After the frustration of no sailing on day one of the Trophee Panerai Regates Royal, here in Cannes due to strong winds, yesterday saw an almost perfect sailing day with sun, deep blue waters and a consistant 8-12kt breeze. So the PRO Philippe Faure seized the opportunity to give the ever eager 58 boat fleet three great races in the bay of Golf Juan…..
Setting the early pace was current Irish and British National Champion Martin Byrne from Dublin Bay. Martin who was very well crewed by Pedro Andrade and Brian (I don’t do ropes) Matthews, helmed the chartered Petticrow Dragon “Bear” to a near perfect score of 1st, 1st 3rd. Giving them a real chance to add this prestigious regatta to an already well stacked trophy room back in Ireland….. The nearest challenger to the “Bear” was “White Lady” DEN 166 which was sailed very consistently by HRH Prince Henrik’s crew until he is able to join the fleet later in the week…. This Dragon won an Olympic Gold Medal back in the 1960’s and really showed a clean pair of heels to almost the entire fleet yesterday………
In 3rd place overall after three races sailing that ever present RUS 27 was Anatoly Loginov, who once again is showing extremely well in his new boat. Another older Dragon (1959) Blue Haze GBR 375 also turned back the years to win race 3 for a delighted owner, Ivan Bradbury who won this event two years ago with his strong crew of Lars Hendrickson and Will Willett. So Byrne will not have it all his own way as we look forward to two more races today in this spectacular Meditteranean resort of Cannes……….
Higher, Faster, Longer…………… Stavros. (HKG 55).