Second decided

Fiona Brown reports on the conclusion of the Dragon's Edinburgh Cup in Weymouth

Often when a championship is won with a race to spare the final race can be something of a non-event. But that certainly wasn't the case here in Weymouth today at the close of the 2007 Dragon Edinburgh Cup for the Dragon British National Championship. While David Palmer, who had won the regatta with that day to spare, enjoyed a relaxing cruise around the course the battle for second and third places produced one of the closest and most exciting races of the series.

This morning there were three boats that could take second place - Len Jones, sailing GBR708 with Jamie Lea and Philip Catmur, who lay second on 19 points and the Irish teams of Andrew Craig, sailing IRL192 with Don O'Dowd and Aidan O'Connell; and Neil Hegarty, sailing IRL176 with Peter Bowring and David Williams, both on 21 points. Equally close was the battle for third with almost any boat in the top ten technically capable of claiming the slot.

Racing got underway in glorious sunshine and with a lovely southwesterly wind of 12- 14 knots. From the off it was clear that this was going to be a special race. The two Irish boats headed off left trading tacks every few minutes while Len Jones went right doing battle with many of those challenging for third place. As they approached the first weather mark it was clear that the left had paid and Andrew Craig rounded with a narrow lead from Neil Hegarty second, Belgium's Edouard Wylleman was third, Eric Williams fourth, Ivan Bradbury fifth and Quentin Strauss sixth. For Len Jones the right most definitely had not paid and he rounded eighth, leaving a lot to do if he wanted retain his second place.

All the way down the run Hegarty was right on Craig's tail and the chasing pack was jostling for positions. There was a big left hander and at the leeward mark Craig led Hegarty round and out to the left again followed by Wylleman who had just held onto third. Owen Pay, Martin Makey and Tim Tavinor had all made the most of the shift to move up into fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Jones meanwhile was still somewhat buried in the pack.

A course change was signalled and on the second beat Craig and Hegarty stretched out a little from Wylleman, but Tavinor was a man on a mission and by the second weather mark he had overtaken Pay for fourth. Down the second run he had incredible pace and before long Wylleman was history and his sites were on Hegarty, sailing through his lee. The two boats were still overlapped going into the mark where Craig and Hegarty again chose the left gate while Tavinor took right. Pay rounded fourth with Wylleman fifth, Strauss sixth and Jones seventh.

On that final beat the leaders traded tacks time and again but Craig successfully maintained his cover all the way to race victory and second overall. Hegarty crossed the line in second place and immediately turned back to find out whether Jones had done enough to pip him to third. In the final approach Tavinor took one last tack left to approach the line on port while Strauss, Wylleman and Jones came in on starboard. It wasn't until the last seconds that we knew Tavinor would clear them at the pin and take third with Strauss fourth, Wylleman fifth and Jones sixth. Aboard Jones' and Hegarty's boats brains were whirring overtime as points were calculated to establish that both now scored 16 meaning Jones had just pipped Hegarty for third on countback.

At the prize giving David Palmer paid tribute to his crewmen Kasper Harsberg and David Pettit, who share the Edinburgh Cup and Dragon British National Champions titles with him. He also thanked Kasper's lovely wife Gitte Harsberg who had stepped in as a last minute crew replacement to enable him to race on the final day after Mark had to return to Dublin for business last night. He also paid tribute to his late father who taught him to sail as a youngster and who he knew would be particularly proud of his son's achievements in winning this very special and historic trophy. Finally he thanked the Dragon Class and the Edinburgh Cup fleet for providing such excellent competition and the town and people of Weymouth for making the fleet so very welcome this week.
British Dragon Association Chairman Rob Campbell, who was unable to race due to a broken wrist but instead assisted aboard the principle committee boat, also spoke and thanked the many volunteer members of the Yacht Clubs of Weymouth, the British and Solent Dragon Fleets and the International Jury for their very generous contributions in making this event possible.

In the overall standings David Palmer, sailing GBR700 with Kasper Harsberg and David Pettit, wins the Dragon Edinburgh Cup and claimed the title of International Dragon British Champion. Second overall went to Andrew Craig, sailing IRL192 with Don O'Dowd and Aidan O'Connell, while Len Jones, sailing GBR708 with Jamie Lea and Philip Catmur, took third place on count-back from Neil Hegarty, sailing IRL176 with Peter Bowring and David Williams. Tim Tavinor's impressive final day charge aboard GBR729 with Paul Manning and Tom Harrison secured him fifth overall.

Speaking after the prize giving David Palmer commented: "This is my fourth year in Dragons and it's the first regatta I've won. I've had a number of seconds but I've never had a win. The first thing to say is that this is a very, very competitive class, its full of brilliant sailors and to win you have to work very hard - and we have!

Palmer has sailing with Kasper Harsberg on and off for four years now. "We started together in my first season, then there was a year when we didn't sail together at all and then we came back together and this year every time I've been on the water I've been with him. I think I've been very lucky with Kasper as I think he's the best Dragon crew there is. Mark came on in February and he's very very busy with his Irish helms, but we've been able to do four regattas as a team before this one. And I have to say that every regatta we did we've been going better so it's been a very good process and steady programme."

In terms of how tasks are allocated within the boat, Palmer says: "I'm simply there to steer. I'm not supposed to look out of the boat or have any view or input about tactics at all. Mark is the tactician and the overall guide for the boat and Kasper is the bowman. He is very heavy, athletic and tall so has a huge role in balancing the boat and he's also constantly feeding information to Mark so I very rarely say anything tactical now that we've settled down as a team. Just every now and then I'll say shall we do this or that and that's how we do it."

As to their impressive boat speed Palmer reckons: "We did a big tune up on the boat in Palma in the spring. Basically we set the boat up the way other people who were going fast were setting the boat up so we did nothing really original. But I think its fair to say that from that day in Palma onwards we haven't really looked back. And then it's just a question of getting a feel for the wind and the waves and getting it right. We did have good speed this week and that obviously makes a difference as it's easier to get into the front and it's easier to get there."

Palmer is uncertain about his Dragon sailing plans for the future. "I keep thinking I'm going to stop because I'm 66 now and I'm beginning to creek but I love it so much I keep coming back for more. My wife and I have just bought a house in Italy and the original idea was that I'd sell the Dragon and cruise the Mediterranean for the rest of my life but now we're talking about taking the boat to Italy and doing some regattas there so I can't quite bring myself to give it up yet. But I don't think I'll ever do another season quite like this as it has been a really full on year, but it's been worth it and I'm very, very proud to win the Edinburgh Cup."

Final Overall Top Ten Results

1. GBR700 David Palmer 1, 2, 2, 1, (9) - 6 points
2. IRL192 Andrew Craig 6, (7), 6, 2, 1 - 15 points
3. GBR708 Len Jones (9), 1, 3, 6, 6 - 16 points
4. IRL176 Neil Hegarty 4, 6, 4, (7), 2 - 16 points
5. GBR729 Tim Tavinor 5, 8, (15), 4, 3 - 20 points
6. GBR723 Quentin Strauss 7, (18), 13, 3, 4 - 27 points
7. GBR684 Michael Holmes 3, 11, (12), 5, 10 - 29 points
8. GBR653 Owen Pay (12), 3, 9, 10, 8 - 30 points
9. GBR656 Ivan Bradbury 14, 4, 1, (15), 13 - 31 points
10. GBR719 Paul Woodman (13), 5, 5, 9, 13 - 32 points

Full results here