No Thermals, No Hat, No Chance!

With Europe in this unbelievable cold snap, it is testament to the Dragon Class that they have prevailed in chilly Cannes and completed 4 races thus far…

Quite simply conditions have been somewhat testing to say the least.

With snow capped mountains and sleet covered streets our intrepid sailors set forth to do battle in temperatures more suited for the recent Winter Olympics.

Putting the cold to one side the YCC Committee had their hands full with an immense seaway and an unusual breeze direction from 035 degrees.

With a mean TWS of 9 knots two races were completed today. Race 3 saw our IDA Chairman Vasily Senatorov take the gun in his brand new Petticrows V6 (RUS 34 To Be Continued)……. 2nd was former European Champion Anatoly Loginov helming RUS 27 and 3rd GER 1162 Stephan Link.

Suffering the ignominy of a UFD was Klaus Diederichs (2013 World Champion) helming GBR 758, who will be kicking himself this evening for this expensive transgression. However, Klaus made up for his mistake with an excellent 2nd in the next race.

Race 4 saw similar conditions with an fair line and a clear start…  lead boats at the the top mark came from middle left as some of boats who went all the way left overstood.

Tricky conditions prevailed down wind as GER 1162 Stephan Link took control. Immediately followed by GBR 758 then 3rd was 2015 World Champion Yvgeni Brazlavets helming ITA 77.

So going into the final day this first European Grade 1 is very much up for grabs… Tomorrow will see a discard kick in if any more races can be sailed….

Colder, Frostier, Snowier…..   Stavros.   😉