International Dragon Pre-Worlds Regatta - Closing in on the leaders

by Peter Campbell on 4 Apr 2010 Tasmanian champion Nick Rogers and his crew of Leigh Behrens and Simon Burrows have closed in on the Russian and German sailors who had dominated the first two days of the International Dragon Pre-Worlds Regatta on Melbourne’s Port Phillip.

Steering Karabos IX, Rogers won both races sailed today, skilfully picking the windshifts and is now within three points of Russian Olga White, sailing Murka 11, and four points clear of her husband, Mikhail Mouratov, steering Murka 12.

Two races remain to be sailed tomorrow in the regatta, a dress rehearsal for the 2011 world championships to be sailed on Port Phillip next January.

The Tasmanian crew have also overtaken the German yachtsman Thomas Muller, who won both races on the second day of competition from the Royal Brighton Yacht Club.

Rogers, a former world champion in the classic Dragon class and ten times Prince Philip Cup winner, has sailed well in what he describes as ‘top international competition’ in this regatta.

His scorecard reads 4-8-4-4-1-1 for a net 14 points with two races to sail, with White on 11 points from placings of 1-2-3-6-3-2. Her husband is on 18 points from placings of 2-1-7-2-13-6.

While Olga White sailed consistently well with a third and a second today, Mikhail Mouratov slumped with a 13th place in race five and could manage only a sixth in race six. Muller, sailing Liquidity, placed 12th and eighth to drop from third to fifth overall.

In the first race, with a light offshore breeze and a large separation of the fleet due to the long first leg, the split between the boats at the end of the first beat was huge, with those boats heading to the left gaining a huge advantage over those which went right.

At the end of the 30 minute leg, there was almost eight minutes separating the first and last boats. Unfortunately, two of the first three boats in the overall score as of Saturday evening headed right, which had been the favoured side on Saturday. Not so today.

Tommy Muller and Mikhail Mouratox were the biggest losers on the first leg and despite another three legs they managed to only improve by a few places, highlighting the tightness of the fleet. Nick Rogers was the biggest winner, leading all the way.

The second race was also sailed in light but more consistent breezes. Olga White and Nick Rogers’ boats, Murka 11 and Karabos X, were first off the line and managed to find a little fresher breeze and pull away from the rest of the fleet. Again it was tough back in the fleet with little movement in positions throughout the race.

It was Rogers who prevailed again and with two wins moved from fourth to second overall, with a strong chance of overtaking the Russian in the final two races tomorrow.

'We had much better boatspeed in today light northerly breeze...I think we had everything on too tight on the first two days,' Rogers said after today’s fifth and sixth races.

'Importantly we had good starts in both races and good height early, leading around the course both times. In the first race today we continued left, while Russia’s Mikhail Mouratov and the German Thomas Muller went right and ended at the back of the fleet.

'However, the other Russian skipper, Olga White, is sailing exceptionally well and will be hard to beat.

'We are very happy with our overall results, in particular our wins today. Coming across from Tasmania through the support of Toll Shipping for this regatta has given us the opportunity to sailing on Port Phillip where the worlds will be sailed in January next year,' added the former world champion.