Wonderful weather in San Remo during the Paul & Shark Dragon Cup 14-17 March.
33 boats enjoyed Italy’s Ligurian coastline sailing 7 quality races over 4 days, at the Paul & Shark Dragon Cup in San Remo. There is no doubt the 90th Dragon Anniversary is in good hands and will be “Festival of Celebration” at this excellent location from October 5th to 11th.
Winners of Race 1 ITA 77 Yvgeni Braslavets, Sergey Pugachev & Sergey Timokhov.
From the very first race ITA 77 made a statement by just squeezing out GER 1207 at the finish to take the victory. It was as close as any finish could be, but saw Yvegeni continue his recent success in Palma and set the tone for the rest of this Paul & Shark Dragon Cup. In race 2 a big gain was made by EST 16 tacking out to sea (which is not normally the preferred direction in San Remo) as the Race Committee set courses further away from the land. This lead was maintained by Mihkel Kosk and his new Estonian crew and there were no happier sailors afloat when they crossed the finish line..
Winners of Race 2 EST 16 Mihkel Kosk, Pearu Pold & Helle Vain.. Great Result Mihkel!
This event was also part II of the Italian National Championship it was sailed in good spirits, extremely well organised both on and off the water providing all participants maximum sailing time in a variety of conditions. Yacht Club San Remo showed why it hosts so many top International events, providing the complete package for any Sailing Championship and will be ideal for our 90th Anniversary later in the year. Many Corinthian teams enjoyed the sailing conditions and none more so than “popular” Sami Salomaa who eventually took the title with his team of Kalle Pihl & Jari Bremer, well done guys.
Corinthian Winners & 6th overall were FIN 91 Sami Salomaa, Kalle Pihl & Jari Bremer.
Overall it was a fantastic battle which went all the way down to the wire, due to the amazing final day of Ivan Bradbury’s “Blue Haze” recording a 1st & 2nd to finish level on points! But, on count-back, Yvgeni’s three race wins against Ivan’s two, (how close is that?) gave his Yacht Club San Remo team of Sergey Pugachev & Sergey Timokhov the victory. Many congratulations to these amazing sailors.
Yvgeni Braslavets, with San Remo President Beppe Zaoli, Sergey Pugachev & Sergey Timokhov.
At his winning speech Yvgeni thanked his team, all the helpers and volunteers of Yacht Club San Remo and said he was looking forward to returning for 90th Anniversary in October. He acknowledged the Race Committee had set excellent courses and complimented his main competitors Ivan Bradbury, Lars & George on such close racing which kept the final outcome in doubt until the very last seconds of the final race!
2nd overall GBR 375 “Blue Haze” Ivan Bradbury, Lars Hendriksen & George Leonchuck.
Finishing 3rd in this competitive field were the the “Double” European Champions and former Gold Cup Winners RUS 27 “Annapurna” helmed by Anatoly Loginov, crewed by Vadim Statsenko and Alexander Shaligin. They fought hard, recording three 2nd places and one 3rd but could not quite top the leader board on this occasion. Such was the quality of the two leading boats.
3rd Overall RUS 27 “Annapurna” Anatoly Loginov, Vadim Statsenko & Alexander Shaligin.
Also having another very good regatta was top Lady Helm Nicola Friesen despite having to put up with her excellent tactician Vincent Hoesch feeling under the weather all week complaining to us all how ill he felt 🙂 So very well done to Nicola and her GER 1207 team “Khaleesi” for this performance.
4th Overall GER 1207 “Khaleesi” Nicola Friesen, with Vincie Hoesch & Frithjoff Kleen.
Meanwhile the Italian National Championship title (combined Alassio & San Remo scores), was won by ITA 76 “Yanez” Giuseppe Duca crewed by Jean Sebastian Ponce & Vittorio Zaoli. Very well done to this top Italian Team.
Italian National Champions ITA 76 Giuseppe Duca, Jean Sebastian Ponce & Vittorio Zaoli.
With ITA 77 & GBR 375 sharing 5 race wins between them the final race winner was MON 2 Jens Rathsack, Frederico Melo & Diogo Pereira. Jens also sailed well in race 2 & 3 and is beginning to show the form he had at last years Europeans in Hungary.
Winner of race 7 MON 2 “Jeanie” Jens Rathsack, Frederico Melo & Diogo Pereira.
So congratulations again to ITA 77 with 3 race wins taking the title ahead of GBR 375 (2 race wins) and RUS 27 in 3rd place. A great time was had by all so make sure you get an entry in for the 90th Anniversary, the stage is set, 200 boats are anticipated and San Remo is certainly a fantastic place to visit… 🙂
Higher, Faster, Longer……… Stavros.
p.s. Many Thanks to Elena Razina for these superb photo’s, see more on her F.B. page.