Dragon Gold Cup - Consistency and spirit triumph

by Véronique Guillou Le Bivic on 25 Aug 2013 After six days of racing there is triumph at the Gazprom International Dragon Gold Cup for Ukrainian Markus Wiezer and his team (UKR 7) – a victory pieced together one day at a time with true consistency and spirit. The racing finished beautifully on the Bay of Douarnenez and proved to be much more invigorating than on previous days. The virtuoso of the day was Marcus Brennecke (GER 11) who won the last race of the Gold Cup with apparent ease, by leading from start to finish for the full three hours of the race.

Not one faux pas for Bunker Queen on their road to victory, in fact their performance in this year’s Gold Cup has been magnificent; finishing in the top ten boats throughout the week, with the exception of today’s race where they crossed the line in 28th position. And this on paper was the panacea for victory. Everyone racing knew it but out of the 77 participants, Marcus Wieser was the only one to achieve it. At some time or other during the week all the favourites have stumbled and seen their victory slip from their hands. Unable to withdraw a race from the rankings the Gazprom International Dragon Gold Cup allows no margin for error.

After first a wind shift, and then a general recall interrupted the start procedures, the race was finally given the off at 12.12h. Two boats (FRA 207 and UKR 1) were early over the line and disqualified.

Conditions for the 77 teams in the Gazprom International Dragon Gold Cup on the last day of racing involved shifty, unstable wind of 15 knots and two-metre waves, and after five days of much lighter weather, the Dragon sailors weren’t displeased by the more challenging conditions.

A careful Markus Wieser crossed the line in the middle of the fleet. Despite a clear 36 points advantage over Bunker Boys (UKR 8), the Bunker Queen boss (UKR 7) was not intending to take even the slightest risks, 'I’m happy. I’m not going to put myself under any pressure but I’m well aware that the Gold Cup is far from finished,' he claimed this morning before heading out to the start area.

His direct pursuer in the overall classification Yevgen Braslavets, seemed determined to snatch as many points of possible from them, passing the windward mark up with the first ten, whilst Markus Wieser was back in 25th position. It was Marcus Brennecke’s (GER 11) Dragon that set the pace from the first mark rounding and maintained the pressure as each mile passed, followed by José Matoso (POR 55) who sailed a fabulous race. Likewise Thomas Müller (GER 1133) made a spectacular come back of 10 positions and in just a few miles sailed into his third-place and podium position.

The Bay of Douarnenez has naturally not revealed all her secrets, and will always remain the setting for the legend of la Ville d’Ys complete with its mysteries. For the Dragon sailors the question is still going to be – to the Left or the Right? Even for a local sailor like Gwen Chapalain it’s a dilemma.

So just to keep the true quest alive, and to have the chance to keep reading this magnificent stretch of water, the rendez vous has been set for 2014.

So we’ll be back again at the next Grand Prix Guyader which as every year will take place in the first two weeks of Dragon Gold Cup