A fantastic performance in the rounds leading up to the final led the OBC crew to a well-deserved victory. The sailors trained by Mateusz Kusznierewicz sailed this season, as if in defiance of the winds, sea waves and the class of their opponents.

– We have worked very diligently for this success. The beginnings were difficult because Despite being led by the best coaches in the world, we finished the first season in last place. In the second one, we didn’t even make it to the gold final, although we did triumph in the silver one – for slightly weaker crews. It wasn’t until the following year that we were able to compete with other efficient crews, at the amateur level, of course – says Maciej Kotarski, Director of the Commercialization Department at Olivia Business Centre.

The final regatta turned out to be a great challenge for the participants. Strong and strong winds forced the organizers to give the order to reef the sails, and yet all the yachts sailed surprisingly evenly.

– Of the first five races, each was won by a different crew. We haven’t seen anything like this in the Business League before, usually one or two of the best crews dominate, the rest try to keep up with them. The OBC team did well, but not brilliantly – in the first three races we were always in second place. It wasn’t until the fourth that we finished first, but in the fifth we put up a tangled Gennaker twice and in the blink of an eye the others overtook us, so we ended up third. It was only in the sixth race that we managed to repeat the success and thus won the entire round, the entire Gold Final, as well as the entire Business Sailing League 2019 – says Kotarski happily.

Olivia Business Centre brings people together – many employees of companies residing in the Business Centre willingly get involved in the sports project led by Mateusz Kusznierewicz. This season, the Olivia Business Centre team is made up of colleagues from Bayer Business Services, EPAM Systems, Omida Group, PwC, thyssenkrupp, Alter Investment, for whom the opportunity to race on a regatta yacht is invariably great fun.

– This is my greatest sailing success, although I have been sailing for over 40 years, but mainly as a tourist. When three years ago, thanks to Olivia, I started to pursue my career in the Business League, it turned out that sport sailing has very little in common with tourist sailing, in fact, only the terminology is common. I had to learn everything from scratch – steering on upwind courses, making turns, regatta tactics, priority rules, which are very complicated in regattas – recalls Maciej Kotarski.

The golden team of the Business League finished the season with Borys Malinowski / PwC Poland; Bartłomiej Glinka/ Omida Group; Mikołaj Staniul – tactics and Maciej Kotarski / OBC – helmsman. The team consisted of Michał Krzepkowski from EPAM Poland, Remigiusz Wojciechowski from Bayer Service Center Gdańsk and Damian Tomasik from Alter Investment. The coach of the team is Mateusz Kusznierewicz.