The Yacht Club de Cannes hosted another very successful Dragon regatta over the past weekend with 27 boats from 9 countries participating.
Wednesdays forecast looked doubtful for sailing on the weekend with light wind predicted all three days of sailing. Friday was indeed windless but the day was saved by the club organizers who arranged a wine drinking and touring trip to the nearby islands.
Saturday proved the early forecasts wrong and arrived with rain and 6-12 knots of breeze. The very competent race committee managed 4 one hour races and we were done by 3 o’clock. Racing was very close on a slightly short course and a single leeward mark making the roundings interesting.
The race officer took the advice of Dragon sailors and set courses with a gate on Sunday. Co-operation between sailors and committees is key to successful racing. Another 3 races were held on Sunday in 5-8 knots of breeze. Local ace Gerard Blanc won the last 2 races!
In the end there were 4 different race winners from 4 different countries. Consistency paid off, and the overall winner was FIN 85 helmed by Christian Borenius with Richard Pernici and Chris Winter crewing. Second overall, and winning 2 races, sailing very well throughout the regatta was RUS 35 helmed by Victor Fogelson and crewed by Ulava Kaptiukhin and Oleg Khopervkiy. Also winning 2 races and third overall was RUS 27 helmed by Anatoly Loginov and crewed by Vadim Statsenko and Alexander Shalagin.
The “GaviaCup” for the Dragon finishing with the fewest overall points without a discard also went to FIN 85.
It was a very a rewarding victory for the Finnish team as December 6th is Independence Day in Finland!
