Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup 2019

Pedro Andrade Wins Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup 2019 – Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen is Corinthian Champion

Lack of a stable wind prevented racing on the final day of the Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup 2019 in Medemblik
Pedro Andrade, Christian Giannini and Joao Vidinha are 2019 Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup Champions
Poul-Richard Hoj-Jensen, Chris Brittain and Hamish McKay claim Corinthian Trophy
British Team of Grant Gordon, Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen and Gavia Wilkinson-Cox win Nations Cup

14 June 2019 – Medemblik, Netherlands The final day of the Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup 2019 in Medemblik was a frustrating one as the wind refused to stabilise sufficiently to complete a race. From 11.00 to 14.30 the Committee made repeated attempts to get a race underway, but despite there being wind in the race area it simply wouldn’t stop shifting and ultimately no race was possible.

Pedro Andrade, Star class veteran Christian Giannini and Joao Vidinha sailing for Portugal were therefore confirmed as worthy and very popular Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup 2019 Champions. They’d had battled several major gear failures during the week, including a broken gooseneck, ripped spinnaker, failed bilge pumps and a broken runner, but in spite of that, they not only won the regatta, but won it by a convincing ten points.

Andrade, who has made the Gold Cup podium twice before but never won it, was keen to pay tribute to his rivals. “They sailed really well and it was hard to stay ahead of them sometimes. Peter Gilmour had one bad race, otherwise he would have been really close to us. And Pieter Heerema was always looking smart somewhere on the race course, but fortunately it went our way, but still a great job by those two teams.” In his acceptance speech he also paid tribute to his crew and to the organisers and sponsors who did such a superb job of running the regatta.

The 2019 Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup Overall Podium

Second place overall went to Vendee Globe veteran Pieter Heerema,of The Netherlands, who was sailing with 2005 49er World Champion George Leonchuck and Lars Hendricksen, who has won the Gold Cup twice as a helm and is also a double Dragon European Champion. Heerema has made the Gold Cup podium three times before, including last year with the same crew, and was surely hoping that it was his turn to be the bride and not the bridesmaid, but it was not to be.

The final overall podium place was claimed by America’s Cup and World Match Racing legend Peter Gilmour, his son Sam, also a top International Match Racer and Yasuhiro Yaji, who was part of Peter’s Japanese America’s Cup team. Had it not been for a disastrous third race the result might have been different, but the no discard rule is one of the things that makes the Dragon Gold Cup such a very special and challenging trophy to win and it put paid to Peter’s hopes.

The 2019 Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup Corinthian Podium

Double Olympic Gold Medallist and Dragon sailing legend Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen, who the Dragon fleet call simply The Man in recognition of his immense contribution to the class, took victory in the Corinthian Division, or has he calls it the “weekend sailors’ class”. Crewed by old friends Hamish McKay and Chris Brittain, 75 years young Poul may now class himself as a weekender, but he has won the Gold Cup an incredible five times and remains a fearsome competitor, also finishing ninth in the overall competition this week. After sailing he paid tribute to the quality of the event organisation. “They could not have got it much better, we had light wind, we had good strong wind, and they have organised it very very well.”

Second place in the Corinthian Division went to Sweden’s Martin Pålsson, Peter Lindh and Thomas Wallenfeldt, while local hero Jan Bakker, who sailed his first Gold Cup in 1963 and raced this week with his sons Dominic and Oliver, took the third step on the Corinthian Podium.

The 2019 Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup Nations Cup Trophy Podium

The Nations Cup Trophy, for the three boat national teams competition, was won by the British Team of Grant Gordon, Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen and Gavia Wilkinson-Cox with 214 points. In second were the Russian Team of Dmitry Samokhin, Anatoly Loginov and Igor Goikhberg with 220 points, while third was the Danish Team of Frank Berg, Jens Christensen and Jørgen Schönherr.

Dutchman John den Engelsman took home the Silver Cup Trophy which is awarded to the winner of the Silver Fleet or the boat that finishes at the mid point in the ranking if the regatta is sailed as one fleet. John is a huge character in the Dutch fleet and his win was very well received.

John den Engelsman with the Silver Cup Trophy

At the prize giving there were special thanks for event sponsor Yanmar for their most gracious and generous hospitality and their very direct and personal support of the event. Tribute was also paid to the incredible volunteers of the Royal Netherlands and Royal Hollandia Yacht Clubs and the Dutch Dragon Association. The warm welcome, the wonderful sense of camaraderie, the fantastic parties, the incredible job they did of running racing in what were without doubt exceptionally difficult conditions, and the seamless shoreside logistics were quite simply exemplary.

The 2020 edition of the Dragon Gold Cup will be held in Kinsale, Ireland from 5 to 11 September 2020. This always popular Dragon sailing venue combines a wonderful shoreside ambiance with superb racing on the spectacular Bay of Kinsale and great Irish craic, so another great turnout is expected. Further information about the event is available from www.dragongoldcup2020.com

Later this year, the International Dragon celebrate its 90th birthday and the class will be celebrating in style with a very special Gala Regatta to be held in Sanremo, Italy from 5 to 11 October 2019. The event will bring together Dragons, Dragon sailors and friends of the class from around the globe and across the generations to celebrate this milestone in the class’s history. Already 130 entries from 25 nations and four continents have confirmed their participation. Further information about the 90th Anniversary Regatta can be found at www.dragon90.com.

Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup 2019 – Overall Top Ten

Pedro Andrade, POR84 – 4, 5, 2, 9, 4 = 24
Pieter Heerema, NED412 – 3, 1, 15, 5, 10 = 34
Peter Gilmour, JAP56 – 2, 2, 28, 2, 5 = 39
Anatoly Loginov, RUS27 – 8, 4, 11, 4, 13 = 40
Grant Gordon, GBR820 – 5, 12, 10, 14, 1 = 42
Dmitry Samokhin, RUS76 – 1, 7, 5, 11, 19 = 43
Gery Trentesaux, FRA428 – 6, 22, 19, 3, 3 = 53
Evgenii Braslavets, ITA77 – 17, 31, 4, 1, 2 = 55
Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen, GBR822 – 13, 3, 7, 17, 15 = 55
Stephan Link, GER1162 – 12, 14, 1, 32, 7 = 66

International Dragon Association Website

Midweek report

• A shift race three sees leader board shuffled as Portugal’s Pedro Andrade jumps from fourth into the overall lead at Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup 2019

• Event sponsor Yanmar host spectacular Yanmar Gold Cup Gala Dinner

• Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen consolidates his Corinthian Division lead and also moves into fourth place overall

11 June 2019 – Medemblik, Netherlands – As the regatta reached its mid-point, there were mixed fortunes for the leading teams on day three of the Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup 2019 in Medemblik. Going into the day Holland’s Pieter Heerema, and Peter Gilmour sailing for Japan were at the top of the leader board with four points apiece. Russia’s Dmitry Samokhin was in third on eight points and Portugal’s Pedro Andrade fourth with nine points.

Daybreak brought heavy rain with a south westerly in the mid to upper teens, but as the noon start time approached the skies began to clear. Unfortunately, those clear skies came with some significant wind shifts and twice the race committee had to reorganise the start line before racing got underway. Once underway those shifts plus regular changes in velocity were to put the sailors under major pressure. Picking your start line spot and finding clear lanes in the right places in a fleet of almost 100 boats is never easy, but it was particularly challenging today.

Off the line Heerema and Gilmour both struggled and found themselves buried mid fleet. Up ahead Germany’s Stephan Link led for the first time in the series, but the chasing pack were right on his heels. As they came into the second weather mark Link had a couple of boat lengths lead but after almost 8 miles of racing the next nine boats were all still overlapped. In a high risk but ultimately very impressive manoeuvre Andrade managed to shoot the mark with millimeter precision to slip inside Australia’s Simon Prosser, with Samokhin, Denmark’s Frank Berg, Dutchman Bram de Wilde, Switzerland’s Wolf Waschkuhn, Britain’s Martin Payne and Russia’s Evgenii Braslavets and Anatoly Loginov all chasing hard. Heerema was down in twenty-seventh and Gilmour thirty-eighth.

Down the second run Link opened up his lead a little, while Berg climbed to second ahead of Andrade with Prosser fourth, Samokhin fifth and Waschkuhn sixth. Poul-Richard Hoj-Jensen sailed a superb run to move up from the teens into eighth place, ahead of de Wilde and Braslavets. Heerema had managed to claw himself into the low twenties, but Gilmour continued to languish in the thirties.

The final beat was to be an absolute humdinger, “It was more like match racing than fleet racing” said Andrade after sailing. Link hung onto his lead by the skin of his teeth while Andrade just made back it into second ahead of Prosser. Braslavets took fourth, Samokhin fifth, Waschkuhn sixth and Hoj-Jensen seventh. Only too well aware that there are no discards in this series, Heerema sailed his socks off to finish in fifteenth and Gilmour managed to claw his way up to twenty-eighth. After racing a surprisingly sanguine Gilmour admitted “There was no one specific issue, it just wasn’t our day today.”

With three of the six races now completed Pedro Andrade, sailing with Christian Giannini and Joao Vidinha has moved into a two-point lead over Dmitry Samokhin, crewed by Aleksey Bushyev and Andrey Kirilyuk. After their disappointing start, the herculean recovery efforts of Pieter Heereman and his crew George Leonchuk and Lars Hendriksen helped ensure they dropped no further down the leader board than third, six points behind Samokhin.

Poul-Richard Hoj-Jensen is clearly loving being back in the Dragon with his old team mates Chris Brittain and Hamish McKay and not only has he strengthened his hold on the Corinthian competition, but he has also moved up from sixth to fourth place overall, four points behind Samokhin and on equal points with Anatoly Loginov, crewed by Alexander Shalagin and Vadim Statsenko. Stephan Link, Frank Butzmann and Micky Lipp’s race win jumps them from ninth to sixth overall with a four point delta on Loginov and onto equal points Grant Gordon, Alex Warren, James Williamson and Ruairidh Scott who finished tenth in the race.

Sweden’s Martin Pålsson, crewed by Peter Lindh and Thomas Wallenfeldt, remains in second place in the Corinthian division behind Hoj-Jensen, while Belgium’s Alex Helsen, Dries Van Den Abbeele and Floris Mortelmans have overtaken the local Bakker family of Jan, Dominic and Oliver for third.

The media focus may be on the big names at the front of the pack, but there are terrific competitions going on throughout the fleet and many tales of personal achievement. Making their debut Gold Cup appearance this week are the Brown family from England. Jonathan, David and Lynette have been joined by friend Gillian Hamilton and are loving their first major International Dragon regatta. “We’ve never sailed in a fleet this big and those start lines can be pretty daunting, but we’re gaining confidence and really starting to enjoy it.” Their results confirm that confidence is justified as they have improved rapidly from fifty-third in the opening race to twenty-sixth today.

Australia’s Simon Prosser, John Hay and Stephen Wray must also be feeling pretty happy tonight. They only joined the Dragon Class last year and until this week their biggest Dragon race had been against 32 other boats. Yesterday’s heavy airs combined with such a large fleet left them struggling and their best race was a fifty-seventh, but today they got the bit between their teeth and were delighted to finish third. Although new to the Dragon this team have good experience in a number of dinghy classes so will definitely be worth watching.

There is some great family rivalry going on in the fleet too. The German Dohse family are split across two boats with parents Philip and Nicola and their daughter Pia Dohse sailing in one boat with Volker Kramer, and their son Maximilian sailing the other with friends Klaas Simon, Rasmus Nielsen and Thommy Dehler. Yesterday Philip’s team put their long experience to good use and got the upper hand in both races, but today it was the turn of the young bloods to shine. Overall just two points now separate them with Philip in thirty-fifth and Maximilian in thirty-seventh. Something tells us this fight will go right down to the wire!

The Dragon fleet is as famous for its social life as its sailing and this evening the crews were invited to the Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup Gala Dinner in Medemblik’s spectacular and historic Saint Bonifacius Church. With a wonderful welcome from the representatives of Yanmar, delicious food and wine and a number of special and fun presentations, the evening was the perfect chance for everyone to relax and enjoy the company of their fellow Dragon sailors.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for more very shifty conditions, so after tonight’s festivities it will be back to business for the fourth race of the series at noon. The regatta continues until Friday 14 June with a maximum of six races possible.

Provisional Top Ten After Three Races