International Dragon Edinburgh Cup and UK Dragon Grand Prix 2026 - Day 2
by British Dragon Association 19 Aug 22:13 PDT
16-21 August 2026
A change in conditions brought some new faces to the front of the fleet on day two of the 2026 Edinburgh Cup and UK Dragon Grand Prix at Cowes where races three and four of the eight race series were completed.
The Royal Yacht Squadron's Race Committee wisely postponed racing to allow overnight rain to go through and the predicted southwesterly to establish. Once racing got under way the wind gradually built from around 10 knots to over 20 giving fantastic racing.
Overnight leader Graham Bailey, sailing GBR192 on behalf of the Royal Yacht Britannia Trust, consolidated his lead with a win in race three, followed by a hard-earned sixth in race four, where he had to fight his way through the fleet having rounded the first mark in the middle of the pack. At the halfway point he now leads the regatta by 13 points.
Jan Secher in SWE800 moves up from fourth to second thanks to an eighth and a fifth, while Ivan Bradbury sailing GBR375 drops from second to fourth having scored a sixteenth followed by a tenth.
Also putting in a great performance was fleet newcomer Andrew Lawson, who is better known as a top Etchells sailor. Andrew has chartered POR89 and is racing with double Finn European Champion Ed Wright and Dragon stalwart Hamish Mackay. They may be new to the Dragon but they're clearly learning fast, taking a second and a tenth in today's races, jumping them into third overall, four points behind Secher and three ahead of Bradbury.
The day's best performance came from Andy Beadsworth sailing TUR12, who relished the windier conditions. He had to work hard for a fifth in race three after misjudging the first beat, but in the fourth he got a blinder of a start at the pin end and led all the way to finish despite some serious challengers, putting him into fifth overall.
After racing Andy commented on how much fun it is racing against long-standing rivals. "It was just like old times, really. There was plenty of competition for the pin in race four, with Torvar [SUI355 helmed by Jan Eckert] and Herbie [BEL81 helmed by Xavier Vanneste] fighting us for it, but we got the pin and from there we sailed away. It was interesting, though, because it went really light about two or three minutes off the line, and that was like, oh my god, here we go again. But then the breeze came back in and we had a nice lead at the windward mark. Dave Tabb [GBR832] did well on the downwind legs. He seemed to get into us a bit, so not quite sure why we weren't going as fast as maybe we should have been. But again, upwind we were good and led at the next mark. We got our elbows out going downwind and just controlled the two. Sydenham did very well with Jan Secher on the last beat, taking the right-hand mark and a little left-hand shift to get back close to us. But it was good and we did all right. We made a few mistakes. We could have been better, but we won the race. And it was nice for it not to fall through my fingers again, like it did yesterday."
In the Corinthian Division Denis Bergin in IRL161 has taken the lead by three points from Dries Van den Abbeele in BEL79. Day one's joint leader Martin Byrne aboard IRL201 has dropped down into third, while Chris Grosscurth and Jono Brown in GBR753 now lie fourth, two points ahead of Owen Pay's GBR777.
The International Dragon is without doubt one of the most successful and enduring keelboat classes in the world. Designed by Johan Anker for a 1928 design competition run by Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club in Sweden to find an affordable, seaworthy, and fast cruising keelboat, the new owners soon realised that this beautiful "cruising" boat was also fast and exciting to sail so they couldn't resist racing each other. The class rapidly gained popularity across Europe and then around the world, remaining at the forefront of international keelboat racing ever since.
Becoming a large class is one thing, but remaining one for nearly a century takes careful class management and full commitment from the owners and builders alike. In the Dragon Class that three-way partnership has seen the boats evolve to remain appealing to successive generations, without leaving behind previous eras of boats. That careful evolution in design continues and helps to ensure not only a strong new boat market but also that boats hold their value on the second-hand market.
Dominik and Cornelius Heeschen sailing GER1189 Vesper are a great example of owners who are helping to ensure the future of the class remains bright. After sailing, their tactician, Jamie Lea of North Sails, talked about their progression in the class. "They're quite new to Dragon sailing. It's probably their second or third year in the fleet. They bought a very good second-hand V5 boat, which is Stavros's [Martin Payne] old boat which won the Edinburgh Cup about 10-15 years ago, so they knew they were getting a good boat in a V5, and they were happy with it. They did a lot of work to it to make it better and optimise it, and they took that as far as they could and had reached the limit with that results-wise.
They were looking at the new [Petticrow] V6s which are going very well, and they were trying to decide whether to go for it or not. In the end, when we were in Helsinki, the Petticrow works boat was for sale, it was all rigged up and it looked very nice. We kept walking past it every morning and looking at it, going, "Oh, maybe we should buy this". I spoke to the Petticrow guys and they did a deal and bought the boat. Dominik was a bit worried that it was a step too far, and he wouldn't see such a big difference, but we put the boat in the water this week for the first time on the first race and we can feel a difference between the older V5 and the newer V6.1, so it was the right thing to do.
They're really enthused that they made the step, and it's a good step. I feel like we're a little bit quicker. And as I say, they're very new to Dragon sailing still, so I think they're only going to get better and better over the years. And you know, Dominik's 40, and I think Cornelius is 42, so young blood in the Dragon is good, isn't it? And I think they're going to be here for years to come. They're very happy that they're in the class, and very happy with the people around them. They've been welcomed in and have got to know people and feel at home now. So yeah, I think they're long-term Dragon Sailors from now on!"
After a long day on the water the daily prize-giving sponsored by Hendricks was postponed until tomorrow, but the crews were still able to enjoy some relaxed fun and a delicious sausage supper at the Edinburgh Cup Summer Party hosted by the Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club.
Racing for the Edinburgh Cup and UK Dragon Grand Prix continues until Friday 21 August, and four of the eight scheduled races remain to be sailed. The forecast for day three suggests another windy day so we look forward to plenty more exciting racing to come.You can keep up with all the latest coverage from the event via the event website, the British Dragon Association's Facebook and Instagram pages and the Vakaros live tracking.
2026 Edinburgh Cup and UK Dragon Grand Prix Results after Day 2: (top five)
Overall
- GBR192 Bluebottle - Graham Bailey - 6, 2, 1, 6 = 15pts
- SWE800 Miss Behavious - Jan Secher - 15,3, 8, 2 = 28pts
- POR89 Jupiter - Andrew Lawson - 9, 11, 2, 10 = 32pts
- GBR375 Blue Haze - Ivan Bradbury - 5, 5, 16, 9 = 35pts
- TUR12 Provezza Dragon - Andy Beadsworth - 13, 8, 5, 1 = 37pts
Corinthian
- IRL161 Sir Ossis Of The River - Denis Bergin - 19, 26, 10, 5 = 60pts
- BEL79 Corso - Dries Van den Abbeele - 8, 24, 7, 24 = 63pts
- IRL201 Jaguar Sailing Team - Martin Byrne - 25, 6, 22, 14 = 67pts
- GBR753 Fit Chick - Chris Grosscurth/Jono Brown - 28, 14, 14, 21 = 77pts
- GBR777 Furious - Owen Pay - 27, 4, 23, 25 = 79pts
Full results can be found here.