Dragon Edinburgh Cup - Overall and Corinthian winners decided

by Rupert Holmes on 11 Jul 2014 Day five at the Dragon Edinburgh Cup saw tensions rise in an incredibly close race in unstable winds that saw the top five boats separated by just 12 seconds at the start of the final beat.

To add to the drama, it was this leg that decided the overall winners of the event: after a consistent four races Graham and Julia Bailey, crewed by Keith Tippell and Will Heritage, started the day in a position to win both the Edinburgh Cup and Corinthian Trophy with a day to spare, providing they finished fourth or better.

The final leg saw a fierce battle between Lawrie Smith, who led round the bottom mark, and the Baileys, with Smith tacking on top of his opponents more than a dozen times. However, although they slipped back one place on the final leg, the Baileys held on to fourth place to cement their victory.

While the overall winner may have been decided with a day to spare, there is everything to play for in the final race tomorrow. There are only four points between Smith and Strauss in the battle for second and third places, while the next five boats are separated by only seven points. In the Corinthian Division, Mark Wade's Avalanche is in second place two points ahead of Eric Williams Ecstatic, with Julian Sowry's Scimitar just three points adrift in fourth place.

After two postponements due to the gusty and shifty offshore wind, the first start resulted in a general recall. In the restart the Baileys were not in a great position, a little back from the line and with boats to windward. They split with closest rival Lawrie Smith, heading hard left for much of the first beat, arriving at the windward mark in fourth place.

'We managed to just survive the start,' says Graham. 'I've never subscribed to the idea that you have to stay with the fleet and we felt much happier once we were in our own water with the freedom to make the most of the conditions on that side of the course.'

In the second, and third beats, however, Smith denied them the luxury of being able to choose where to head: Graham says 'Lawrie did a terrific job of making it difficult for us.' The unstable wind also added to the difficulty in posting a consistent result: 'There was a lot of pressure on us out there,' says Julia. 'One minute you were in second place and the next you were fifth - we were repeatedly ahead of, and then behind, other boats as we crossed tacks.'

This effect was particularly apparent in the later half of the second beat, when a large number of boats fell into a hole on the left-hand side of the course, which again shuffled the order of the fleet. By the time they reached the finish Smith had extended his lead over Mark Dicker to 12 seconds, while Quentin Strauss took third place, seven seconds later and just four seconds ahead of the Baileys.

The second race today was for the Crew's Trophy. It was won by Rory Paton sailing Ecstatic, with Lisa Guy second on Quicksilver lV and the Bailey's 13-year-old bowman and genoa trimmer, Will Heritage, third. Heritage also won the Under 30 division - a trophy that has the potential to have his name engraved on it for many years to come.

The overall results of the Chairman's Decanter series have also been announced. The winner is Selina Dicker with three points, with Mike Foster second on four points and Jenny Stutley third with seven points.

Provisional Results as of 15:28 on July 10, 2014

Race 5 - 10 July 14 at 12:35:00

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Finish time, Time: 12:35:00

Rank	Boat Name	Sail NO	Yacht Club	Helm Name	Crew Name	Crew Name 2	Crew Name 3	Elapsed	Points
1	Tigger	785	Glandore	Lawrie Smith	Tim Tavinor	Simon Fry		1:49:16	1.0
2	Rackham	610	Royal Yacht Squadron	Mark Dicker	Selina Dicker	James Campbell	Sophie Bubb	1:49:28	2.0
3	Rumours	708	Upper Thames SC	Quentin Strauss	Martin Collen	Nigel Young		1:49:35	3.0
4	Aimee	720	Royal Yacht Squadron	Julia Bailey	Graham Bailey	Keith Tippell	William Heritage	1:49:39	4.0
5	Ecstatic	682	Royal Lymington YC	Eric Williams	Rory Paton	Matt Walker	Carol Dunning	1:50:22	5.0
6	Little Hook	USA 310	Captiva YC	Ted Sawyer	Martin Payne	Mark Hart		1:50:53	6.0
7	Louise	780	RORC	Grant Gordon	Ruairidh Scott	Andrew Palfrey		1:50:58	7.0
8	Avalanche	722	Royal Corinthian YC	Mark Wade	Amanda Wade	Duncan Grindley		1:51:15	8.0
9	YEVIS II	JPN 50	Enoshima YC	Bocci Aoyama	Tetsuya Sasaki	Norio Igei		1:51:31	9.0
10	Fei-Lin's Flirtation	633	RFYC	Ron James	Julia Walsh	Kasper Harsberg		1:51:53	10.0
11	Scimitar	755	Medway YC	Julian Sowry	Claire Sowry	Johann Napp	Tamaryn Napp	1:51:54	11.0
12	Excite	795	Royal Solent YC	Tom Vernon	Neil Payne	Dug Henderson		1:52:03	12.0
13	Chime	741	Royal Corinthian YC	Jenny Stutley	Gillian Hamilton	Anthony Shanks		1:52:10	13.0
14	Quicksilver VI	788	Royal Corinthian YC	Rob Campbell	Luke Malissa	Lisa Guy		1:52:12	14.0
15	Bertie	763	CCYC	Simon Barter	James Barter	Donald Wilks		1:52:34	15.0
16	Storm	770	Royal Corinthian YC	Jono Brown	David Brown	Lynette Brown		1:53:04	16.5
16	Ganador	704	Royal Corinthian YC	Martin Makey	Geoff Butcher	Philip Green		1:53:04	16.5
18	Hands Off	760	Royal Corinthian YC	Mike Holmes	Tim Wilkes	Teresa Wilkes		1:53:05	19.0
18	Pageboy XI	792	Royal Corinthian YC	Clive Page	Graeme Page	Rory Page		1:53:05	19.0
18	Christianna	791	Royal Corinthian YC	Oliver Morgan	Matt Alexander	Rupert Morgan		1:53:05	19.0
21	VIBE	797	Royal Lymington YC	Paul Woodman	Ray Mitchell	Simon McCarthy		1:53:06	21.0
22	BBB	483	Royal Southern YC	Mike Foster	Anthony Edwards	Peter Turner		1:53:15	22.0
23	Naiad	764	Aldeburgh	Mike Hayles	Monique Hayles	Julian Brooke Houghton		1:54:49	23.0
24	Moonshine	702	Royal Western YC	David Jephcott	Nick Over	Peter Kent		1:57:53	24.0

https://rlymyc.org.uk/getmedia/9d02edfd-4380-46a0-9e3f-6203f8b73d81/RLymYC_Dragon_EdingburghCup_Overall.aspx" target="_blank">Overall Open Division Overall Corinthian Event website