70th Dragon Edinburgh Cup day 3 Report

Top teams on equal points at end of penultimate day

The scoreboard could not be tighter in this iconic championship at the end of the penultimate day of racing at the Royal Torbay Yacht Club. Graham and Julia Bailey’s Aimee and Grant Gordon’s Louise Racing are both tied on 10 points, with Aimee holding the advantage on count back. Laurie Smith’s Alfie is a single point adrift in third place overall.

The racing has been equally intense right through the fleet. Five boats are separated by just four points in the fight for fifth place overall. They are led by Klaus Diederichs’ Fever and Gavia Williamson-Cox’s Jerboa, both of which are on 26 points. Another group of five boats, led by Rob Campbell’s Quicksilver Vl and Ron James’ Fei-Lin’s Flirtation, are sitting on 74 and 75 points.

Today saw a return to bright sun, with a south-easterly breeze that peaked around 10 knots. Although the fleet spread out across the course on the first beat, the boats that headed right early were advantaged. Eric Williams’ Ecstatic was first to the windward mark, ahead of Peter Cunningham’s Power Play. Louise Racing and Alfie arrived at the mark overlapped, with the former holding the inside advantage. Aimee was next round in fifth position, just one length behind.

Most of the fleet opted to go left on the first run, leaving Aimee as the right-hand most boat in the leading group, with Power Play and Ecstatic also heading in that direction towards the end of the leg. This turned out to be a defining point of the day – the trio led into the leeward gate by a big margin. A couple of minutes behind them 10 boats arrived at the gate simultaneously, amid much shouting.

On the second beat the wind increased to 10 knots, tending to flick to the right in the stronger puffs. Power Play was again first to the second windward mark, with Aimee just behind. The latter gained marginally on the final run, with the pair arriving simultaneously at the leeward gate. Bailey then pulled out a commanding lead on the beat to the finish, crossing the line a minute ahead of Power Play, with Ecstatic third some 44 seconds later.

“Today was a perfect day, although we ducked 20 boats after the start,” said Cunningham. “Then we went out to the right – it worked out very well. We got clear air and a lift, then a header on the right hand side and were able to get up to the windward mark first. Mr Bailey was on our stern for the first four legs and then on the fifth he really got going. This has been a fantastic regatta – we’ve had a wonderful regatta, fantastic parties, the competition has been really good and it’s great to see young people out here as well.”

Aimee continues to lead the Corinthian division, ahead of Jono Brown’s Storm, Simon Barter’s Bertie and Mark and Amanda Wade’s Avalanche.

Today’s second race was a shorter crews’ race. In some classes this might be discounted as a side event, but Dragon crews include multiple national and world champions, Olympians and America’s Cup veterans who are at least as competitive as their helms.

Will Heritage, sailing Aimee, got away fastest at the start and quickly tacked onto starboard. However, a big left-hand shift handed the advantage to the boats on the right. Quicksilver Vl was first to round, just ahead of 12-year old Leo Waschkuhn, sailing 1quick1 with his father Wolf, Andy Beadsworth and Pete Cumming. By the finish young Leo had moved up to the lead, while Heritage recovered from a shocking top mark rounding to take second place.

The day concluded with another legendary Dragon party – a social evening sponsored by Drumshanbo Irish Gin. Similarly bright and sunny conditions are promised for tomorrow and what’s sure to be a hard-fought and tantalisingly close final race.

: Aimee

: Alfie

: Leo Waschkuhn – crews’ race winner

: Mark and Amanda Wade AVALANCHE

: Louise Racing

: Power Play

Click here for full results >>>

All Corinthian results can be viewed here >>>

Report and images by Rupert Holmes

For more images from day three of the Edinburgh Cup visit the BDA Facebook page here – www.facebook.com/BritishDragonAssociation

70th Anniversary Edinburgh Cup Day 2 Report

Light and shifty winds combined with a sea left over from the big on shore breezes of the previous day created new challenges for the 28 teams competing in the Dragon Edinburgh Cup at the Royal Torbay Yacht Club.

The day’s first race got away cleanly in 6-8 knots of breeze. Laurie Smith’s Alfie tacked onto port early, which quickly gained him an early lead and he was soon followed by a number of others. Around 15 minutes after the start the wind began to swing to the right as a band of light rain moved across the course, giving those in the right a significant advantage.

Smith was first to round the windward mark, followed by Bocci (Atsushi) Aoyama’s Yevis ll and Louise Racing. Peter Cunningham’s Power Play rounded fourth, followed by the only lady helm in the fleet, Gavia Wilkinson-Cox, in Jerboa. However, Bailey – overall leader after the first two races – was unusually buried, languishing back in 16th place.

The leaders extended away quickly on the run, but the wind then eased as the sun returned, leading to a tricky balance between sailing high and gybing through less painfully large angles. Louise Racing rounded the right hand leeward mark first, followed closely by Power Play and Jerboa. However, Klaus Diederichs’s Fever and Alfie were first to the advantaged left-hand side of the gate. Fever took first place, ahead of Jerboa and Alfie, while Power Play benefitted from being the left-hand most boat among the leaders to finish fourth, while Gordon took fifth.

“We were fourth or fifth on the first beat and on the downwind leg we got stronger wind coming from the right,” said Diederichs. “Then we were first to get to the left hand mark at the gate. We protected our position form there, but Gavia had good speed and height, and challenged us hard.”

The fourth race in the series started in more consistent conditions, with a 6-8 knot easterly breeze. Jono Brown’s Storm and Peter Cunningham’s Power Play appeared to be best placed of the boats near the pin and the fleet quickly tacked onto port as the wind shifted left after the start.

Aimee then flipped back onto starboard, becoming one of the left-hand most boats in the fleet in the early stages of the first beat. Meanwhile, Alfie remained on the right-hand side, while Louise Racing held a more intermediate position between the two. The latter rounded the windward mark first, followed by Tom Vernon’s Badger, Alfie, Storm and Jerboa.

The boats on the right hand side of the first run again appeared to be advantaged. By the end of the leg Louise Racing had pulled out a 43 second lead on Storm, with Badger dropping down to third, while Alfie slid down to fourth place, 10 lengths further back. Gordon then continued to extend his lead for the rest of the race, finishing more than two minutes ahead of Eric Williams’ Ecstatic. Alfie took third and Jerboa fourth.

A vibrant social scene is a core part of the success of the Dragon class and the day ended with a barbeque, prize giving and live band, hosted by Gavia Wilkinson-Cox. Among the daily prize winners, Grant Gordon won the spectacular Terry Wade Trophy for winning the fourth race of the series.

Gordon now holds the overall lead, one point ahead of Alfie, with Aimee retains third overall, a further 10 points adrift. Jerboa is fourth, on equal points with Power Play. Aimee still leads the Corinthian fleet, ahead of Storm and Bertie.