemchuk, is from Ternopil. In 2012, for the second time, the lake in the middle of a small town will become an arena for international competitions.

The question of how to combine his hobby with his work was not even on Andriy Berezyn’s mind.

-It’s simple. The company’s management supports us. They provide company cars and fuel for the competition. We are called the Dalgakiran team at the races, although in the official protocols, Oleksandr and I are racing for Crimea,” Andrii said.

– After work, we are in our workshop and work on our boats. It is very convenient. Most athletes do not have such conditions.

In Kyiv, motorboat pilots train in Obolon in the Sobache Gyrylo Bay, and the capital’s water sportsmen have no state or departmental facilities. Ukrainian water sportsmen finance their training out of their own pockets, and there is no state support program. For this reason, the number of pilots in Ukraine is not large. However, this sport is one of the most prestigious in the world and is developing with the support of the state.

– “For me, working at Dalgakiran has become the birthplace of my hobby,” says Alexander Fedorenko. – “At first, I came here to work as a service engineer, and then I saw a scooter in the shop. I became interested, and I asked Andrey to take me to the competition. For the first two years, I went around, looked closely, helped set up the boat before the start. The work of a watercraft mechanic is very similar to what I do in the company. Here I also deal with the settings of the equipment. However, it is more pleasant to turn the screws in nature than in the workshop or at the customer’s site,” laughs Alexander.

From the boats we move to a small room at the end of the workshop. There are more than three dozen screws hanging on its wall. Each one is special, handmade for “its” boat, special conditions and “its” pilot. By the way, the most important part of the scooter – a new special certified motor for one boat – was also purchased by Dalgakiran. The management is modestly silent about this, but the guys boasted. The cost of such a new thing is five times more expensive than the boat itself. Perhaps this motor will bring Alexander, if not to the podium, then to a solid place among experienced racers. – This year, more participants have already entered my class than in the past, when I was lucky enough to take 6th place in the unofficial European Championship held in Ternopil. In the Federation of Watercraft Manufacturers’ calendar, these races were called the “Ternopil Mayor’s Cup” and gathered a strong lineup of participants. “It would be great if we could do no worse this year, because the competition has increased,” said Oleksandr Fedorenko.

The more experienced Andrey Berezin will compete this season on a new boat of a higher speed and already international class S-550. The 2012 season will be a “test” for him. But, as they say, it’s a good start.

– “I am the oldest employee of Dalgakiran after the director,” smiles Andrey. Despite the fact that such a comment is amusing to hear from a young man, there is no doubt about the solid qualifications of the technical director of the Dalgakiran service center. – After graduating from the National Aerospace University “KhAI” in Kharkiv, I sent my resume to the company and was invited to work in Kyiv. It was in 2006, when Dalgakiran Compressor Ukraine was opening its official representative office in Ukraine.

Since then, we have been growing together. I am an aircraft engineer by profession. The experience and practical knowledge I gained as a water-engineer were supplemented by higher academic education, and now, at Dalgakiran Compressor Ukraine, I put them into practice and continue to gain new skills by adjusting industrial equipment. Everything turned out very organically, my hobby and work have a lot in common.

Oleksandr agrees with this statement. He believes that his experience as a service engineer has greatly contributed to his understanding of the technical aspects of water-motor sports. And the company’s support allows him to travel to competitions and gain experience. At the end of the week, Andrey Berezin and Alexander Fedorenko, water-motorists from the Dalgakiran service center, are going to Ternopil to race in the second stage of the Ukrainian Cup. We wish the guys good luck, and let their sports equipment work as well as the industrial equipment of the company they work for. Fast water and seven feet under the keel!