Gazprom Int'l European Dragon Championship - Danish team victorious

by Imagina on 30 Mar 2014 The Gazprom International European Dragon Championship, organised by the Yacht Club Sanremo, came to a successful conclusion today with the Danish team made up of Lars Hendriksen, Kleen Frithjof andAnders Bagger taking the 2014 Dragon European Champion title aboard Debutant.

The weather conditions were excellent for the last day of racing which saw the sixth and final race take place under sunny skies in a fresh 18 to 20-knot north-easterly wind. The participants tackled a 12-mile course: the first boat across the line, in fact, was Sophie and her Swiss crew (Pedro Andrade, Martin Westerdahl, Diogo Cayolla) followed by Alfie of Great Britain (Lawrie Smith, Adam Bowers, Joost Houweling) and Drago of Portugal (Jose Sotto Mayor, Gustavo Lima, Frederico Melo).

The final standings for the Gazprom International European Dragon Championship are as follows:

The top seven crews presented with their prizes at 16.30 today at the Yacht Club Sanremo were:

1. Debutant (Denmark): Lars Hendriksen, Kleen Frithjof and Anders Bagger – 28 points
2. Bunker Queen (the United Emirates boat skippered by German Marcus Wieser): Marcus Wieser, Sergey Pugachev and Georgii Leonchuk – 30 points
3. Bunker Boys (the United Emirates boat skippered by Ukrainian Yevgen Braslavets): Yevgen Braslavets, Igor Sidorov and Sergiy Timokhov – 33 points
4. Agtivists (the Monegasque boat skippered by GermanPhilipp Malte): Philipp Malte, Michael Kurtz, Thorsten Imbeck – 45 points
5. Annapurna (Russia): Anatoly Loginov, Vadim Statsenko, Alexander Shalagin – 50 points
6. Sophie (Switzerland): Pedro Andrade, Martin Westerdahl, Diogo Cayolla – 63 points
7. Cloud (Italy): Giuseppe Duca, Jean Sebastien Ponce, Vittorio Zaoli – 66 points

The Virginie Henriot Cup will be awarded to the helmsman of the winning boat and is an award for the nationality of the latter rather than the boat.

Prizes will also be presented today the top three boats in the Corinthian standings (non-professional crews):

1. Tergeste (Italy): Nando Colaninno, Guido Antar Vigna, Mauro Grandone – 77 points
2. The Knucker (Norway): Martin Palson, Goran Alm, Per Arne Nilsen
3. Dejavu (Ukraine): Sergiy Pichugin, Sergiy Scherbakov, Igor Severyanov.

The complete standings are available online here.

The nations represented: A total of 23 nations were represented: Antigua, Australia, Austria, Denmark, United ArabEmirates, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Monaco, Norway, Holland, Portugal, Russia, United States, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and Hungary.

Some of the top names in Italian sailing competed at Sanremo. British sailor Lawrie Smith – whose achievements have included a bronze medal in the Soling at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, three editions of the Whitbread and the America’s Cup in 1983 at the helm of Victory – was aboard Alfie. German Olympic sailor Vincent Hoesch - World and European Champion in various classes including the Dragon, Star and H-Boat - was competing aboard Sinewave. German Markus Wieser - who in 2013 took victory in the International 5.5-metre World Championship and third position in the Dragon World Championships - was aboard Bunker Queen. Marc Bouet – who was Soling World Champion in 1991, competed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics and helmed Ville de Paris and Cap Harmonie in the America’s Cup – was sailing aboard Irina.
YC Sanremo website