RUS 96 Mikhail Muratov crewed by Valetin Uvarkin and Valdimir Krutskikh stole the show on the final day here in Cascais by winning all three races, which gave him overall victory… It was also a great day for his wife Olga White as she helmed her Dragon RUS 69 into 3rd place overall with two 2nd’s & a 4th. When discussing the events of the day with both Olga and Mikhail after the sailing at the famous “Happy Hour” of the Clube de Naval, they said “Stavros, it was our training prior to the World Championships that gave us the edge”. I must admit that after the first two days of heavy weather races, I had thought the competition was just between myself and Marcus Brennecke, but how wrong could I be…. Mikhail and Olga came out today fighting hard to prove they are a real force now on the International Dragon Circuit. Brennecke finished in 2nd place overall despite fracturing a small bone in his right arm on the way out to the race course! The huge swell knocked the German boat sideways and thus Marcus had a bad fall, Vincent Hoesch fell also into the combing & Micky Lip lost all his cigarettes overboard… Maybe a blessing in disguise for Micky….. We just had one of those days where everything went wrong… But, they say a “Bad Day on the water, is still BETTER than a Good Day in the office”….!
Mikhail also told me that on a recent drive down to sunny Vilamoura, which will host the Dragon Prince Henry the Navigator Trophy in April, he tried out one of the new Porsch Panamera Turbo Sports….. he was said to have reached a speed of 308 km/hr before they realised the Dragon had come off !!! Ha Ha.
Stefan Wineberg from Sweden finished in 5th position, and the top Portuguese helm, (Coca) Francisco Melo was just 1pt behind Stefan in 6th place, which completed first six finishers in this top fleet! At the prize giving Mikhail thanked the “Dragpor” sponsor’s of the event and the club for running such a smooth & well organised regatta. He said he would be back in March to take part in the grade 1 event.
So once again this regatta went all the way down to the wire…And that old, old saying springs to mind, “It ain’t over till its over”……………………….. Higher, Faster, Longer…………. Stavros…….