SAILING/Dragon European Championship: No less than four attempts to start race three of the Setanta Dragon European Championships were needed yesterday as freshening winds did little to make life easy for the 51-boat fleet.
Nevertheless, the outcome was predictable enough and while Prince Frederik of Denmark retains his overall lead, trouble is brewing as the points-gap closes and the discard looms large.
Yesterday saw Fred Imhoff continue his climb towards the number one place with a race win following his second the previous day. Consistency from Denmark's Frank Berg and Switzerland's Vincent Hoesch also puts them in a strong position. For the royal commander, nothing less than a win today is needed to prevent further slippage as the discard already suggests he may be on the way out of the top three.
"It's going to be a great close series," Prince Frederik said. "Imhoff is a great sailor and so is Frank Berg. Both have 200 sail days a year - we're going to have to look out for them." Asked if his performance to date was expected, he appeared a little surprised he still held the overall lead after four days. As for the remainder of the event he said "anything can happen, to us - or to them. We'll just maintain our focus and seize the initiative."
Yesterday's conditions were tough, particularly for the six boats that were disqualified for being "on-course-side" on the fourth start. Possibly in light of the conditions, principal race officer Alan Crosbie opted not to introduce the "Black Flag" rule (instant disqualification) but the six took their chances with the spotters and failed to return on the individual recall signal ending their race and incurring maximum points.
Nevertheless, yesterday's race three marked a concerted effort by the Irish fleet to improve on what seemed to be a slide down the overall standings and a third of the top 15 boats were from the home-fleet.
Back into contention for a top six or better result on Saturday is Andrew Craig, on Chimaera, in eighth overall following a seventh-place yesterday. A fifth for Johnny Ross-Murphy bounces him back into 10th place.
Both boats headed a charge of Irish sails for the finishing line and Neil Hegarty on Phantom with Peter Bowring and David Williams followed in eighth, Cameron Good with Harry Lewis and Simon Furney took ninth, Jay Bourke with Ben Mulligan and Norman McDonnell were 10th. Mick Cotter, with Don O'Dowd and Maurice O'Connell, placed 11th topped off by Matthias Hellstern with Sally-Ann Tucker and Fergal O'Hanlon in 12th.
As the series moves into its second half today, all eyes are watching the skies as forecasts of strong on-shore winds could provide plenty of upset for the fleet. The single discard after tomorrow's penultimate race is certain to provide a cliff-hander finish on Saturday afternoon.
DRAGON EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP (at Kinsale YC, Ireland); Race Three: 1 Danish Joker - Netherlands (Imhoff, Van Rijj, den Outer); 2 My Way - Denmark (Berg, Kaestel, Rapfod); 3 Hanseatic Lloyd - Switzerland (Hoesch, Kniffka, Faber); 4 Nanoq - Denmark (Frederik, Hendriksen, Harsberg); 5 Rigmarole - Ireland (Ross-Murphy, Millerick, Murphy); 6 Ar Youleg - France (Urvois, Chapalain, Magnen); Overall (after three races): 1 Nanoq 13.7 pts; 2 Danish Joker 18.0; 3 My Way 24.0; 4 Hanseatic Lloyd 39.4; 5 Bahati Germany (Brennecke, Wieser, Auracher); 6 Danish Blue - Denmark (Hoj-Jensen, Hoj-Jensen, Rappel).
All results provisional (subject to protests)
