39th Regates Royal winners GBR 375 “Blue Haze” Lars Hendriksen, George Leonchuk & Ulrik Sanders.
It was a tense final day for Lars Hendirksen in Cannes on Saturday (30th Sept) as an uncharacteristic 24th place in race 8 slightly “opened the door” for the chasing pack, in particular race 8 winner RUS 27 “Annapurna” Anatoly Loginov.. However, in the final race Lars secured a positive 4th place which was good enough to take the title, thus leaving Anatoly as runner up.
RUS 27 “Annapurna” Anatoly Loginov, Vadim Statsenko & Alexander Shalagin 2nd overall.
I spoke with winning helm Lars Hendriksen after racing he told me “We messed up the first race today but came back strong in the final race. Never letting our main competitors RUS 27 & GER 1177 out of sight and played it very safe. Thanks to my strong team George & Ulrik, we had a great team spirit”. Good to hear Lars and congratulations on yet another victory.
Finishing in 3rd place overall was GER 1177 helmed by Pedro Andrade & crewed by his fellow European Champion Charles Nankin. Pedro used a variety of crew throughout the week and was very strong towards the end of the 5 days with two wins and two second places…
3rd overall GER 1177 Helmed by Pedro Rebelo de Andrade and crewed by Charles Nankin.
The above photo shows how light conditions were, so high angles were the order of the day downwind to maintain pressure in the kite to keep the boat moving. It was plain to see that experienced Lake Sailors were used to such conditions, none more so than GER 968 “Chi” helmed by Michael Schattan, crewed by Lars and Marion Rommel. Michael won this event back in 2000 and deservedly took Top “Corinthian” place from FRA 309 “Tsuica II” Gerard Blanc in 2nd and GBR 770 “Storm” Jono Brown 3rd.
First Lady helm and an excellent 4th position overall from the 44 teams was Gavia Wilkinson-Cox in GBR 761 “Jerboa”. Sailing with Mark Hart and George Etty, Gavia put together some very consistent results in these exceptionally tricky, light wind conditions.
Top Lady Helm Gavia with George and Mark, 4th overall in GBR 761 “Jerboa”…
The Yacht Club de Cannes organised the final Prize Giving Party which was extremely well attended and a great time was had by all… The following day tow’s were organised from the Old Port from 6am so that all the boats could be craned out and sailors could make their way home on Sunday..
The early morning tow from the Old Port across to Yacht Club de Cannes as the sun rises.
So there we have it, another successful Regates Royal completed and the prospect of a 90+ boat fleet ahead in St Tropez for the coveted Gold Cup just 2 weeks away! What a wonderful class we have…. 🙂
Higher, Faster, Longer……… Stavros.
P.S. As our IDA Chairman Vasily, just reminded me, next week of course we have our final Grade 1 event of the year, in Torbole’, Lake Garda. It would be nice if a few more boats could join in the fun at this excellent venue. 🙂