12 September 2024 – Kinsale, Ireland – Day five of the Kinsale Dragon Gold Cup 2024 supported by Astra Construction Ltd brought the fifth race winner in five races. A lighter northerly breeze of five to eighteen knots and a more benign sea state made for a very different day’s racing, and as a result some new faces graced the front of the fleet.
The lighter winds were extremely shifty and at times patchy resulting in places changes on every leg, while several of the leading teams found themselves unexpectedly far down the fleet. Ultimately it was the beautifully restored seventy-eight-year-young GBR192 Bluebottle, sailed by Graham and Julia Bailey, Will Bedford and Killian Boag, that got the best of it in a hard-fought race to take victory right on the line. Second place went to Peter Cooke’s GBR402 with Pedro Rebelo de Andrade’s POR89 third, Bo Sejr Johansen in DEN423 fourth and Gery Trentesaux’s FRA428 fifth.
In the overall standings a twelfth place means that Peter Gilmour’s JPN56 continues to lead going into the final day, but Lawrie Smith in GBR815, the defending Gold Cup Champion, has closed up the delta between them from six to just three points. Two further points behind is Pedro Rebelo de Andrade who moves from fifth to third, with Andy Beadsworth sailing TUR12 dropping from third to fourth and Peter Cooke now fifth. With no discard and more potentially tricky conditions forecast for the final race the championship remains wide open.
It was a day of snakes and ladders for all. Hannes Hollaender’s GER1075 headed the fleet at the first mark, closely followed by Gavia Wilkinson-Cox GBR831, Gery Trentesaux FRA248, Owen Pay GBR777 and Guus de Groot NED309. Meanwhile the overall leading boats all found themselves down in the chasing pack.
Positions constantly changed as the boats took on the challenging conditions. Coming into the final gate the leading group were still closely packed with Bailey having pulled up from tenth at the first mark to the narrowest of leads as they headed upwind for the final time. Hard on his heels were Wilkinson-Cox, Trentesaux, Hollaender, Andrade and Smith.
The final beat was perhaps the toughest of the lot and Bailey did well to hold his lead, but behind him there were massive place changes. On the line it was Peter Cooke of the Royal Forth YC who finished second, Pedro Andrade third, Bo Sejr Johansen of Denmark fourth and Trentesaux fifth. Trentesaux’s achievement was all the more impressive when you bear in mind that yesterday he’d had to be RIB’d ashore for medical treatment after he cut his head on the boom.
After racing Bluebottle’s Graham Bailey said his team was pleased with their result; “We went off the middle on the start and were nicely in control actually with Pedro and one or two of the top boats, so we were in good company. And then the usual thing happened at the top where the left came in. I’m reluctant to push corners early on the first beat so we always get a little bit hammered on that. After that it was just gradually hanging in there. The last beat was the most critical. We led round the last leeward mark but then coming away we all flopped onto starboard, and we started falling into the boats to the left of us and I think we dropped to fifth or something. But I wanted to be first to break out to the right out of that group and I was just waiting for someone to tack, but nobody did, so after a bit we just picked the moment and flopped onto port, and we absolutely nailed it. We then just picked up a little gust and that pushed us forward, and thereafter we had a bit of a gap so we could herd the fleet a little and look after ourselves, so we had it easy in the end. But we’ve had such difficult races here and we thought that we had a good one coming as we haven’t had a lot of fortune, I’m not saying that we were being particularly clever, we were just in the right place at the right time, and we had that little bit of luck coming.”
Second place Peter Cooke confirmed how challenging the conditions had been saying, “The guys in the boat were like meercats all day looking out for the shifts. We had a really bad start in the fourth tranche, but we kept our cool and headed off to the left for a while and then worked our way up, so we recovered a little bit on the first beat. We had some nice downwinds. We came down and rounded the final left gate and headed on port for a little bit, then tacked onto starboard just for a short while. There were boats still coming down on the run, so we tacked back onto port and headed out that way and got some breeze and a bit of a lift. Then it was just about trying to figure out whether to keep going right or come back a bit. We came back a bit and everything went light, and you go oh no like what’s happening, but then we got a little bit more pressure towards the left and hooked that up to something from the right and finished from the right.”
Having managed to defend second place on four of the five legs, Gavia Wilkinson-Cox was a little disappointed not to have Bailey’s luck on the final leg as she finished the race in tenth, but she was nonetheless very happy with their day, saying; “It was much better conditions for us today. Much kinder, the sun was shining, and it was a flatter sea, but my goodness it was difficult. The first beat was really fun, I love those big tacking conditions. The last beat was horrible because we fell into a hole. But we were very pleased to be second for most of the race until the last beat and we ended up tenth. But we’re not unhappy with that in a fleet of this quality. It was nice to see some behind us that are normally in front of us. I couldn’t help thinking that traditionally at a lot of sporting events Thursday is Ladies’ Day, so we tried very hard to stick with tradition and make it a winning ladies’ days. I would have to say that being only two lady helms in the fleet I think we did rather well today, because I believe that our other lady helm [France’s Virginie Proust’s FRA334] also had her best race today. This wasn’t our best of the week, but it was good considering how the conditions have been, so we were well pleased.”
In the Corinthian Division the race winner was early race leader Hannes Hoellander who ultimately finished in sixth. Javier Chacartegui’s ESP9 was second Corinthian with Rene Bideau’s FRA418 third, local sailor Brian Goggin in IRL213 fourth and Neil Hegarty’s IRL225 fifth.
In the overall Corinthian standings Jono Brown’s GBR753 and Cameron Good’s IRL211 are now tied on points for the lead with Hannes Hollaender jumping up from fifth to third, Guus de Groot remains fourth and IRL219 James Matthews drops from third to fifth. The podium places for the Corithians will also be decided on the final race so we’re in for two great showdowns tomorrow.
Back ashore Corinthian race winner Hannes Hoellander commented, “It was a bit stressy I must say. We came out lucky on the start, but then had a messy third beat where we lost a couple of boats, but we still managed to secure it. We did a mistake with the second downwind rounding and then we were stuck in a hole where there was no wind, but we’re delighted to finish first Corinthian.”
In the Nations Cup team competition, the British continue to lead over Germany with the Netherlands in third.
After sailing the teams enjoyed the traditional Yanmar Après Sailing hospitality, before heading home to change ready for this evening’s Gala Dinner sponsored by Astra Construction, which is being held in the historic four-star Acton’s Hotel, overlooking Kinsale’s picturesque harbour and the moored Dragons.
The regatta will conclude tomorrow, Friday 13 September, when the sixth and final race will decide the winners. Conditions are set to change again with very light winds forecast, so the Race Committee have advised a start time of noon. With at least five boats still in close contention for both the Overall and Corinthian Trophies it’s going to be a thrilling final showdown.
PROVISIONAL OVERALL TOP FIVE AFTER FIVE RACES
1st – JPN56 – Yred – Peter Gilmour – 7, 1, 4, 2, 12 = 26
2nd – GBR815 – Alfie – Lawrie Smith – 4, 8, 2, 6, 9 = 29
3rd – POR89 – First Things First – Pedro Rebelo de Andrade – 2, 21, 1, 4, 3 – 31
4th – TUR12 – Provezza – Andy Beadsworth – 6, 13, 7, 1, 11 = 38
5th – GBR402 – Meteor – Peter Cooke – 1, 12, 10, 15, 2 = 40
PROVISIONAL CORINTHIAN TOP FIVE AFTER FIVE RACES
1st – GBR753 – Fit Chick – Jono Brown – 37, 10, 11, 14, 17 = 87
2nd – IRL211 – Little Fella – Cameron Good – 20, 17, 18, 10(RDG), 21 = 87
3rd – GER1075 – Grace – Hannes Hollaender – 26, 9, 25, 29, 6 = 93
4th – NED309 – Furie – Guus de Groot – 10, 25, 25, 16, 18 = 95
5th – IRL219 – TBD – James Matthews – 26, 16, 5, 26, 32 = 106
For further information about the International Dragon visit internationaldragonsailing.net
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