We care about your data, and we'd love to use cookies to make your experience better.Cookie settingsGreat, I love cookies!
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Fantastic 5th Day at Dragon Gold Cup…
The “Hamlet” Dragon Gold Cup really caught “fire” on Thursday here in Hornbaek, as 2 more races were completed in superb conditions even though we spent nearly 9 hours on the water! A 15 to 18 kt westerly wind combined with a mixture of currents produced some difficult seas but offered exhilarating sailing.
The 76 boat fleet eventually get away under a Blag Flag. 3 boats were disqualified.
There were a number of “aborted” starts as the boats were swept over the line by a favourable early morning current, this caused several general recalls & postponements. However, eventually the fleet did get away with 3 boats Black Flagged, 2 of which were main contenders… POR 66 Jose’ Matoso & GER 1162 Stephan Link (who was European “Runner Up” in St Petersburg). So their Gold Cup is over as of course there are no discards in this series.
Race 3 was won by RUS 76 “Strange Little Girl” helmed by Dmitry Samokhin, crewed by Andrey Kirilyuk & Aleksey Bushuev. Pushing them hard all through the race was DEN 138 “Eva” helmed by Lars Hendriksen, crewed by Robert Stanjek & Claus Olesen who had to settle for 2nd place, with DEN 32 “Nina” helmed by Nicholas Holm, crewed by Mathias Thomsen & Jonas Hogh in 3rd.
In Race 4 of the series there was a tremendous battle for the victory between GER 1121 and DEN 411. However, although GER 1121 “Caroroo” helmed by Reemt Reemtsma, crewed by his wife Petra & Lorenz Jensen held the upper hand for the majority of the race, it was DEN 411 “African Queen” who snatched the win right at the end of the 3rd and final beat….
I spoke with Jorgen after the race, he told me “In both races we started down near the Committee Boat as we could see the waves were slightly breaking showing more current. Then played the shifts without choosing either side of the beat. In race 3 we had to do a 720 as we infringed the leader at the top mark, but we were still happy to finish 4th. Then in race 4 we had a great race with GER 1121, in fact they sailed very well, but we just managed to squeeze pass them at the finish”. Very well done to Jorgen and his team, could this be Gold Cup number 4 for this excellent Danish Sailor ?
3rd place in race 4 went to GER 1162 “Desert Holly” who bounced back from the major disappointment of their Black Flag in race 3. So it was great to see Stephan Link, Frank Butzmann & Michi Lip still fighting despite having no chance to win overall…. (Well done guys).
So now we all prepare for another extremely long day, as 2 more races are scheduled for today, followed by the craning out of nearly 80 boats ! It should be fun as its what we all live for 🙂
Higher, Longer, Faster…………….. Stavros.
p.s. As usual, many thanks to Ricardo Pinto, who we all know well, for his high quality Photo’s.
p.p.s. Special thanks also to Elena Razina, who has also contributed to my article. Please check out Elena’s web site for further great photo’s at htt://elrazina.com