Dragons in Imperia 10 to 13 September.

Ideal conditions in Imperia last weekend.

10 Dragons participated in the 2020 Imperia International Sailing Week, with 8 completed races over three days in a variety of conditions. Although more boats had shown interest to attend and support the ever building Italian Fleet, numbers were lower due to the on going Covid Pandemic.

Those that made the effort to sail on this beautiful part of the Ligurian Coast enjoyed the usual Italian hospitality and spectacular scenery.  60 Years ago the Dragons were competing at the Olympics just down the coast in Naples, where King Constantine of Greece won the Gold Medal, so it was pleasing to see ITA 19 who took the Bronze Medal that year, competing once again after a super restoration by the Sibma Navale Shipyard.

Winners overall RUS 76 Kasper, Dmitry & Andrey.

Leading from the start were the extremely experienced team on “RocknRolla” helmed by Dmitry Samokhin, crewed by Kasper Hasberg and Andrey Kirilyuk. This top team managed to win all three races on the opening day, then added two more “bullet’s” on day 2. Such was their dominance Dmitry and his team did not need to sail the final race, so no doubt enjoyed a cool beer or two 🙂 back in the Yacht Club.

Nice lead for RUS 76 as the fleet approach the gate.

Also sailing well was Swiss helm Wolf Waschelihn in “1 Quick 1” SUI 318, crewed by 2019 winning European Cup Finals helm Bernardo Freitas and fellow Portuguese crew Joao Vidinha (Gold Cup Winner). This excellent team kept the pressure on RUS 76 throughout the competition and eventually finished on 12 points, just two behind the winners counting three race wins along the way.

3rd place overall and top Italian team was Giuseppe Duca crewed by Salvatore Eulisse and top Sailmaker Vittorio Zaoli.  After discarding a 4th place in the opening race, Giuseppe and crew were never out of the top 3 boats and throughly deserved their Podium place.

1st Classic Boat ITA 19 collect their prize in Imperia.

The Italian Fleet and all competitors wish to thank the Yacht Club Imperia along with the patronage of the City of Imperia and the collaboration of the Imperia League, Assonautica Imperia, Go Imperia along with the support of My Future Wineries, the Sansteva Wineries and finally the Luna Park of Imperia Greenwich Bar.

The next Italian Regatta will be the Hans-Detmar Wagner Cup in Torbole’, Lake Garda, at the beginning of October, plus the Italian Dragon Class Association will run the new “Riviera Trophy” early 2021 with 4 events to be held in Alassio, Imperia, Monaco and San Remo.

Higher, Faster, Longer…..   Stay Safe.     Stavros.