13 September 2024 – Kinsale, Ireland – Going into the last day of the Kinsale Dragon Gold Cup 2024 supported by Astra Construction Services Ltd the regatta was still wide open. Peter Gilmour had led from day one but had only a three-point advantage over Lawrie Smith and five points on Pedro Rebelo de Andrade, so the stage was set for a spectacular showdown.
After five days of strong winds, it was all change with race six getting underway after an initial postponement and two general recalls in around ten knots from the southwest, which shiftily clocked right and built to the upper teens.
Germany’s Michael Zankel, sailing POR90 with Diogo Peteira and Jaoa Matos Rosa sailed a superb race to take a commanding final win of the regatta, but behind him all eyes were focused on Andrade, Gilmour and Smith. Off the line Andrade looked good, and he rounded the first mark in third, while Smith and Gilmour were down in the teens, putting Andrade into the overall lead at that point. From there on all Andrade could do was sail his own race and hope that the other two failed to gain sufficient places to beat him.
At the end of the first lap Smith was up into eighth with Gilmour tenth, but they still needed to gain places. The spectators, who were out in force, were on the edge of their seats as Andrade crossed the line in second place, followed home by Andy Beasdworth in TUR12 Provezza. Smith and Gilmour had tried everything they could, but it wasn’t enough, and they finished sixth and ninth respectively.
So Pedro Rebelo de Andrade, Jose Leitmann and Jamie Lea sailing POR89 Capable Planet are the Kinsale Dragon Gold Cup Champions 2024. This is Andrade’s second Gold Cup win as a helm, the first being in Medemblik in 2019, but for Lea and Leitmann it was their first.
A delighted and slightly shocked Pedro Rebelo de Andrade commented, “It’s still hard to believe. We were far away from the game at some stages, and we kept believing, believing a little bit, not too much. We kept fighting. I don’t know how we managed it. We needed the others to make some mistakes. That’s the game, they made some mistakes, and we took advantage. I was lucky to win the Gold Cup for the first time in Medemblik in 2019 and I was supposed to defend the trophy here in Kinsale in 2020 [when Covid forced the event’s cancellation], so to be back here now and to win is very special.”
Andrade’s victory was by just two points, but the other podium places could only be decided on countback with the JPN56 YRed team of Peter Gilmour, Yasuhiro Yaji and Sam Gilmour just grabbing the silver medal from GBR815 Alfie sailed by Lawrie Smith, Ruairidh Scott, Concalo Ribeiro and Martin Wrigley.
The result of the Corinthian Division also went down to the last race as Cameron Good, Henry Kingston and Sam Hunt sailing IRL221 Little Fella leapfrogged into first place ahead of GER1075 sailed by Hannes Hollaender, Arne Hubregtse and Johannes Berg, with Jono Brown, Chris Grosscurth and Andrews Nordon in GBR753 Fit Chick taking the final step on the Corinthian podium.
Alongside their trophies, the Overall and Corinthian winning helms also received a customised Kinsale Dragon Gold Cup 2024 TNG Watch, presented by the event’s official timing partner TNG Swiss Watches.
The Nations Cup team event also went down to the wire with POR90 Easy/Michael Zankel, GER62 Dessert Holly/Stephan Link and GER1075 Grace/Hannes Hollaender claiming a narrow three-point victory over the British team of GBR402 Meteor/Peter Cooke, GBR815 Alfie/Lawrie Smith and GBR610 Rackham/Mark Dicker. Third place went to the Netherlands represented by NED309 Furie/Guus de Groot, NED393 Cobweb/Richard Blickman and NED352 Hestia/Frank Van Beuningen. As the winner of the last race Michael Zankel accepted the Nations Cup on behalf of the team.
Race six winner and recipient of the Nations Cup Michael Zankel was delighted with the week overall saying, “It’s been a very nice Gold Cup and I like everything here in Kinsale and would like to come back. We had a great race today and I liked to beat Pedro, but I was a bit scared as I knew he needed the points. Yesterday we had a very bad race with 33 points, but today was perfect and we’ve been three times in the top three. We’re also delighted to be part of the German Nations Cup winning team too.”
At the final prize giving, which was held in the Kinsale Yacht Club courtyard, there were a number of special presentations made alongside the main prizes.
The Silver Cup was presented to the class by Jacob J Roosjen of Holland and is awarded to the boat that wins the Silver Fleet or finishes at the midpoint if raced as a single fleet. This year’s extremely popular winner, who came to the stage to huge applause, was Denis Bergin sailing IRL161 Sir Ossis of the River with Denis Joseph Bergin and Rory Byrne.
A new Classic Boat Trophy has been presented for the Gold Cup by the family of the late Don Street, who died in May of this year. A world-renowned sailor, Don Street competed in major Dragon championships across many decades, most recently sailing in the 90th Anniversary Regatta in San Remo in 2019. He also played a pivotal role in encouraging youth Dragon sailing in his adopted home of Glandore, with many of those young sailors competing this week.
The inaugural winner of the new Gold Cup Classic Boat Trophy is the beautiful GBR192 Bluebottle sailed by Graham and Julia Bailey, Will Bedford and Killian Boag who finished in tenth place. Bluebottle was built by Camper & Nicholson in 1947 and presented to the then Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on the occasion of their wedding in 1948 by the members of the Island Sailing Club. Bluebottle underwent an extensive restoration by David Heritage Yachts, on which the Duke kept a close eye, but sadly he did not live long enough to see her race again when she was relaunched in 2021. Without doubt he would be delighted to know that at 76 years old she is still capable of winning Gold Cup races.
The Dubarry Boot for the best performance by a crew with a combined age of under 80 years went to IRL22 Missfire sailed by Peter Hayes, Michelle Hayes and Jess Tubb. This young crew from Glandore were racing in their first major regatta and impressed everyone with their grit and determination on even the windiest of days.
Organising international regattas of this magnitude takes a vast number of volunteers and The IDA would like to thank the Kinsale Yacht Club, its members and staff for their incredible work in hosting the event, the Race Officer Con Murphy and his team and the International Jury for all their hard work on behalf of the class. Thanks also go to the event sponsors, Astra Construction Services Ltd, Cork County Council, Guinness, the Trident Hotel, Actons Hotel, Yanmar, TNG Swiss Watches, the Kinsale Good Food Circle, the Blue Haven, Rooster, North Sails, Matthews of Cork and Dubarry for their most generous support.
The 2025 Dragon Gold Cup will be hosted by La Société des Régates de Douarnenez from 25 to 30 August. Further information about this event is available from the event website.
OVERALL TOP FIVE
1st – POR89 – First Things First – Pedro Rebelo de Andrade – 2, 21, 1, 4, 3, 2 – 33
2nd – JPN56 – Yred – Peter Gilmour – 7, 1, 4, 2, 12, 9 = 35
3rd – GBR815 – Alfie – Lawrie Smith – 4, 8, 2, 6, 9, 6 = 35
4th – TUR12 – Provezza – Andy Beadsworth – 6, 13, 7, 1, 11, 3 = 41
5th – GBR402 – Meteor – Peter Cooke – 1, 12, 10, 15, 2, 13 = 53
CORINTHIAN TOP FIVE
1st – IRL211 – Little Fella – Cameron Good – 20, 17, 18, 10(RDG), 21, 20 = 107
2nd – GER1075 – Grace – Hannes Hollaender – 26, 9, 25, 29, 6, 19 = 112
3rd – GBR753 – Fit Chick – Jono Brown – 37, 10, 11, 14, 17, 34 = 121
4th – IRL225 – Phantom – Neil Heggarty – 17,39, 28, 14, 16, 16 = 130
5th – IRL219 – TBD – James Matthews – 26, 16, 5, 26, 32, 29 = 135
For further information about the International Dragon visit internationaldragonsailing.net
@DragonGoldCupKinsale2020
