Lawrie Smith is dismasted whilst leading the Dargon Gold Cup fleet but claims redress and continues to lead the regatta.
The second day of racing at the Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup 2023 in Torquay brought an intensely fought second race and more than a few dramatic incidents.
For day 1 leader Britain’s Lawrie Smith, his race ended dramatically after the second beat when he rounded in the lead ahead of Sweden’s Jan Secher, Grant Gordon GBR and Dirk Oldenburg SUI.
As the leaders hoisted and took off down the run the remainder of the fleet was still coming in on the port lay line.
Unfortunately, one of the up-bound boats, Germany’s Stephan Schutze’s, failed to keep clear and caught Smith’s rig, dismasting both boats.
Although Schutze did the correct thing and formally retired, back ashore Smith went to the jury to request redress and was awarded average points.
The remaining pack continued to battle it out and places changed constantly.
On the final beat Michael Zankel of Portugal got ahead and finished the race with a ten second lead.
Behind him Secher beat Oldenburgh by inches, with Wolf Waschkuhn SUI fourth, Andy Beadsworth TUR fifth, Gordon sixth and Eric Williams GBR seventh, all within a few seconds of each other. Belgium’s Xavier Vanneste had another good day and finished in eighth.
Although Zankel won the race, Smith’s first day win means that currently his average points give him two first places, so in the overall standings with two races now completed he continues to lead the regatta.
Wolf Waschkuhn’s fourth puts him second overall, with Xavier Vanneste now lying third with a fifth and an eighth. Peter Gilmour had a steady day adding a twelfth to yesterday’s third, putting him into fourth overall, with Grant Gordon fifth.
In the Corinthian division the day’s top performer was Simon Barter GBR, with David Tabb GBR second and Thomas Scherer GER third. In the overall Corinthian standings Barter now leads the fleet from Holland’s Guus de Groot and Britain’s David Tabb.
For day three light airs are forecast for the morning with the breeze building in the afternoon. Four races remain to be sailed between now and the conclusion of the regatta on Friday 15 September and the result of all races count.
Dragon Gold Cup 2023 – Leaders after day 2, 2 races (49 entries)
1st GBR815 ALFIE Lawrie Smith – – 1 1.0 RDGb – – 2 pts
2nd SUI318 1quick1 Wolf Waschkuhn – – 4 4 – – 8 pts
3rd BEL82 Herbie Vanneste Xavier – – 5 8 – – 13 pts
4th JPN56 YRed Peter Gilmour – – 3 12 – – 15 pts
5th GBR820 Louise Racing Grant Gordon – – 12 6 – – 18 pts
6th AUS551 YeahNah Pete Cooke – – 6 14 – – 20 pts
7th TUR12 Provezza Dragon Andy Beadsworth – – 16 5 – – 21 pts
8th GER1221 Sapphire Jan Woortman – – 8 15 – – 23 pts
9th GER62 Desert Holly Link Stephan – – 13 10 – – 23 pts
10th SUI313 FREE Dirk Oldenburg – – 21 3 – – 24 pts
11th SWE800 Miss Behaviour Jan Secher – – 23 2 – – 25 pts
12th DEN423 Deja vu ver, 2.0 Bo Johansen – – 2 24 – – 26 pts
13th CAY9 Saturn Peter Cunningham – – 10 17 – – 27 pts
14th GBR682 Ecstatic Eric Williams – – 22 7 – – 29 pts
15th GBR763 Bertie Simon Barter Cor – – 18 11 – – 29 pts
