Day three of the Yanmar Dragon Gold Cup 2023 brought yet more ultra-shifty and variable breeze, this time from the northwest quadrant, which built from around six knots at the start of racing to sixteen by the finish, clocking right throughout the day.
In the overall standings Smith, who is sailing for the Glandore Yacht Club, has consolidated his overall lead and now has a fifteen-point delta over his nearest rivals. Behind him the rankings are much tighter with Switzerland’s Wolf Waschkuhn, who finished twelfth in the race, one point ahead of third placed Xavier Vanneste of Belgium, who finished eighth. Beadsworth’s second place puts him in fourth overall, two points behind Vanneste and four ahead of Bo Johansen in fifth.
The forecast for the day had only offered wind in the afternoon so Race Officer Stuart Childerley had delayed racing by two hours until 14:00. With much fresher conditions and vastly improved visibility over the first two days, the fleet ran down to the racecourse under blue skies and fluffy white clouds. The backdrop for racing was also more scenic with the spectacular English Riviera and Devon’s rolling hills sparkling in the sun.
Racing got under way at the first attempt, but with Peter Gilmour and Germany’s Magdalena Grundt both individually recalled and forced to return under spinnaker. The wind was still light and shifty, the tide was running fairly evenly right to left across the course, and the fleet was clearly undecided on which way to go so were soon spread across the bay. Once again those on the right gained and Bo Johansen had made the best of it to take a generous lead early on. Following him around the first mark were Finland’s Lauri Rechardt, Lawrie Smith, Sweden’s Jan Secher and Germany’s Stephan link
By the end of the first run Johansen had extended his lead further, Rechardt and Smith held their positions, Link had pulled up into fourth and Salcombe based David Tabb into fifth with Secher now sixth and Beadsworth seventh.
On the second lap Johansen had opened up his lead even further. Smith had held second place for four of the five legs and looked reasonably secure rounding the bottom mark, but with the wind building and still shifting right Beadsworth was determined to reel him in, and the pack was pressing hard.
On the line Johansen won in spectacular style, but the fight for second would go all the way. Smith did all he could but as they came to the line, it was Beadsworth who took second with Smith third, Secher fourth, Skolaut fifth, Link sixth, Tabb seventh, Vanneste eighth and Rechard ninth.
One of the most impressive performances of the day came from Peter Gilmour and his team who sailed like demons to make up for their disastrous OCS. On every leg they pulled up places and at the finish they crossed in thirteenth place, which puts them into sixth overall and still very much in contention for a podium finish.
Fifth placed Christoph Skolaut was the first Corinthian boat across the line with David Tabb second and Guus de Groot of the Netherlands third. At the midpoint in the regatta Skolaut now leads the Corinthian Division from Tabb with de Groot third.
In the Nations Cup for the three boat national teams the UK team of Lawrie Smith, Grant Gordon and David Tabb continues to lead the pack. Germany’s Jan Woortman, Olaf Sternel and Stephan Link are second with Ireland’s Neil Hegarty, Brian Goggin and Jonathan Bourke third.
After racing the British Dragon Association hosted a delicious BBQ on the Royal Torbay’s scenic terrace and offered an open bar to thank all the international competitors for making the journey to England to compete. A gesture much appreciated by all, especially after another long and gruelling day’s racing.
The forecast for Wednesday’s fourth race is that there will be wind early in the day, but that it is likely to die off by the afternoon. The Race Committee has announced that it intends to start the fourth race at 09:30 to take advantage of the early breeze. Three races remain to be sailed between now and the conclusion of the regatta on Friday 15 September and the result of all races count. Further information is available at the event website.
Provisional Results after Day 3: (top five, 3 races)
1st – Lawrie Smith, GBR815, Alfie – 1, 1, 3 = 4pts
2nd – Wolf Waschkuhn, SUI318, 1quick1 – 4, 4, 12 = 20pts
3rd – Xavier Vanneste, BEL82, Herbie – 5, 8, 8 = 21pts
4th – Andy Beadsworth, TUR12, Provezza Dragon – 16, 6, 2 = 24pts
5th – Bo Johansen, DEN423, Deja Vu Ver. 2.0 – 2, 24, 1 = 27pts
