SUI 318 Charles Nankin, Ruairdh Scott & Wolf Waschkuhn 1st overall.. 

San Remo Yacht Club hosted the 17th edition of the “Paul and Shark” International Dragon Cup 0ver March 17th to 20th with 43 registered boats including many top International Teams who viewed this popular event as a warm up for the European Championships. Despite strong easterly breezes all week the Race Committee did an excellent job to complete 4 quality races in tough conditions, with gusts occasionally exceeding 25kts and choppy, challenging waves. In the opening race on Thursday, JPN 56 “YRed” helmed by Peter Gilmour (Straight from his victory in Cannes) made an excellent start and managed to keep last years winner SUI 318 “1 Quick 1” behind him for the remainder of the race and lay down his marker for the whole fleet to see…..  1st JPN 56, 2nd SUI 318, 3rd AUS 551.

JPN 56 “YRed” Peter Gilmour, Sam Gilmour & YagiYasuhiro win Race 1.

The following day (Friday) Race 2 was postponed for a couple of hours hoping that the wind of 30+ kts from a North East direction would ease to allow some racing and not simply survival. This came to pass and at around 2.30pm the fleet got away in shifty but perfectly sailable conditions… JPN 56 “YRed” made an excellent start at the pin end and along with SWE 345 were soon able to cross the fleet on port tack, whilst DEN 413 “Lady in Red” and SWE 407 “Wild Iris” continued more into the left, towards the shore. This proved to be a race winning decision and although the Swedish team led the fleet around the top mark, it was DEN 413 who seized the initiative on the first downwind leg to take the lead and never look back. The look on DEN 413 owner’s (Felix Jacobsen) face was priceless as “Lady in Red” crossed the finish line to take it’s first ever “Bullet” at International level. 1st DEN 413, 2nd SWE 407, 3rd SUI 318.

DEN 413 “Lady in Red” Martin Payne, Felix Jacobsen & Laerke Norgraad win Race 2.

With just 2 races completed over the first two days the Race Committee were hoping to add  two more races on Saturday (Day 3), so after a very enjoyable evening was had by all at the magnificent 5 star “Royal Hotel” race 3 got underway with just 2 boats OCS under a P flag.

JPN 56 made another great start towards the Committee Boat and this time along with GER 77 dominated the first beat from the centre of the course, whilst many boats hard left over stood the lay line. Peter Gilmour in JPN 56 managed to hold off Ingo Ehrlicher’s challenge to take his second race win of the series! 1st JPN 56, 2nd GER 77, 3rd DEN 432.

JPN 56 “YRed” Peter Gilmour won race 3 & GER 77 “Dottore Amore” Ingo Ehrlicher finished 2nd…

Race 4 began in similar conditions and this time it was SUI 318 “1 Quick 1” who took the lead on the first downwind leg after deciding to “bear-a-way” set instead of gybe setting at the top mark. This rewarded helm Wolf Waschkuhn and his team of Charles Nankin & Ruairidh Scott with the choice of gate marks and they elected to go inshore on the second upwind which sealed their victory in this very exciting race. Indeed on returning to the Yacht Club on Saturday evening as “Club House Leader’ Wolf and his experienced team would not have known that no racing on the final day due to too much wind, meant the Paul & Shark International Cup was theirs again for the second year running! Well done.

Umberto (left) Ruairidh, Wolf & Charles with President Beppe Zaoli (right).

Runners up overall just 2pts behind was JPN 56 “YRed” helmed by Peter Gilmour who has remained in San Remo with his team of son Sam & Yaji Yasuhiro.  With more practice on the European Championship “race area” it would be a brave man to bet against the Yanmar Team not featuring on the podium in 10 days time!

2nd overall JPN 56 “YRed” Yaji, Peter & Sam with Beppe’ Zaoli.

In 3rd place overall and taking the final podium place in this 4 race series (so no discard allowed, as 5 races were required before discard) was GBR 819 “Fever” Klaus Diederichs, crewed by Diego Negri and Jamie Lea. This experienced team were never out of the top 5 and will also be a main contender for the upcoming European Championships.

3rd overall GBR 819. Klaus Diederichs & Jamie Lea (Diego missing) with Beppe’.

4th place overall was FIN 91 “Paloma” Sami Salomaa, Jari Bremer & Staffan Lindberg.

5th DEN 432 “Deja Vu” (version 2) Bo Sejr Johansen, Theis Palm & Morten Davidson.

6th DEN 413 “Lady in Red” Martin Payne, Felix Jacobsen & Laerke Norgaard.

The top Corinthian Team finished just outside the top 10 boats in 11th place. This was SWE 407 “Wild Iris” helmed by Bjorn Palmquist, crewed by Morten Gundersen & Hans Jansson. Although fellow Corinthian SWE 404 “High Times” Karl Gustav Lohr had 3 very good races, they were too early at the start of race 4 and with no chance to discard their mistake had to settle for 15th overall.

Top Corinthians !  SWE 407 “Wild Iris” Hans Janssen, Morten Gundersen & Bjorn Palmquist (helm).

After the event I asked winning helm Wolf Waschkuhn his overall view of the event and how nice it felt winning the Paul & Shark International Cup for the second year running, Wolf told me “As the 1 Quick 1 team we had been looking forward to competing in the Paul & Shark Trophy yet again having won it in 2021. However, the entry list looked quite different from last year with an overall stronger and larger fleet, as teams congregate in preparation of the European Championships. The wind strength throughout the regatta combined with some massive shifts (especially in race 2) demanded maximum physical fitness and concentration from the crews. We were delighted to win the regatta yet again, finishing two points clear of Peter Gilmour and his team on JPN 56. If this rehearsal was an indication of our improving ability to compete at the top end of the Dragon Fleet, then we are looking forward to the European Championships. I thank my crew of Charles & Ruairidh for giving me such a well prepared and balanced boat for the strong breezes. We know we need to add another gear for the Europeans so will spend more time on the water and in the gym to deliver our maximum performance during the ‘Virginie Heriot Cup’ as the competition from the good & great of the Dragon Class will be fierce enough!”

Well said Wolf and many congratulations once again to you and the 1 Quick 1 team

Finally, its many thanks once again to Yacht Club San Remo and to Elena Razina for her superb photo’s……

Higher, Faster, Longer……….    Stavros.          DEN 413 “Lady in Red”