Race four of the Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup 2019 in Medemblik went to Evgenii Braslavets with Peter Gilmour second and Gery Trentesaux third.
Torrential rain and big shifts impacted Race 4 but despite coming close to swamping his boat, Pedro Andrade retains overall lead after day four of the Dragon Gold Cup.
The race committee’s first attempt at starting under U Flag had to be recalled as the fleet was simply over eager. The second had to be postponed because of a fifteen-degree right shift, and the third also had to be postponed before they finally got away under black flag at the fourth time of asking.
Right was the way to go on the first beat and the boats stormed off up upwind in 18 knots from 020 degrees, pounding into the notoriously aggressive Ijsselmeer chop.
Hungary’s Ferenc Kis-Szölgyémi initially headed the fleet, but at the first leeward gate Peter Gilmour’s Japanese Team Yanmar slid into the lead by a whisker from Holland’s Pieter Heerema, Kis-Szölgyémi, Denmark’s Jens Christensen and Germany’s Marcus Brennecke.
Braslavets was on the charge and tore up the tricky light airs final beat in masterly style.
On the final approach to the line Braslavets snatched victory from Gilmour with Trenteseaux third, Loginov fourth, Heerema fifth and Brennecke sixth.
The sheer gutsy determination of Andrade and his crew of Christian Giannini and Joao Vidinha enabled them to retain their overall lead in the regatta by four points. Unbeknown to his fellow competitors, for the second time in the series he was suffering major gear failure which would almost force him to pull out.
The electric pumps had failed, and water was above the floor boards and the boat was so heavy he was struggling to steer. All three of them had to pump the boat upwind and were exhausted and dropped back.
But on the final beat they managed to start sailing a bit and performing, and were very happy to finish ninth.
Behind them Pieter Heerema and Dmitry Samokhin both count 24 points while Anatoly Loginov is four further points back in fourth. Peter Gilmour’s second place moves him back up the leader board by three places into fifth, fourteen points adrift of the lead, while Braslavets’ win moves him up three places into tenth overall.
Andrade is now the only sailor with an all top ten score card, but with no discard and two further races still to sail the championship remains wide open.
The top performing Corinthian Team of the day was Germany’s Philip Dohse, crewed by wife Nicola, daughter Pia and Volker Kramer. Sweden’s Martin Pålsson, was the second Corinthian team home.
Denmark’s Poul-Richard Hoj-Jensen took third place in the Corinthian race and continues to lead the Corinthian Division overall.
Dragon Gold Cup – Provisional Top Ten after 4 races
1st Pedro Andrade, POR84 – 4, 5, 2, 9 = 20 pts
2nd Pieter Heerema, NED412 – 3, 1, 15, 5 = 24 pts
3rd Dmitry Samokhin, RUS76 – 1, 7, 5, 11 = 24 pts
4th Anatoly Loginov, RUS27 – 8, 4, 11, 4 = 27 pts
5th Peter Gilmour, JAP56 – 2, 2, 28, 2 = 34 pts
6th Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen, GBR822 – 13, 3, 7, 17 = 40 pts
7th Grant Gordon, GBR820 – 5, 12, 10, 14 = 41 pts
8th Jens Christensen, DEN410 – 9, 13, 17, 7 = 46 pts
9th Gery Trentesaux, FRA428 – 6, 22, 19, 3 = 50 pts
10th Evgenii Braslavets, ITA77 – 17, 31, 4, 1 = 53 pts
