ITA 56 the Victor in Cannes..

Giuseppe Duca held ofstiff competition during the final day of the November regatta in Cannes to win the Coupe de Armistice title with very consistent sailing. Without an individual race win ITA 56 put together an excellent series of results over the 5 races to be the top Dragon of the 52 competitors……

The final day’s conditions allowed Race Officer John Coveny, to hold three races. This allowed for some major place changes from the previous two days of sailing. Into the frame came SWE 360 helmed by Staffan Larsvall who was able to discard his first race OCS and follow up with some very consistent top sailing. Also RUS 6 helmed by Alexander Schmid finishing with a 2nd and 3rd place in the final two races jumped into the podium places as some of the early hopefuls fell away ……..          With these results SWE 360 took the runners up position and RUS 6 finished 3rd overall. (It is worth noting that none of these top three boats had race wins, consistency is the name of the game in large fleets).

After a superb evening meal held and organised by the Yacht Club de Cannes, where all of the lucky competitors were able to relax and enjoy the fantastic hospitality of this premier club, it need a clear head at the start of race 3 (the first race yesterday), to spot more wind pressure towards the left of the course. GBR 716 Gavia Wilkinson-Cox came off the PIN end of the line like a rocket and was soon able to cross the fleet and set her clear intentions  for the day. Holding onto the lead throughout, this race win moved her swiftly up the rankings and deservedly took the 4th spot overall.  RUS 90 helmed by Igor Goikhberg kept his team in the game adding two more top 10 results on this final day to secure 5th position.

In race 4 (the second race yesterday), RUS 35 Victor Fogolson, pushed further right on the second upwind leg and was rewarded with a lifting breeze that saw him take the line honers. Then the Petticrow owner, Tim Tavinor GBR 751 again showed great form with a comanding win in the final race of the series… Tim has this habbit of doing much better as the day goes on, of course it’s nothing to do with the copious amounts of red wine drunk the previous evening, with his ever sociable crew, Nicky & Thomas Wilton and his many Petticrow customers….   I just wonder……….

Finally it was great to see Jenny Green GBR 626 out there enjoying herself and sailing really well. Her 8th place in race two was an excellent result and we all look forward to supporting her “Christmas Dinner” at the next regatta in the Cannes Yacht Club on Friday 3rd Dec. All money raised will go towards helping research into MND that she herself is so bravely fighting…

In closing, this was a magnificent regatta, held in a superb location and organised by an excellent team of helpers and volluteers. To have 52 Dragons racing over three days in the middle of November is a sight to behold…  Where else in Europe is there such an opportunity to compete at this very high level of racing against such a multi-national fleet of one design keel boat sailors………

Higher, Faster, Longer……………   Stavros.