
Over the course of four Grade 1 International Dragon regattas hosted by Cannes, Cascais, Kuhlungsborn and Puerto Portals, 100 Dragon teams have fought a season long battle for the right to claim one of just 20 places in this all new Dragon Grand Prix European Cup Finals. The conclusion yesterday of the Dragon Grand Prix Spain confirmed not only the overall winners of the Dragon Grand Prix Series, but also the twenty teams that had successfully qualified for this brand new knockout competition.

Early morning rain gave way to bright sunshine over Puerto Portals and following a detailed briefing, which included confirmation that on the water judging by the International Jury would be in operation, the teams headed afloat. Bang on time at 11.00 and in a shifty 9 knots from the North West the first of the four qualifiers got underway.

Braslavets opened with a very disappointing 14th then rallied with a second and third, but going into the last race he was still below the qualification point. Drawing on all his knowledge and experience as a multiple Dragon class champion and Olympic 470 Gold Medallist he dug deep and reminded everyone of exactly why he is one of the most respected and successful competitors in the class.

Portugal’s Pedro Andrade, Russia’s Dmitry Samokhin, Dutchman Pieter Heerema, the UK’s Grant Gordon, Switzerland’s Hugo Stenbeck, Australia’s Peter Gilmour, Sweden’s Martin Palsson and Russia’s Anatoly Loginov are the additional 8 sailors who go forward to compete in tomorrow morning’s Quarter Final race. Five teams will then join Friesen for the Semi Final, and the top three teams from that race will progress into the Final to challenge Braslavets.
The strength and depth of the Dragon Class is world renowned and in this, the year of its 90th Anniversary, the fleet is once again demonstrating its incredible ability to evolve and remain current whilst at the same time not only retaining but enhancing its unique heritage and innate style. There are some 3000 Dragons across 31 National Classes and four continents registered and racing regularly around the globe. That tomorrow’s ten finalists represent ten different nations and include four America’s Cup veterans, three Olympians, one Vende Globe veteran, an all amateur crew, a female helm and multiple National, Continental and World Champions speaks volumes about what makes the fleet so enduringly popular.
Four time World Match Racing Champion Peter Gilmour, who joined the Dragon fleet in 2018, very much enjoyed today’s new format saying, “It’s an interesting format where everyone was trying to get up to the top all the time. Some of the top boats were first and then last, but it was mainly about being consistent to get into that top ten group so you can go forward to tomorrow. It’s very disappointing for some people who didn’t make it, but others are looking forward to tomorrow. We’ve had an outstanding season this year for all of the Dragon sailors. For us at Yanmar Racing it’s been particularly satisfying as well. We’ve had some good results and a big improvement on our performance last year, so we’ve enjoyed it very much and the Dragon community has been very welcoming.”
Four Corinthian crews qualified for this inaugural Dragon Grand Prix European Cup Finals and one, Sweden’s Martin Palsson, crewed by Gustav Gardeback and Thomas Wallenfeldt, will move forward into the final day of competition.

The forecast for the final day of the regatta is for initially light north westerly winds which will clock round to the north east and increase as the day progresses. The Quarter Final race is scheduled to commence at noon with each of the remaining three races expected to last around 45 minutes. To follow all the action from the race course please visit the IDA Facebook page. Results and further information are available at www.crpuertoportals.com