Volvo Dragon European Championships

by Henry Ericsson on 9 Aug 2007
As promised, the wind kicked in with a vengeance on Wednesday, for the third day of the Dragon Eurochamps. A strong easterly wind pulled in a wave train straight from the home waters of the St. Petersburg dragon sailors. The 48 Dragons were trashing their snouts wildly in the heavy chop. Would this be the day of the ocean sailors? No way.

Both daily firsts went to a Dragon from the charming inland lake of Starnberger See in hilly Bavaria. - Good speed and a good crew, what more do you need, said a happy Wolfgang Rappel when coming ashore. His boat 'Little Wolfi' is named after his son and crew Wolfgang junior, who passed away some fifteen years ago. May the double victory of his namesake serve as a fitting epitaph to him.

The strong winds were also to the liking of some Scandinavian vikings. Valdemar Bandolowski, Soling gold medalist for Denmark in Kingston 1976, took a second and a fifth place. Hans Liljeblad, Olympic 470 sailor for Sweden in Pusan 1988, pulled off a third and a fourth place. Round-the-world sailor Harry 'Hjallis' Harkimo and Melges class aces Kenneth and Henrik Thelen grabbed a sixth place for Finland.

There is much new talent in the Dragons, and it takes a while to master the heavy, long-keeled sloop in blustery conditions. The Russian dragon Yegoza found this out to its cost when approaching on port tack the Swedish dragon Ming on starboard. - I suppose they noticed us too late and only pulled the tiller right over. You really must also release the mainsheet fully, otherwise the boat just keeps going straight, reminded Vincent Hoesch, sailing master on Ming. The masts clashed, and Ming was dismasted above the spreaders. The Swedish boat hailed a rescue boat and was towed into port under its new, instant Radial rig.

The regatta has now run for five of the seven scheduled races. At the top, there is solid German concrete, with Markus Wieser a remarkable 16 points ahead of Wolfgang Rappel. They are chased by a troika of strong Russian sailors, by the names of Ezhkov, Vokmintzev och Semerkanov. Certainly names to be recognized in the future, evidently I need to schedule an interview session over vodka and pickled cucumbers. The Nordic aces are taking up the slack, with Bandolowski in sixth, Dahlman in seventh and Liljeblad in eight place.

Preliminary results before possible protests:

Race 4:
1) Little Wolfi, Wolfgang Rappel - Hans Jürgen Benze - Michael Lipp, Germany
2) Flawless, Valdemar Bandolowski - Sören Hvalsö - Tim Tavinor, Denmark
3) Sweet Alice, Hans Liljeblad - Fredrik Heine - Robert Carenfelt, Sweden
4) Bunker Queen, Markus Wieser - Sergei Pujachev - Thomas Auracher, Germany.
5) Versiya 3, Alexey Krilov -Anatoly Karazinsky - Vladislav Kapitanov, Russia
6) Volvo, Harry Harkimo - Kenneth Thelen - Henrik Thelen, Finland

Race 5:
1) Little Wolfi, Wolfgang Rappel - Hans Jürgen Benze - Michael Lipp, Germany
2) Diamond, Maksim Semerkanov - Dimitri Teroshkin - Alex Adrianov, Russia
3) Bunker Queen, Markus Wieser - Sergei Pujachev - Thomas Auracher, Germany.
4) Sweet Alice, Hans Liljeblad - Fredrik Heine - Robert Carenfelt, Sweden
5) Flawless, Valdemar Bandolowski - Sören Hvalsö - Tim Tavinor, Denmark
6) Eclipse, Jean-Claude Danet - Luce Pillot - Nicolas Abiven, France.

Total results (top 10) after 5 races, one discard:
1) Bunker Queen, Markus Wieser - Sergei Pujachev - Thomas Auracher, Germany, 16.7 p.
2) Little Wolfi, Wolfgang Rappel - Hans Jürgen Benze - Michael Lipp, Germany, 33 p.
3) Alisa, Alexander Ezhkov - Vladimir Krutskih - Alexey Grigorjev, Russia, 49 p.
4) Valery, Dmitry Vokhmitzev - Vyacheslav Katyukhin - Viktor Fogelson, Russia, 49 p.
5) Diamond, Maksim Semerkanov - Dimitri Teroshkin - Alex Adrianov, Russia, 51 p.
6) Flawless, Valdemar Bandolowski - Sören Hvalsö - Tim Tavinor, Denmark, 51 p.
7) Rat Pack, Henrik Dahlman - Lars Henriksen - Oscar Dannström, Alandia, Finland, 57 p.
8) Munegu, Christian Boillot - Jean Sebastian Ponce - Lionel Pean, Monaco, 59 p.
9) Eclipse, Jean-Claude Danet - Luce Pillot - Nicolas Abiven, France, 62.4 p.
10) Sweet Alice, Hans Liljeblad - Fredrik Heine - Robert Carenfelt, Sweden, 62.7 p.

48 participants from 10 nations.