Good morning everyone and welcome to our informal blog from the Irish Dragon Nationals in Cultra on Belfast Loch. As I flew in over the Loch on my way in from Southampton this morning the water was glassy but we have a lovely sunny day with some fluffy white clouds and the wind is just starting to fill in. Right now everyone is enjoying coffee and scones and catching up on the gossip.
The regatta got off to a great start yesterday with two races in around 8-12 knots. Overall Martin Byrne, crewed by Adam Winklemann and Pedro Andrade in Jaguar, leads the regatta having taken a third in the opening race and won the second. Don O’Donoghue, sailing Seabird with Gwen Chapelain and Callas Caskey, is in second place with a 4, 2 score line and Klaus Diederichs, sailing Fever with Andy Beadsworth and Jamie Lea, is in third thanks to a second in race one and a fifth in race two. Andrew Craig, sailing Chimera with Mark Pettitt and Brian Matthews, won the opening race but a slightly disappointing seventh in race two means he is now lying in fourth.
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