Hoesch leads but Yury has 3 Wins……..

It was a most fascinating day (morning!) here in Morges, on Lake Geneva, as the 08.30 warning signal either helped to wake up weary competitors or made self inflicted headache’s worse for other’s !!!!! Whatever, it certainly got the attention of this well motivated fleet who are enjoying the fresh water, sunshine a extremely well organised Swiss National Dragon Championship. It WAS the correct decision to start early as 3 races were sailed before the wind died away in the afternoon as the sun came out.

Looking back I was the first to warn sailors that “the Russians were coming” (see my past Blog’s), but today was a Russian Day.  RUS 34 Vasily Senatorov had a very good day with 2nd, 4th, 4th and now is 3rd overall. But the one RUS boat that shone amongst the four Russians here was RUS 76, who is being helmed by Yury Bozhedomov in the owner’s absence. Yury has been sailing Dragons now for around 5 years, after being the top Laser sailor in Russia for 4 years. So his helming ability can never be questioned, but on this ever changing Lake Geneva, to finish with 3 bullets in 3 races is was fantastic !!

However, Yury did not have it easy in all the races as NED 373 Boris Bayer was first to the windward mark in race 1 and race 3. But the downwind legs can also be tricky as the pressure comes and goes, so Boris could not keep the hungry pack behind him as his crew Joop and Michael wrestled with the on-board tactics. They do still hold 4th place overall, which is a well deserved position.

The other main player yesterday, consistent in all 3 races was the  regatta favourite, GER 10 Vincent Hoesch. He ended up with 2nd, 2nd & 7th to add to his 1st and 2nd on the previous day, and now leads the fleet by 4 pts after being able to discard his 34 place. Vincent as ever was happy to be leading but he knows how important it is to win races at these events should count-back be required to decide the overall winner.. With four 1st places Yury is right behind him and dangerous….

So my friends it is now down to the last 3 races of this 9 race series in which anything could still happen… But, the forecast is not good for the next two days, with a high pressure moving in, good for the sun tan but bad for the wind.. By noon the heat of the lake can have the wind coming from all directions, making it impossible for our experience race officer Vincent to lay a “fair” course. So the decision to have the warning signal again at 08.30  today, may give him the chance to get one race in before the early Northerly dies away and this wonderful lake turns to glass………

Higher, Faster, Longer, Hoping………    Stavros. (NED 372).