International Dragon World Championship at Cascais, Portugal - Day 2
by Jonny Fullerton on 14 Jun
11-17 June 2017
Anatoly Loginov sailing Annapurna with his Russian crew of Vadim Statsenko and Alexander Shalagin closed the gap on regatta leaders Andy Beadsworth's (Provezza) with a 6th & 3rd on day two of the Dragon Worlds in Cascais.
Two more longer races were held in light to moderate conditions and warm hazy sunshine off the coast of Cascais. With two races of 2 hours in duration it was a long day on the water for the fleet of 70 Dragons.
Race 2 of the championship started at the third attempt in a light 6 - 8 knot NW breeze with a big rolling swell. The fleet were again well spread up the 2.3nm first upwind leg and it was Andy Beadsworth sailing the Turkish flagged Provezza, who read the course best rounding the windward mark just in front of Corinthian sailor GER 1180 (Rosie) Benjamin Morgen with current world champion, Yevgen Braslavets sailing UAE7 (Bunker Prince) in third.
The former champions rode the swell to close the gap on second place at the bottom gate but Andy Beadsworth and his crew had already gained a 30 second lead. Bunker Prince chased Provezza but ran out of race track crossing in second. GER1151 (Puck IV), another Corinthian team helmed by Philip Dohse sailed an excellent last leg to take third and FRA391 (Ulysse) Jean Breger, a very creditable fourth.
The second race of the day, race 3 of the championship started under black flag with the vast majority of the fleet stacked up at the pin end. Immediately after the gun there was a sizeable shift with the fleet tacking onto port heading to the right side (inshore side) of the course.
Again it was a case of reading the shifts and judging the difficult waves to get a clear lane and break free of the pack. This time it was GER 1162 (Desert Holly) Stephan Link, sailing in the Masters division, who read the conditions best to round in the lead from RUS27 (Annapurna), the current European Champions helmed by Anatoly Loginov and UAE9 (Desert Eagle) Hendrik Witzmann. These three boats challenged for the lead around the second lap as the breeze puffed up to 10 - 12 knots at times. Waiting to pounce in fourth was GBR 815 Lawrie Smith (Alphie), who suffered a 21st in the first race of the day.
As the leaders closed in on the finish line after 1800 hrs in the evening a final wind shift changed a number of places on the final upwind leg but the Masters team helmed by Stephan Link managed to hold off the close attentions of Henrik Witzmann's Desert Eagle to take his first gun of the regatta. RUS27 (Annapurna) sealed another third to finish the day on equal points with Andy Beadsworth's (Provezza) who had to climb back from deep mid fleet to finish with a respectable banker (10th).
Racing on Day 3, Wednesday 14 June has been brought forward by an hour with a first race warning at 1200 noon local time due to a forecast of heavier winds later in the day.
Results can be found here.