Out of the 65 Dragons entered for the Grade 1 Allianz Grand Prix, racing yesterday in sunny Cannes, two Russian boats were quick to stamp their authority on this International and very talented Fleet…… After all the boats had waited in the “Old Port” of Cannes close to the temporary purpose built tent that will host the regatta functions throughout the 4 day event, the wind eventually filled in at around 1pm.
The experienced Race Officer Phillipe Faure, set the two up wind and two down wind legged course to the East of Cannes in the bay of Golfe Juan. After a General Recall the “Flag Noir” was hoisted and this got the attention of all but 5 of the 65 participating boats. One of these unlucky Black Flagged boats was our very own Petticrow Owner Tim Tavinor GBR 744, who sailed a great race to cross the line in 2nd place, but it was all for nothing as his boat number, along with 4 others was chalked on that dreaded blackboard, on the bow of the committee boat for all to see as each boat finished the two hour long race.
However, setting the early pace having started towards the committee boat end of the line and immediately tacking towards the favoured “Island” shore was RUS 34 owned by Vassily Senatorov, but if it was Vassily helming his boat yesterday then he was wearing a lovely BLONDE WIG and looking far more attractive than he usually does!! (I personally think it was Olympic Sailor Ekaterina Skudina on the helm)…..Anyway, after making their initial gain RUS 34 did not look back and won the race easily, leaving the rest of the fleet to fight hard in the dying wind and lumpy sea….. RUS 27 Anatoloy Loginov although crossing the line in third place would soon have seen GBR 744 on the Black Flag Board, so realised they had been rewarded with 2nd place after their usual consistent sailing that has won them so many trophies over the past three years. In 3rd place was UKR 19 Igor Petukhov who now sails out of the San Remo Yacht Club in Italy. All three leaders will be very happy with their positions as the “Bonus Points Scoring” really benefits the front runners, so well done !!
Today will hopefully see two more races of this scheduled 7 race series, that will continue until the 26th when the whole fleet will congregate for the closing Dinner and Prize giving on the Saturday evening……
Higher, Faster, Longer…………… Stavros (GBR 375).