“Bunker Prince” UAE 8 Wins the Cannes Grand Prix… Yes, our current World Champion Yevgeni Braslavets, crewed by Deigo Negri & Vittorio Zaoli, won the final light wind race to take the overall victory by 5 points (after discard).
With 4 races already completed on the first three days, the Race Officer Philippe Faure tried to start the final race on Saturday in the West Bay of Cannes, but the wind was up to its usual tricks, so it was decided to move over to the East Bay. At first the shifting easterly breeze died away, but perseverance is the name of the game and with a “cut off” time of 4pm the final race eventually started just in time….
Starting in the East Bay of Cannes, carefully watch from both ends of the line.
Although it was tough to get the boats up to speed off the line, the usual suspects started to shine through.. UAE 8 and his nearest rival TUR 1212 were soon to “pop” out on starboard also with GBR 791 “Christiana” & RUS 34 “Even Better” showing good speed on the left side of the 1.6 mile course. As the race developed the breeze became more consistent which helped the top 5 boats pull away from the fleet.. UAE 8 finished 1st, RUS 34 2nd, TUR 1212 3rd, GBR 789 4th & GBR 791 5th.
3rd in the final race made TUR 1212 “Josephine” well deserved runners up.
Flying the Flag for Turkey, former Etchells World Champion, Dragon (crew) World Champion & a UK America’s Cup helmsman Andy Beadsworth has certainly got the “mighty” Josephine sailing fast. Crewed by his usual “shotgun” friend and multiple world champion Simon Fry along with 5 times Olympian Gustavo Lima, (who was standing in for Ali Tezdiker who could not attend).
Ali Tezdiker will now ship “Josephine” back to Turkey to add to the building number of Dragons regularly racing in Bodrum. Meanwhile Ali and his Provezza Team will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of their new “Petticrows” soon to be delivered 🙂
Now I am delighted to mention two young lads, Robert Morris (22) and Henry Rochford (19) who helped me to a very pleasing 3rd place overall in this highly competitive fleet. By finishing 4th in the final race we managed to overtake my good friend Pedro Andrade who also had a excellent regatta helming GER 1177 “Pow Wow” (4th overall) in Michael Zankel’s absence.
3rd overall GBR 789 “Bear”, with my colourful & enthusiastic crew Robert & Henry.
It is really great for the Dragon when we see more younger sailors coming into the class, especially as more “family’s” encourage their children to join in the fun. It’s nice to see the smiling faces as different generations can share the same “quality” of racing and the “enjoyment” of our various social entertainment 🙂
Top of the “Corinthian” Sailors (all the crew must be non professional) was the 4 person team from GER 1151 “Puck IV” helmed by Philip Dohse, crewed by his wife Nicola, Christian Moeller and Volker Kramer. This team had a real fight to keep FRA 409 Gerard Blanc and FIN 91 Sami Solamaa behind by just 1 point on the scoring!
Winning Corinthian Sailors of the Cannes Grand Prix… GER 1151 “Puck IV” Philip Dohse with 7pts.
2nd Corinthians Overall FRA 409 “Tsuica” Gerard Blanc, Jean-Gabriel Charton and Pierre Germain. 8pts.
3rd Corinthians Overall FIN 91 Sami Salomaa, Michael Wilhelmson and Kalle Phil 8pts.
This truly was a very hard fought competition amongst the 8 Corinthian Teams and I hope to see all if not most of these teams sailing at the Corinthian Cup in Ostend during late July.. Especially GER 1120 “Blue Pik” sailed by the popular Von Stempel Family, who have added so much fun and friendship to the class.. We all wish Christina every strength in the coming days and a speedy recovery…
Finally, I would like to thank Karine Grene’ at the Yacht Club de Cannes and all her many helpers for organising our first European Grade 1 event of 2017. Cannes is always a wonderful place to visit and to have sunshine, wind and a great social atmosphere during February.. what more could you ask for … 🙂
Higher, Faster, Longer………… Stavros.
p.s. My thanks to Professional Photographer, Jehan Lerin for allowing me to use some of his pictures. Also to Michael Kurtz, from Pantaenius Insurance, for his skilled photo’s with his “Mobile” on the final day!