Great Danes fight it out

News from the Dragon European championship in Kinsale, Ireland

Frederik continues lead after gale gusts upset front-runners in Setanta Dragon Europeans

Gear damage for The Netherland's Fred Imhoff forced him to retire from today's race four of the Setanta Dragon European Championship at Kinsale, Ireland dropping the contender from second to joint-seventh overall in a windy outing that saw plenty of incidents.

Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik continues his overall lead of the series but a 13th place today slims his advantage to just 1.3 points.

Fellow country-man Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen revelled in the conditions to secure his best result so far when a second today boosted the four-times past European Champion to fourth overall.

Best of the Irish fleet was Andrew Craig on Chimaera who scored a ninth overall.

The southwest breeze reached 27 knots for most of the race today, producing plenty of collisions while Swedish skipper Sputte Baltscheffsky suffered a dislocated shoulder while rounding a mark and later received hospital treatment for his injury.

Tomorrow sees the penultimate race of the series following which the single discard is expected to re-order the leaders ahead of Saturday's final.

More photos on the following pages...

Results

Pos	Sail No	Boat	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot
1	DEN336	Nanoq	Frederik	Lars Hendriksen, Kasper Harsberg	0	5.7	8	19	32.7
2	DEN266	My Way	Berg Frank	Soren Kaestel, Mads Christensen	8	13	3	10	34
3	SUI288	Hanseatic Lloyd	Vincent Hoesch	Horro Kniffka, Bernd Faber	5.7	28	5.7	5.7	45.1
4	GBR680	Danish Blue	Poul Hoj-Jensen	Claus Hoj-Jensen, Wolfgang Rappel	16	10	22	3	51
5	GER980	Bahati	Marcus Brennecke	Markus Wieser, Thomas Auracher	3	19	23	8	53
6	FRA300	Ar Youleg	Louis Urvois	Gwen Chapalain, Sebastien Magnen	37	0	13	12	61.7
7	NED247	Danish Joker	Fred Imhoff	Richard van Rij, Rudy den Outer	15	3	0	58	76
8	NED316	Escapade	Pieter Heerema	Dolf Peet, Florian Fendt	31	17	28	0	76
9	IRL175	Chimaera	Andrew Craig	Edmund Peel, Aidan O'Connell	10	30	12	28	79.7
10	DEN341	Malou	Peter Holm	Maria Holm, Bo Selko	20	8	25	30	83
11	IRL176	Phantom	Neil Hegarty	Peter Bowring, David Williams	32	21	14	16	83
12	IRL174	Rigmarole	John Ross-Murphy	Ailbe Millerick, Con Murphy	13	37	10	32	91.5
13	SWE311	Deja Vu	Olrog Thomas	Peter Christensson, Thomas Wilton	27	15	41	18	101
14	SWE321	Maria	Tom Lofstedt	Martin Alsen, Martin Larsson	19	45	20	17	101
15	USA310	Clairevoyant	Ted Sawyer	Martin Payne, Will Willett	14	34	19	35	102
16	FRA305	Dirastac'h	Yann Kersale	Munier Franck, Tanguy Ravach	23	12	29	46	110
17	IRL139	King Rat	Garry Treacy	Paul Maguire, Aidan Tarbett	12	41	31	27	111
18	GER983	Sinewave	Thomas Muller	Mario Wagner, Bjorn Oesterreich	36	16	39	20	111
19	IRL162	Puca	Jay Bourke	Ben Mulligan, Norman McDonnell	30	40	16	26	112
20	IRL164	TBB	James Matthews	Rob Jacob, David Good	33	33	30	22	118
21	GER970	Montana	Peter Koch	David Dirk, Ingo Hermann	29	24	32	33	118
22	GBR682	Ecstatic	Eric Williams	Nigel Young, Jamie Lea	53	20	21	25	119
23	IRL168	Tatsu	Cameron Good	Harry Lewis, Simon Furney	38	18	15	50	121
24	IRL172	Kin	Simon Brien	Ruan O'Tiarniagh, David Gomes	41	22	45	15	123
25	SWE314	Lea	Gutta Johansson	Dan Walker, P-O Soderberg	21	43	47	14	125
26	FRA330	Ar Maout	Claudia Urvois	Vincent Saleau, Pierre Canevet	28	32	37	29	126
27	IRL142	Cloud	Clare Hogan	Tom Hogan, Mel Collins	24	35	38	34	131
28	IRL161	Jessica	Ward Woods	Brian Mathews, Mark Pettitt	44	14	36	40	134
29	IRL171	Diva	Richard Goodbody	Rick Johnson, John Veale	26	31	58	21	136
30	FIN50	OTT	Tom Rindell	Mini Jaatinen, Kim Konttinen	22	38	33	43	136
31	GER968	Chi	Michael Schattan	Christian Paucksch, Peter Andra	17	49	26	45	137
32	IRL166	Whisper	Mick Cotter	Don O'Dowd, Prof O'Connell	43	47	17	31	138
33	GBR675	Water Rat	Ian Ratnage	Jono Ratnage, Vincent Slevin	34	26	43	36	139
34	IRL150	Eve	Matthias Hellstern	Sally Ann Tucker, Fergal O'Hanlon	39	42	18	41	140
35	NED309	Furie	Gus de Groot	P van Reeuwijk, Thiery van Vierssen	40	23	58	24	145
36	GBR602	Chaotic	Willie Jordan	Matt Armstrong, Jonathan Fletcher	46	46	44	13	149
37	IRL173	Electra	Peter O'Reilly	Francis Rhatigan, Eddie Tingle	45	37	24	48	154
38	GBR614	Sapphire	Neil Payne	Jon Mortimer, David Ross	54	51	27	23	155
39	IRL169	Christianna	Olaf Sorensen	Shawn Kingston, Anthony O'Neill	49	44	35	37	165
40	GBR660	Aimee	Julia Bailey	Graham Bailey, David Heritage	18	39	58	51	166
41	GBR684	Hand of Fortune	Mike Holmes	James Holmes, Alex Burnett	48	25	46	47	166
42	DEN340	Lil	Peter Warer	Frank Eriksen, Lars Bo Povlsen	25	27	58	58	168
43	AUS156	Canewdon Witch	Trish Ford	Andrew Twine, Chris Foulkes	55	29	41	58	183
44	JPN46	Heigh-Ho	Bocci Aoyama	Takahiro Ohyama, Masami Kimura	50	55	34	49	188
45	IRL159	Deemin	Don Donoghue	Peter Dee, Matt Minch	47	50	50	42	189
46	IRL136	Lucky Lucky	Tim Pearson	Denis Bergin, Matt Kennedy	51	48	58	38	195
47	SWE315	Minc	Sputte Baltscheffsky	Stefan Haskel, Jacob Wallenberg	42	53	42	58	195
48	GER965	Bunny	Max Glas	Dominik Glas, Wolfgang Steuer	56	56	48	39	199
49	GBR633	Fel Lins Flirtation	Ron James	Julia James, Derek Gibbon	57	52	49	44	202
50	GBR572	Quicksilver ll	Rob Campbell	Matt Walker, Ian Gray	35	58	58	58	209
51	IRL154	Setanta	Pat Murphy	Daniel Murphy, Sean Murphy	52	54	58	58	222