His determination and desire to master sailing has seen Oleg learn every role on-board the VO70 and his favourite spot is right at the bow!

Why does he do it? Oleg enjoys the feeling of freedom sailing brings, “Having lived in the Soviet time and growing up in the USSR, I think freedom is the most important thing in life. Freedom of sailing, the travel, go anywhere you want and visiting such great places and seeing wild nature and so on. I like the whole combination of everything plus the complexity of sailing and the challenge it brings.”

As a child Oleg lived in a standard Soviet world where life was tough and no one was allowed any sort of business for profit. The family lived in a mountainous area of southern Russia, close to the border with Chechnya, where his father worked in the mines and his mother was employed as a pre-school teacher. When he was 17 he moved to Moscow and started one year at the mining university. He then spent two years in the army in south Uzbekistan, which was mandatory for Russians. He did two years in the intelligence service – 1986 to May 1988 during the Afghan war.

After the army he went to St Petersburg – he knew no one but started studying in the mining university again but gave up a year and a half later. With no degree, he decided to start studying English.

As the Soviet Union began to fall to crumble in the late 1980s and the liberalisation of the economy began, Zherebtsov was among the first generation of new Russian capitalists, starting in his own small way, selling shoes on the street. From there he expanded to selling jeans and chocolate and then began importing sparkling wine from Italy. He opened his first shop in 1993.

Having switched from wholesale to retail, he eventually developed his business into a hypermarket chain, Lenta, which now employs more than 12,000 people, which by the end of 2009, will have opened 50 stores across Russia.

Oleg thoughts on winning: “Why not, if you are in the race and you don’t have the idea to win, then why are you there? “

On sailing offshore: “I enjoyed it very much. It was tough; it was close to a gale. I was pit man and a ballast man so I was inside the hull in storm conditions. It is not easy to suffer this. But I enjoyed the tough conditions. I enjoy the wind and I enjoy being very close to the edge of your physical capability and at the same time to run the boat fast. Really my blood was boiling inside my veins.”