Mediterranean Winter Circuit Report - Part One

Whilst many British Dragons are warmly snuggled up in their winter storage an increasing number of teams are taking the opportunity to head south and enjoy some of the great racing on offer in the Mediterranean winter circuit. This is part one in a series of articles following the British Dragons on the Mediterranean circuit as they get off  to a good head start for the season ahead.

Ski Voile Regatta ( 25 - 28 January)

This was the first event of 2007. Run by the Yacht Club d'Antibes, sailing for this event took place in the Golfe Juan, to the east of Cannes. The event kicked off with an optional day of skiing in the nearby resort of Auron where Solent Fleet Captain Gavia Wilkinson-Cox's “Jerboa” team won the Dragon fleet ski competition and took third place overall in the mixed fleet skiing. In the yachting element of the regatta 38 Dragons competed from 12 nations with the 8 boat British team being the second largest after France which fielded 12 crews. Sadly light winds meant that only four of the scheduled races could be completed. Despite this hugely competitive racing was enjoyed by all. First place went to Ireland's Olav Sorensen sailing “Christianna” with the one and only Martin “Stavros” Payne on board. They took the regatta counting average points in the last race following damage on the penultimate race, winning by just one point from Frenchman Gerard Blanc, who is one of the main organisers for the winter Dragon programme at the Yacht Club de Cannes, sailing “Tsuica”. Third place went to Dragon new boy Jan Eric Dyvi of Norway – a sprightly 80 year old racing his brand new boat “Finito” in its first regatta. Top Brits were Len Jones and the “Rumours” boys in 6th and Gavia Wilkinson-Cox and her “Jerboa” crew in 7th.
For full results and pictures click here.

Primo Cup (31 Jan - 4 Feb)

Next the boats moved onto glamorous Monte Carlo for the Primo Cup sponsored by Credit Suisse and Slam. This is the second year the Dragons have been invited to take part in this prestigious multi class event and a strong international fleet of 26 boats from 12 nations took part in a regatta that brought a wide range of sailing conditions for the ten race series. In an exciting final day show down, raced in strong winds with big swells and bright sunshine, Ireland's Mick Cotter sailing “Whisper” snatched victory from overnight leader Uli Libor of Switzerland aboard “Gaudium” who had to be content with 2nd overall, whilst Jesper Bendix of Denmark sailing “Justin” took 3rd. Norwegian octogenarian Jan Erik Dyvi showed that he and his “Finto” crew will be a team to watch this year by placing 4th in their second ever Dragon regatta. Mick sailed this regatta with the legendary “Whisper” dream team of Davey Gomes and Simon Brien, who will shortly take delivery of the new “KIN” from Petticrows. This hugely popular crew received a rousing reception at the prize giving where Mick took the opportunity to thank the sponsors Slam for the lovely jackets they had been given and to say he was very much looking forward to seeing what they would receive from main sponsor Credit Suisse Bank!
Gavia Wilkinson-Cox and her “Jerboa” crew of regular Mark Hart and special guest Tim Tavinor put in the best performance by a British boat, winning race 8 after an impressive and gutsy port tack start and finishing 7th overall, five points ahead of Len Jones aboard “Rumours” with Jamie Lea and Jeremy Jordan. Chris, Selina and Mark Dicker aboard “Kuling” were third Brits in 15th place with John Boyce sailing Trevor Silver's “Chips” fourth Brit in 17th overall.
For full results - click here
Or to view some of Fiona Browns pictures of the event visit our Photo Gallery

Championnate Ligue Voile Cote d'Azure( 1- 4 Feb)

From Monte Carlo it was straight back to Golfe Juan to race the Championnate Ligue Voile Cote d'Azure from the Yacht Club de Golfe Juan . 27 boats from nine nations including 12 French and five Brits took part in this seven race series which again brought extremes of conditions. Typically winter racing in the Med is a light to medium airs affair but during the second day of the regatta conditions became incredibly unstable and went from extreme light airs to full on survival conditions with massive wind shifts in a matter of moments. Fortunately the majority of boats were on the final leg of the course as the worst of the storm hit but there were several damaged sails, gear failures and even crew overboard as the boats struggled back to the harbour. With seven races completed former IDA Chairman Thomas Olrog was the victor with Holland's Ronal Pfeiffer second and Jan Erik Dyvi of Norway fourth (clearly 80 is the new 40!).
Yet again Gavia's team “Jerboa” was the top performing British boat finishing fifth overall with Ron and Julia James sailing Fei Lin's “Flirtation” second Brit in 12th place. The UK contingent was delighted to welcome Jenny Green and her husband Malcolm, sailing their first regatta in their “new” boat GBR626 – the former Fuzzy Duck from Cowes. Jenny and Malcolm are ex-pats based in Cannes but will continue to sail under their British sail number.
For full results – click here
Or to view pictures of the event click here 

In Part Two of this article we'll be covering more events including the Semaine International de Cannes . Some of the British teams  missed the Cannes event, electing instead to race two regattas in Cascais, Portugal. The British boats will come together again in Mallorca to race in a three regatta mini circuit during late March and early April comprising the 7th Copa del Mediterraneo at Calanova, the Trofeo Princessa Sofia and finally the Gold Cup, both in Palma.
For further information about Semaine International de Cannes please visit http://www.yachtclubdecannes.com. For further information about the Cascais and Palma events please visit http://www.intdragon.org/fixtures.htm.
For general information about the Mediterranean winter circuit please contact Gavia Wilkinson-Cox on +44 (0)7973 165888.

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