Rob Campbell Wins Dragon East Coast Championship

by Stewart & Catriona Coltart on 1 Jun 2007 The 2007 East Coast Dragon Championships took place at Medway YC over the May Bank Holiday weekend. Thirty-one Dragons competed - 16 local Medway boats and 15 visitors from Burnham, Lowestoft, Aldeburgh, Cowes and one foreigner from Belgium. Over the three days five races were sailed in challenging and changeable conditions.

The East Coast Dragon Champion and winner of the Silver Salver for 2007 was British Dragon Association Chairman Rob Campbell from Burnham in Quicksilver III crewed by Matt Walker and Marc Ellis. Local sailor Len Jones in Rumours crewed by Philip Catmur and Jamie Lee took second position. The decision was very close with both crews on the same points and Rob winning on count back.

Fleet newcomer Quentin Strauss was third crewed by Kasper Harsberg and Ben Gray. Particular credit should go to Tony Singer in Cavalier, a beautiful wooden cold moulded Lallow Dragon recently renovated by Petticrows, who finished fourth overall. Tony has not helmed until this year and crewed by Martin Payne and Jo Richardson he showed great élan in obtaining such a good set of results, including two third places. A particular cheer was given at the Prize Giving to Wendy Howland sailing Whistle who won the best woman helm prize.

Rob Campbell and crewOn the first day the wind was a light ENE; the first start was a general recall but following the use of the 'Z' flag the subsequent start was uneventful. Two good races were sailed in light airs. The co-incidence of the Thames Barge Race led to a wonderful spectacle and a few close shaves - the barges travel with surprising speed and appear not to recognise the sacrosanct 'port-starboard' rule! The result of these races were a portend of things to come with Rob Campbell in Quicksilver III winning the first race, Quentin Strauss winning the second and Len Jones in Rumours second and third.

On the second day the weather was at its most capricious being cyclonic variable with heavy intermittent rain - not very pleasant! Setting a course was a challenge for the Race Officer Robin Ridsdell-Smith with an ebbing tide and a SE wind direction but the race started on time. The third race was won by Stewart Coltart in Valkyrie holding off a determined challenge from Patrick Gifford in Nereid.

The race was remarkable for the vagaries of the wind leading to spinnakers being set on the windward as well as the downwind leg and the passage of a ship splitting the fleet. In the fourth race the wind had strengthened to 7 knots. After a general recall, the Z flag was flown leading to seven boats being penalised by a 20% place penalty. Whilst this dealt a heavy penalty for boats over the line, it was preferable to being sent home with a black flag.

The start was noteworthy for a sailing cruiser sitting on the start line as the starting signal sounded causing some chaos. Rob Campbell came through to win his second race with Len Jones in second place.

On the Monday the weather was even worse blowing 20-25 knots with low cloud, heavy drizzle and a poor forecast. The starting line was set downriver in Kethole Reach where there was plenty of sea room. Conditions deterred many competitors and 11 boats took to the start line.

The heavy-weight crews had an advantage and Quentin Strauss won with Len Jones second. Only half the fleet ventured their spinnakers giving entertaining downhill legs - Len Jones had a spectacular broach on the second run and finished with a shredded spinnaker! Nick Jenkins in Chouette limped over the line awash but triumphant!

The mud on the Medway caught out a few boats with Edwin Hannant in Gandalf running aground during one of the races (despite local knowledge); Edouard Wylleman from Belgium, the only foreign competitor also parked his boat C4 between races.

Off the water most visitors were accommodated by local Dragon fleet hosts and there were some excellent social functions; on Saturday night a whole hog roast was demolished by the fleet at Jaspar Wright's barn and on Sunday a formal Championship dinner took place in the Medway Yacht club preceded by a Champagne Reception sponsored by Petticrows ; Stavros rounded off the evening in his usual irrepressible form.

The event was very generously sponsored by Aberdeen Asset Management, Petticrows, MDL Marinas and Craftinsure, which allowed us to present generous prizes to competitors and keep down the cost of the event.

Dragon final overall results

1 Quicksilver III GBR 688 Rob Campbell 1.0 2.0 (10.0) 1.0 5.0 19.0 9.0
2 Rumours GBR 708 Len Jones 2.0 3.0 (7.0) 2.0 2.0 16.0 9.0
3 GBR 723 Quentin Strauss 4.0 1.0 (25.0) 10.0 1.0 41.0 16.0
4 Cavalier GBR 718 Tony Singer 12.0 (24.0) 3.0 3.0 4.0 46.0 22.0
5 Valkyrie GBR 707 Stewart Coltart 11.0 (20.0) 1.0 8.0 3.0 43.0 23.0
6 Frank GBR 729 Tim Tavinor 3.0 12.0 5.0 (19.0) 6.0 45.0 26.0
7 Scimitar GBR 730 Julian Sowry (16.0) 10.0 12.0 7.0 7.0 52.0 36.0
8 Avalanche GBR 722 Mark Wade 6.0 10.0 ZFP 11.0 11.0 ZFP (32.0 DNC) 70.0 38.0
9 Scorpio GBR 586 Ian Gray 8.0 7.0 4.0 20.0 (32.0 DNC) 71.0 39.0
10 Esoteric GBR 696 Robert Sheppard 5.0 9.0 18.0 (23.0 ZFP) 8.0 63.0 40.0
11 Nereid GBR 717 Patrick Gifford 22.0 11.0 2.0 12.0 ZFP (32.0 DNC) 79.0 47.0
12 Njord GBR 653 Owen Pay 10.0 5.0 20.0 14.0 (32.0 DNC) 81.0 49.0
13 Spindrift GBR 712 Gary Harrison 9.0 8.0 23.0 10.0 ZFP (32.0 DNC) 82.0 50.0
14 Chouette GBR 677 Nick Jenkins (15.0) 13.0 15.0 15.0 10.0 68.0 53.0
15 Leah GBR 711 Colin Woodcock 14.0 19.0 8.0 17.0 ZFP (32.0 DNC) 90.0 58.0
16 Luna GBR 646 Hilary Gallo 17.0 20.0 ZFP 14.0 9.0 (32.0 DNC) 92.0 60.0
17 Kuling GBR 709 Chris Dicker 7.0 15.0 13.0 27.0 ZFP (32.0 DNC) 94.0 62.0
18 Alcyone GBR 710 Simon Wynn (26.0) 17.0 17.0 18.0 11.0 89.0 63.0
19 C4 BEL 66 Eduard Wylleman 25.0 6.0 9.0 25.0 (32.0 DNC) 97.0 65.0
20 Hand of Fortune GBR 684 Mike Holmes 19.0 21.0 6.0 24.0 (32.0 DNC) 102.0 70.0
21 BBC GBR 683 Philip Clarabut 24.0 18.0 16.0 12.0 (32.0 DNC) 102.0 70.0
22 Gandalf GBR 726 Edwin Hannant (31.0) 27.0 21.0 27.0 9.0 115.0 84.0
23 Exult GBR 721 Richard Jones 27.0 16.0 29.0 16.0 (32.0 DNC) 120.0 88.0
24 Water Rat GBR 728 Jono Ratnage 28.0 32.0 DGM 19.0 13.0 (32.0 DNC) 124.0 92.0
25 Black Mark GBR 620 Mark Rowntree 13.0 23.0 28.0 29.0 (32.0 DNC) 125.0 93.0
26 Gitane GBR 699 Peter Stokes 18.0 22.0 27.0 26.0 (32.0 DNC) 125.0 93.0
27 Dax GBR 645 Mike Lutener 20.0 25.0 22.0 31.0 (32.0 DNC) 130.0 98.0
28 Shark GBR 582 David Fry 23.0 26.0 30.0 28.0 (32.0 DNC) 139.0 107.0
29 Ulysses GBR 634 John Shilling (32.0 ZFP) 30.0 24.0 23.0 32.0 DNC 141.0 109.0
30 Whistle GBR 560 Wendy Howland 21.0 28.0 31.0 30.0 (32.0 DNC) 142.0 110.0 31 Gadabout GBR 675 Geoff Prout 29.0 29.0 26.0 28.0 ZFP (32.0 DNC) 144.0 112.0