Lars Hendriksen won the 5th Winter Series in Cascais, despite losing his rig and tiller! in a collision at the top mark in race one! Yes Folks, it was a full on windy regatta, held over three days, which eventually completed four races….With Lars having to retire in race one (but awarded average points), it was RUS 76 Dmitry Samhokin who won the race.
Saturday was completely blown off after crews sailed the 3 miles out to the starting area, only to see the wind increase to 35kts, so all returned a.s.a.p. But spirits were high and three races were completed on the Sunday. Hedriksen helmed “Finito” beautifully to win race one, before Hugo Stenbeck had his say and won races two and three… Thus giving him the runners up spot overall in his first competitive Dragon season, well done.
Hugo & his team, make easy play of the big waves & 28kts of Northerly wind in Cascais. This superb photo was taken by Ricardo Pinto, in the action….
Finishing in 3rd place overall was RUS 76 Dmitry Samohkin, who once again proves his worth in all conditions. As you can see he has the “biggest” man in Russia “Hiking” out as Andrey (his excellent tactician) plots the course.. Dmitry now leads overall after 5 completed winter series events, great sailing!
It was another testing event in the big Atlantic Sea’s, with all 42 boats surfing over the waves and crashing through them. The water was cold and the wind squall’s were a bit “Brown Trouser-ish”.. But we all survived to tell the tale. Bring on the Juan Carlos Trophy in March, followed by the Europeans in April…
Higher, Faster, Longer…….. Wetter…. Stavros. 🙂