Victory for Germany

Anne Hinton reports from the finale of the Dragon Europeans in Estonia

Harm Mueller-Spreer, Vincent Hoesch and Gunnar Bahr from Germany won the Dragon European Championships in Estonia today. Mueller-Spreer and his team won the championships by a three point margin.

The saw very light winds all week in Estonia. "It was like sailing on Starnbergsee [one of the south German lakes]", said Mueller-Spreer. "There was hardly any wind at all."

Frank Berg and his Danish crew had been in the lead throughout the regatta, but Mueller-Spreer closed the gap and it came down to match racing in the end. "I don't like match racing", said Mueller-Spreer, but, with Berg in the lead by 0.3 point at the end of the penultimate day's racing, there was no alternative. They split sides on the beat in the last race and the German team chose the correct side and came out on top.

Mueller-Spreer's bowman, Gunnar Bahr, was the middleman on Jochen Schuemann's silver medal winning team after the Soling match racing at the Sydney Olympics. Bahr competed as helm in the spring match racing cup in Berlin last year, winning the event. Having such expertise on the boat was undoubtedly an advantage for Mueller-Spreer.

Mueller-Spreer's other crew, Vincent Hoesch, is a many times world champion, not just in Dragons. Throughout the year he has placed no lower than third in any Dragon event in which he has competed, both with Mueller-Spreer and other crews. Hoesch, as crew for the German team of Marcus Brennecke, was runner-up to Berg in the Danish Championships and third behind two Danish teams, sailing with Mueller-Spreer and Werner Fritz, respectively, at Kieler Woche and the Dragon Gold Cup in Falmouth this year.

The event marks a return to top form for Mueller-Spreer, who missed several events thanks to an unpleasant illness, which can affect the brain, in the middle of the season. The North German Championships were won by Tommy Muller, with Schuemann's other Soling crew, Ingo Borkowski, and Star sailor Marc Pickel on his team, in Mueller-Spreer's absence. The German Championships were taken by Marcus Brennecke, with Hoesch and his former Star boat crew, Florian Fendt, on the team.

Vincent Hoesch is now flying directly to Denmark to defend the H-Boat World Championship title that he won for a record fourth time on Ammersee (southern Germany) last year. The Danes have also had the upper hand of the Germans in H-Boats this year. Amongst the competitors will also be Juergen Schonherr, Kieler Woche and Gold Cup winner in the Dragons, so it will be a return to sail against other old rivals for Hoesch.

The next major event for the Dragons is the 75th anniversary gathering of around 270 boats in St Tropez in October - which more of a fun event than a serious championship.