Lawrie does a “Messi”

GBR 801 “Alfie” Lawrie Smith, Tim Tavinor and Joost Houweling squeeze out POR 66..

Many of us have won a race, some of us may have even won 2 races, but how many sailors in the world have won 3 races in one day ?? Well fellow Dragon sailors, it happened here yesterday in Cascais . It was achieved by former World Champion Lawrie Smith helming his new Petticrows “Alfie”, crewed by Tim Tavinor and Joost Houweling. When I congratulated Tim he simply said “We did a Messi”…  explaining of course that he was referring to their “Hat Trick” of wins and thus relating it to the Worlds best Footballer Lionel Messi!   (I tell you they must have some breeding issues up in Burnham on Crouch)..  🙂

Actually I did once do the “Hat Trick” in Dublin Bay at the Dun Laoghaire Regatta with an Irish gentleman call Dennis Bergin…  but that’s another story…  So back to Cascais and Lawrie Smith really turned up the heat. What was even more impressive was that the races were on three different courses as the PRO used the full scope of the sailing waters off the coast of Cascais and Estoril. This meant that Lawrie and his team had no idea which way would pay on each beat as there were no obvious signs of an advantage right or left.

However, the overnight leader POR 66 “Drago” helmed by Jose’ Matoso was determined not to give up without a fight and by recording 3rd, 4th & 2nd yesterday, still lead the 5th Winter Series by a slender point!   In 3rd place overall is RUS 76 “Strange Little Girl” helmed by Dmitry Samokhin who also had a good day recording 6th, 2nd and 5th. So everything to play for with two more races planned today, with an 11am start.

Here you see POR 66 holding a slight lead on a down wind leg, in perfect sailing conditions

With the wind remaining mostly from the north at around 18 to 20 kts, it made the three race sailing day an exhausting but exciting experience. My two friends from Abersoch, will return home to the UK with some fantastic memories of their first experience of racing at the very highest level in Portugal. As you can see Simon had a bit of a “thirst on”  🙂

Simon Todd and Graham Price, enjoy a refreshing beer, or two, after racing in Cascais.

Meanwhile our Professional Photographer Ricardo Pinto, took to the air yesterday to bring us some amazing images of this superb regatta hosted by the Club Naval de Cascais…  here are a few to wet your appetite

These really are “Higher” Faster, Longer…………     Stavros.