Provezza Prevail in San Remo.

TUR 1212 “Provezza Dragon” win the Paul & Shark Dragon Cup in San Remo, Italy.

38 teams competed in San Remo from March 22nd to 25th, sailing 5 races over the 4 days with wind predominately from the east, beginning with a comfortable 9 to 12 kts on day 1, building to 25+kts on the final day.  The first day saw 2 victories going to GER 1170 “Cameleer” helmed by Markus Brenneke fresh from his Grade 1 victory in Cannes 3 weeks ago.

GER 1170 “Cameleer” Markus Brenneke, Jochen Schumann & Ingo Borgowski 2 race wins. 

As the regatta progressed and the wind became stronger, Markus and his brilliant team could not quite match the “Heavy Weather” sailing from TUR 1212 and RUS 76 who shared the next three races between them. In the end Markus, Jochen & Ingo had to settle for 3rd overall which continues their magnificent start to the 2018 season. Well done.

Another fantastic photo from ELENA RAZINA see’s the fleet & the beautiful San Remo.

Meanwhile, taking up the challenge and moving into the lead after 4 races were the top Russian Team from RUS 76 “RocknRolla”, helmed by Dmitry Samokhin. After recording a 3rd & 4th place on the opening day, Dmitry, Andrey & Alexsey sailed very well to finish 2nd in race 3 and then won race 4. This put these excellent sailors in first place overall on 10 points after 4 races. Great sailing from Dmitry, Andrey Kirilyuk & Alexsey Bushuev.

Team “RocknRolla” RUS 76 won race 4 to hold the overall lead after 3 days in San Remo. 

However, snapping at their heels as the wind increased were the 2017 World Champions TUR 1212 “Provezza Dragon” helmed by Andy Beadsworth, crewed by Ali Tezdiker & Simon Fry. After recording a 10th & 6th place in the opening two races, these fantastic sailors proved once again why they won the Worlds last year, as they finished 1,2 & 1.

“Power Play” from the Provezza Team as the current World Champions are at Full Speed.

Unfortunately, as the wind increased during the final race RUS 76’s mast collapsed at the top of the downwind leg. It happened during a severe gust so all Dmitry and his team could do was to thank their lucky stars that they were safe and sound and were quickly towed back to the marina.

Despite the broken mast RUS 76 ended up on equal points to TUR 1212, but 2nd on countback.

Its always sad to see a mast down on any boat, particularly during a race, especially the final race. But a positive Dmitry said “This is how the last race of San Remo Cup has ended up for us and how we lost first position overall. Things like this are teaching us something. Definitely. We just keep guessing what exactly :-)”  Keep doing what you are doing Dmitry, RUS 76 continues to write history…

The Top Corinthian Team was once again Karl-Gustaf Lohr helming SWE 389 “High Times”.  Karl and his team of Jasper Bendix & Mads Hansen always enjoy sailing at San Remo and not only were first Corinthians but also finished in 9th Overall.

Setting the pace and top Corinthians Overall, SWE 389 “High Times” Karl-Gustaf Lohr.

Karl told me “It was tough and challenging with really hard wind and high waves. At the same time we had really High Times !” To finish in the top 10 overall in this excellent fleet is a great result Karl, many congratulations to You, Mads and Jasper.

1st Corinthian Team. SWE 389 “High Times”. Karl, Jasper & Mads power upwind in San Remo.

So there we have it, another top quality Dragon Regatta over and San Remo can look forward to hosting the 4th European Grade 1 event for 2018 during September. Why not make a note in your calendar for Sept 13th-16th to join in the fun before travelling onto the Regates Royal in Cannes Sept 24th-28th…   Never mind working, just go Sailing 🙂

Higher, Faster, Longer…………     Stavros.

Many thanks once again to the excellent Elena Razina for these wonderful photo’s…