Denmark’s Jens Christensen, Anders Bagger and Thomas Schmidt are declared Champions at Dragon 90th Anniversary Regatta powered by Paul and Shark.
Ivan Bradbury, Malte Phillip and Claus Oelsen are the Classic Dragon 90th Anniversary Champions.
The final day of racing in San Remo was an absolute cliff-hanger as the leading teams played snakes and ladders on the leader board.
Going into the last race just two points separated the three leaders, Christensen in DEN410 ‘Out of Bounce’, Victor Fogelson in RUS35 ‘Sunflower’ and GER16 ‘Ingrid’ sailed by Dirk Pramann.
With all races to count the regatta was still wide open.
Even getting that final race started was nerve-wracking as the race committee battled to get the fleet underway before the 16.00 cut off time, something they impressively achieved with just minutes to spare despite a general recall.
Once underway it was to be nip and tuck all the way and as the teams crossed the line, led by Eugenii Braslavets in ITA77 ‘Bunker Prince’ . . . none of them was quite certain who had won overall.
It was only on arrival at the dock that Danish Olympian, Dragon European and two-time H-Boat World Champion Jens Christensen, crewed by Anders Bagger and Thomas Schmidt, was confirmed as the Regatta Champion.
Christensen finished with a seven point margin over Pieter Heerema in NED412 ‘Troika’ who was second in the final race. Third place overall went to Christof Wieland helming GER69 ‘Dirndlwind’ with Braslavets fourth.
In the Classics Fleet, for planked wooden Dragons built prior to 1972, first place went to Ivan Bradbury sailing GBR375 Blue Haze, a beautifully restored and maintained 1959 Pedersen & Theusen, which also finished 26th in the overall classification.
Whilst the sun has now set on the Dragon 90th Anniversary Regatta powered by Paul & Shark, the season will continue for the Dragons, with the next major event in the calendar being the Dragon Grand Prix Spain.
And then the grand finals of the Dragon European Cup Series which take place in Puerto Portals, Mallorca from 11 to 16 November 2019.
The spirit of the Class . . .
A special presentation was the Spirit of the Dragon Class Trophy which is awarded to a team from the Classic Division who embody the true spirit, fair play and seamanship of the class.
The winner is elected by his fellow sailors and to rousing applause Ireland’s Don Street, who raced the oldest boat in the regatta IRL15 Gypsy, came forward to receive the trophy.
Don kept his acceptance speech typically brief but entertaining saying simply, “I sailed a 1937 boat at the 75th Anniversary Regatta, here I’ve sailed an 86-year-old boat and I’m 89 years old, and I’m aiming to do the 100th Anniversary Regatta too!”
International Dragon – Final Gold Fleet leaders (80 entries)
1st 1° DEN 410 OUT OF BOUNCE, JENS CHRISTENSEN – – 36 pts
2nd 2° NED 412 TROIKA, PIETER HEEREMA – – 43 pts
3rd 3° GER 69 DIRNDLWIND, CHRISTOF WIELAND – – 49 pts
4th 4° ITA 77 BUNKER PRINCE, EUGENII BRASLAVETS – – 52 pts
5th 5° JPN 56 YRED, PETER GILMOUR – – 53 pts
6th 6° RUS 27 ANNAPURNA, ANATOLY LOGINOV – – 60 pts
7th 7° GER 16 INGRID, DIRK PRAMANN – – 60 pts
8th 8° DEN 408 FLAWLESS, FRANK BERG – – 68 pts
9th 9° GBR 820 LOUISE RACING, GRANT GORDON – – 69 pts
10th 10° TUR 1212 PROVEZZA DRAGON, ANDY BEADSWORTH – – 72 pts
International Dragon – Final Silver Fleet leaders (65 entries)
1st NOR 275 THE KNUCKER, PER ARNE NILSEN – – 23 pts
2nd DEN 394 BLUE LADY, PHILIPP SKAFTE-HOLM – – 45 pts
3rd AUS 216 LIQUIDITY, RICHARD FRANKLIN – – 46 pts
4th NOR 300 STILL CRAZY, OLE CHRISTIAN GAHR VORDAHL – – 48 pts
5th SWE 369 LUMME TOO, OLLE JO JOHANSSON – – 53 pts
6th FRA 422 CORTO 3, HACENE ABBAR – – 53 pts
7th GER 1111 ISKAREEN, ARNT BRUHNS – – 53 pts
8th FRA 409 TSUICA, GERARD BLANC – – 54 pts
9th HKG 50 PHYLOONG, PHYLLIS CHANG – – 56 pts
10th ITA 4 TERGESTE, MARCO GALLO – – 59 pts