Dragon World Championship - Day 5

by Jonny Fullerton on 17 Jun 2017 The Dragon World Championship was close to climax today with superb sailing conditions that challenged some of the very best keelboat sailors in seas and winds worthy of a world championship.

Two more races were sailed on windward / leeward courses in 18 - 20 knots at the lower end of the course and 25 - 30 knots at the top end and big waves. The air temperature on land was like a sauna and offshore like full on ocean racing. Pods of dolphins performed all over the course although Dragon sailors could hardly see them due to the size of the swell rolling down the race course. Throughout the day there were a number of blown spinnakers and breakages but considering the conditions few retirements.

Race six of the championship started bang on time at 1300hrs in a stiff breeze of 17 - 18 knots on the start line and steep seas as the fleet of 70 Dragons worked up the 2.4nm beat. A great working leg by DEN411 (African Queen) helmed by Corinthian sailor Jorgen Schonherr, saw them round lap 1 in the lead closely followed by GBR758 (Fever) Klaus Diedrichs and UAE9 (Desert Eagle) Hendrik Wintzmann.

The runs were an absolute blast with boat speeds in the low teens and some serious rock and roll. GBR758 (Fever) and UAE9 (Desert Eagle) surfed past the Danes by the bottom gate with MON2 (Jeanie) Jens Rathsack going really well.

On lap 2 with the wind steadily increasing and the waves causing some entertaining wipe-outs, Klaus Diedrichs and Hendrik Wintzmann battled for the lead. On the final beat to the finish line UAE9 (Desert Eagle) Hendrik Wintzmann just held off Fever to take her first winning gun of the championship. A big duck on the finish line cost the Danish Corinthian team on African Queen third place handing it to RUS76 (Rochnrolla) Dmitry Samokhin.

Race seven was moved slightly further down the coast for a bit more shelter but on the start line the RC still advised 18 - 20 knots at the bottom end of the course. The fleet was fairly evenly spread but the individual recall flag was raised causing a number of Dragons to return, but alas not the offending culprit. Yet again the decision was whether to sail offshore into the bigger breeze but confused seas or to the more reliable right (inshore) and flatter waves. As usual a compromise seemed to prevail with the middle right proving popular.

Again it was the UAE flagged Desert Eagle helmed by Hendrik Witzmann with his crew of Henrique Anjos and Markus Koy who seemed to be enjoying the heavy weather with the ever consistent Lawrie Smith and his Portuguese super star crew of Hugo Rocha, Joao Matos Rosa and Goncalo Ribeiro, on their stern. RUS76 Rochnrolla, Dmitry Samokhin was living up to her name and POR66 (Drago) Jose SM Matoso was also back in the mix.

After another hectic gate rounding with numerous penalty circles in the packed lower half of the fleet, the early leaders head out to the flatter right side of the upwind leg as the afternoon breeze began to fade slightly, not that the back markers noticed!

Lawrie Smith (Alfie) continued to press the UAE crew, forcing them into submission in the final beat to the finish line to claim her first regatta gun to loud applause from the local supporters.

UAE9 (Desert Eagle) ran out of steam on the final leg to finish with an excellent (one, four) for the day and move into the top five in the overall rankings. RUS76 Dmitry Samokhin finished with a super consistent (three, two) and POR66 (Drago) Jose SM Matoso was back in the chocolates with a third.

TUR1212 (Provezza) Andy Beadsworth sailed a solid (nine, five) to keep the overall lead from RUS26 (Annapurna) Anatoly Loginov who scored a sixth in race six but was involved in a collision in race seven which she was later given redress for so carried average points and remained in second place.

Lawrie Smith moved up to third overall with a (twelve, one) as results were released at the end of the day. With only one race to be held on the final day the world championship is still in the balance and the forecast, if it is to be believed!, is for light airs.

Saturday’s final race is scheduled to start at 1305hrs local time and looks to provide a fitting climax to a great regatta.