Dragon Edinburgh Cup 2012 - Big winds, big changes

by Fiona Brown on 7 Jul 2012 The penultimate day of the 2012 Dragon Edinburgh Cup sponsored by Belfast Harbour brought big winds and big changes in the overall leader board.

There was just one race to complete so the committee set a full two-mile beat and with the wind gusting up into the high 20s it was to be a day that would truly sort the men from the boys. This fifth race in the series also brought the single discard into play and as a result there were major gains and losses with several of the early favourites dropping out of serious contention whilst others jumped up the rankings.

The man who made the biggest gain of the day was Simon Brien who went from second overall, ten points behind Julia Bailey, to first overall with a nice but not unassailable nine point lead over fellow Irishman Martin Byrne, who discarded a 39th place in favour of today's eighth to scoot up from ninth into second. Tonight reigning Edinburgh Cup Champion Brien was relieved to still be in contention to defend his title at all. On the start line he was caught up in a major incident caused by another boat and ended up rounding the first mark back in 25th place before fighting his way back up through the fleet.

There are now only four points separating second to fifth and technically any of the top eight boats could still win the regatta. Lawrie Smith finished the race in fourth and moves up into third overall, just two points behind Byrne. A single point behind him is Jens Rathsack who makes an even bigger leap up the scoreboard from 12th to fourth thanks to adding a sixth and discarding an OCS.

For Julia Bailey it was definitely not a good day. She did her best to recover from a lousy start but ended up getting her worst result of the series at 22nd place and drops down from first to fifth overall, one point behind Rathsack. Gavia Wilkinson-Cox put in another very solid performance to finish fifth, but the discards did not work in her favour so she drops from third to sixth overall.

Today's race winner was double Olympic Gold Medallist Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen who took control off the line and never gave a moment's though to relinquishing it as he delighted in the stronger conditions. His win puts him in seventh place overall, four points behind Wilkinson-Cox, and still in with a slim chance of claiming a record equalling sixth Edinburgh Cup title. Andrew Craig is the final player still in with a long shot at the laurels. His ninth place in race five leaves him four points behind Hoj-Jensen but 24 points behind Brien. Rounding out the top ten are Cameron Good and Klaus Diederichs who clearly loved the stronger winds and crossed the line in second place after a spectacular tousle amongst the leading pack.

One final race remains to be sailed tomorrow and with a forecast for lighter winds it remains anyone's championship.

With the championship race completed it was the turn of the crews to take the helm in the traditional Edinburgh Cup crews race which proved to be every bit as cut throat and exciting. One or two of the regular helms found themselves a bit disconcerted to be on the bow in well over 20 knots of breeze but the crews showed no mercy. Henry Kingston sailing Cameron Good's Little Fella was the ultimate victor although he was challenged hard by 11-year-old Will Heritage sailing Julia and Graham Bailey's Aimee. Ross Vaughan sailing Gordon Patterson's Bear took third with Guy Clarabut in Jono Ratnage's Fit Chick hard on his heels. Will Heritage was declared the very deserving winner of the special prize for young helms Under 30.

 

International Dragon Class - Edinburgh Cup 2012

Sponsored by Belfast Harbour at the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club

Provisional results after race 5 - Following Redress hearing

Overall

Rank	Tally	Boat	SailNo	HelmName	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Nett
1st	27c	KIN	214 IRL	Simon Brien	RNIYC	4.0	(26.0)	3.0	1.0	3.0	11.0
2nd	32	JAGUAR	201 IRL	Martin Byrne	RSTGYC	8.0	3.0	1.0	(39.0)	8.0	20.0
3rd	38	ALFIE	763 GBR	Lawrie Smith	Glandore	11.0	2.0	5.0	(26.0)	4.0	22.0
4th	29	JEANIE	2 MON	Rathsack Jens	MYC	2.0	6.0	(46.0 OCS)	9.0	6.0	23.0
5th	11c	AIMEE	720 GBR	Julia Bailey	RYS	1.0	1.0	20.0	2.0	(22.0)	24.0
6th	18	JERBOA	761 GBR	Gavia Wilkinson-Cox	RCYC	12.0	(13.0)	9.0	4.0	5.0	30.0
7th	36	DANISH BLUE	775 GBR	Poul Hoj-Jensen	RYS	7.0	(19.0)	4.0	19.0	1.0	31.0
8th	26	CHIMAERA	216 IRL	Andrew Craig	RSTGYC	18.0	(46.0 BFD)	2.0	6.0	9.0	35.0
9th	41	LITTLE FELLA	211 IRL	Cameron Good	Kinsale	3.0	(21.0)	18.0	3.0	12.0	36.0
10th	16	FEVER	758 GBR	Klaus Diederichs	RORC	(29.0)	7.0	6.0	24.0	2.0	39.0
11th	2c	SEABIRD	204 IRL	Owen Pay	RCYC	10.0	4.0	10.0	15.0	(28.0)	39.0
12th	17	HANDS OFF	760 GBR	Mike Holmes	RCYC	5.0	15.0	(37.0)	8.0	11.0	39.0
13th	6	FEI-LIN'S FLIRTATION	633 GBR	Ron James	RFYC	(16.0)	10.0	7.0	10.5 RDG	16.0	43.5
14th	10c	NEREID	717 GBR	Patrick Gifford	ALDERBURGH YC	6.0	16.0	8.0	22.0	(24.0)	52.0
15th	46c	PHANTOM	176 IRL	Ruan O'Tiarnaigh	RNIYC/RStG	9.0	18.0	21.0	5.0	(46.0 DNF)	53.0
16th	9	RUMOURS	708 GBR	Quentin Strauss	UPPER THAMES SC	14.0	17.0	(28.0)	7.0	20.0	58.0
17th	12c	AVALANCHE	722 GBR	Mark Wade	RCYC	19.0	(30.0)	16.0	12.0	13.0	60.0
18th	45c	DUBLIN BAY	198 IRL	Garry Treacy	RStG	(35.0)	8.0	22.0	21.0	10.0	61.0
19th	35	COOL RUNNINGS	748 GBR	Thorkild Juncker	RORC	25.0	20.0	(26.0)	13.0	7.0	65.0
20th	24c	DIVA	210 IRL	Don O'Donoghue	RSTG	32.0	5.0	11.0	(37.0)	21.0	69.0
21st	20	QUICKSILVER V	766 GBR	Robert Campbell	RCYC	(27.0)	9.0	23.0	23.0	23.0	78.0
22nd	21	DARK & STORMY	768 GBR	Christopher Hunt	RYS	17.0	(32.0)	12.0	31.0	19.0	79.0
23rd	25	CLOUD	206 IRL	Clare Hogan	RSTGYC	20.0	(46.0 BFD)	14.0	18.0	27.0	79.0
24th	42c	HYBRASIL	197 IRL	Peter O'Reilly	RStG	(31.0)	23.0	15.0	20.0	26.0	84.0
25th	5	MERLIN	622 GBR	Robert Riddell	SCYC	22.0	24.0	24.0	(42.0)	15.0	85.0
26th	19c	NAIAD	764 GBR	Michael Hayles	AYC	21.0	12.0	(39.0)	29.0	25.0	87.0
27th	47c	APHRODITE	110 IRL	Michael Doorly	RStG	24.0	22.0	19.0	(33.0)	24.5 RDG	89.5
28th	13c	WHIMSEY	206 AUS	Gordon Ingate	RSYS	30.0	(31.0)	30.0	14.0	17.0	91.0
29th	28c	YEVIS II	50 JPN	Boccia A Aayama	Enoshima YC	26.0	11.0	31.0	25.0	(34.0)	93.0
30th	15c	SCIMITAR	755 GBR	Julian Sowry	MYC	(46.0 OCS)	29.0	34.0	17.0	14.0	94.0
31st	14c	FIT CHICK	753 GBR	Jono Ratnage	MEDWAY YC	36.0	25.0	13.0	27.0	(38.0)	101.0
32nd	22	EVE	150 IRL	Ean Pugh	MONACO	15.0	(34.0)	29.0	30.0	29.0	103.0
33rd	30	WHISPER	213 IRL	Michael Cotter	RSTGYC	28.0	(46.0 BFD)	27.0	10.5 RDG	39.0	104.5
34th	3c	SOU'WESTER	436 GBR	John Simms	RUYC	23.0	33.0	(40.0)	35.0	18.0	109.0
35th	31c	BEAR	767 GBR	Gordon Patterson	RNIYC	(41.0)	27.0	38.0	16.0	30.0	111.0
36th	23c	TENACIOUS	157 IRL	Anthony O'Neill	KYC	13.0	36.0	25.0	(41.0)	41.0	115.0
37th	44C	GITANE	699 GBR	James Peters	SCYC	38.0	(46.0 BFD)	17.0	34.0	31.0	120.0
38th	7c	BLUE MOVIE	690 GBR	David Atkinson	SUNDERLAND YC	(46.0 OCS)	14.0	36.0	32.0	40.0	122.0
39th	39C	ZU	159 IRL	Chris Fleming	RStG	34.0	(46.0 BFD)	33.0	28.0	32.0	127.0
40th	8c	GANADOR	704 GBR	Martin Makey	RCYC	33.0	28.0	35.0	(36.0)	33.0	129.0
41st	40c	PHORMALLY PHANTOM	655 GBR	Chris Thomas	SCYC	37.0	37.0	32.0	(38.0)	36.0	142.0
42nd	1C	VALANGA	210 AUS	Sandy Anderson	RFBYC	(42.0)	35.0	42.0	40.0	37.0	154.0
43rd	33c	GREY HARE	19 IRL	Shaun Kingston	KYC	39.0	(46.0 BFD)	43.0	44.0	35.0	161.0
44th	4c	AMAZON	557 GBR	Graham Price	ABERSOCH	40.0	38.0	41.0	(43.0)	43.0	162.0
45th	43c	ATALANTA	508 GBR	George Davis	SCYC	43.0	(46.0 BFD)	46.0 OCS	45.0	42.0	176.0