Victor Fogelson in “Sunflower” RUE 35, with Oleg Khoperskiy & Slava Katuchin Pirogovo.
The 11th Hans-Detmar Wagner Cup got underway yesterday in Torbole’ with 2 races “just” completed in a light Southerly (Ora) wind, I say “just” because as the wind died, only 17 of the 36 boats completed race 2…within the time limit.
However, it was RUS 35 “Sunflower” helmed by Victor Fogelson, crewed by Oleg Khoperskiy and Slava Kaptuchin Pirogovo who won the day recording a 1st and 4th and now lead overall. Victor and his team made the most of the right hand side of the first beat after a “rushed” start that saw quite a few boats still sorting themselves out around the starting area…..2nd in race one was GER 1126 helmed by Benedikt Gaech, crewed by Florian Abele and Fritz Huber. 3rd was SWE 389 Karl Gustavlohr, Martin Rudback & Jasper Bendix.
In 2nd place overall SUI 311 “Sophie Racing” helmed by Hugo Stenbeck who won race 2.
Race 2 got underway very soon after the conclusion of race one with the “Ora” wind staring to decrease, it was led from start to finish by SUI 311 closely followed by GER 1123 “Pow Wow” Michael Zenkal who just managed to pass GBR 789 “Bear” Karol Jablonski (who is in only his 2nd International Dragon event) at the finish to be 2nd and 3rd respectively…..
This win by “Sophie Racing” moves Hugo and his team, Martin Westerdahl and Bernardo Freitas up into 2nd place counting a 6th & 1st. However, the real success team of the day was GBR 789 “Bear” chartered by 6 times World Ice Sailing Champion and former World Match Race Champion, Karol Jablonski who added a 3rd place to his 8th in race 1 to now be 3rd overall with his crew Yurij Levczenko and Jakob Schneider. Great sailing guy’s….
Another great photo from Christopher Nordhoff, who captures the moment in Torbole’
In the evening the 36 teams enjoyed a fantastic 3 course meal at a local restaurant in Torbole’ and a great evening was had by all. Today will see 2 possibly 3 more races depending on the arrival time of the “Ora”? I spoke with International Race Officer Carmelo Paroli last night, he told me “Stavros, I hope we maybe able to start at 12.0 tomorrow, as sometime the Ora comes in earlier than normal. If we can only manage two races, then we will have an 8.30am start on Saturday when the Northerly (Peler) wind is blowing. So hopefully we will be able to complete our 7 race series”… Great stuff Carmelo, we all look forward to another fantastic day on Lake Garda.
Higher, Faster, Longer……………. Stavros. (GBR 585).