Drawing breath

Before the first races of the Dragon European Championship in Kinsale later this week

Double Olympic gold medallist Pol-Richard Hoj-Jensen leads the top callibre entry list for the Dragon European Championships sponsored by Setanta Asset Management which will take place in Kinsale from August 15 to 23.

In addition to his Olympic wins, Hoj-Jensen also has won in excess of 90 World, European, National and International titles, including the Irish National Championship which was also hosted by Kinsale Yacht Club in August 2002.

Amongst the favourites to challenge Hoj-Jensen are Denmark’s Frank Berg, who finished second overall in the Dragon Gold Cup in Medemblik earlier this month, Germany’s Thomas Müller and England’s Eric Williams, who finished fifth and sixth respectively.

High profile participants include Thomas Olrog of Sweden, Chairman of the International Dragon Association, and Louis Urvois from France, mastermind of the Douarnenez regattas.

One notable boat on the entry list is Lucky Lucky. She made headline news in Ireland in recent years when she was stolen from outside her owner’s home in Dublin and later recovered in a sophisticated police operation. There have been no reported thefts of Dragons in Ireland since.

Entries

Boat Name	Sail No	Helm	1st crew	2nd crew
Canewdon Witch	AUS 156	Trish Ford	Andrew Twine	Chris Foulkes
Carabistoulles	BEL 66	Edward Wylleman	TBA	TBA
My-Way	DEN 266	Frank Berg	Soren Kaestel	Rasmus Rapfod
Half-Five	DEN 319	Soren Pehrsson	Morten Lorenzen	TBA
Danish Blue	GBR 680	PR Hoj-Jensen	Claus Hoj-Jensen	W Rappell jnr
Lil	DEN 340	Peter Warrer	Pierre Baad Jansen	Lbo Povlsen
Malou	DEN 341	Peter Holm	Maria Holm	Bo Selko
Elsa	DEN 350	Andre Hansen	Joern Wiersoe	P Lorenzen
Notorious	DEN 339	Frank Eriksen	Jorgen Bonde	TBA
Mustang	EST 6	Eiki Keert	Toomas Soots	Tiit Haagma
Rat Pack	FIN 50	Henrik Dahlman	Matthias Dahlman	Guy Dannstrom
OTT	FIN 501	Tom Rindell	Mini Jaatinen	Kim Konttinen
Ar Dizaon	FRA 296	Claudia Urvois	TBA	TBA
Ar Youleg	FRA 300	Louis Urvois	Gwen Chapalain	Sabas.Magnen
Dirastac'h	FRA 305	Philippe Gildas	Yann Kersale	Tanguy Ravach
Montana	GER 970	Peter Koch	Dirk David	Ingo Harmann
	GER 975	Philip Ocker	Florian Grosser	Chris. Sachs
Hanseatic LLoyd	SUI 288	Vincent Hoesch	Harro Kniffka	Bernd Faber
Bunny	GER 965	Max Glas	Dominik Glas	W.Steuer
Sinewave	GER 983	Thomas Muller	Mario Wagner	BOesterreich
Bahati	GER 980	Marcus Brennecke	Markus Wieser	Jorg Moessnang
Chi	GER 968	Michael Schatten	Christian Paucksch	TBA
Quicksilver II	GBR 572	Rob Cambell	Matt Walker	Ian Grey
Chaotic	GBR 602	Willie Jordan	Matt Armstrong	Jonathan Fletcher
Rampage	GBR 614	Neil Payne	Jon Mortimer	Dave Ross
FelLine Flr'tion	GBR 633	Ron James	Julia James	TBA
Temeraire	GBR 648	Alan Bulmer	Roz Bulmer	O Sedgwick
Aimee	GBR 660	Julia Bailey	Graham Bailey	David Heritage
Water Rat	GBR 675	Ian Ratnage	Jono Ratnage	Vincent Slevin
Ecstatic	GBR 682	Eric Williams	Nigel Young	TBA
Hand of Fortune	GBR 684	Mike Holmes	James Holmes	Alex Burnett
Heigh-Ho	JPN 46	Bocci Aoyama	Takahiro Ohyama	Masami Kimura
Lucky-Lucky	IRL 136	Tim Pearson	Denis Bergin	Matt Kennedy
EVE	IRL 150	Matthias Hellstern	Sallyann Tucker	Frgal OHanlon
Setanta	IRL 154	Pat Murphy	Daniel Murphy	Sean Murphy
Deemin	IRL 159	Don O'Bonoghue	Peter Dee	Matt Minch
Jessica	IRL 161	Ward Woods	Declan Mathews	Mark Pettitt
TBB	IRL 164	James Matthews	Rob Jacob	Dave Good
Tatsu	IRL 168	Cameron Good	Harry Lewis	Simon Furney
Christianna	IRL 169	Olaf Sorensen	Sean Kingston	A O'Neill
Diva	IRL 171	Richard Goodbody	Rick Johnson	J Veale
Kin	IRL 172	S Brien	R O'Tiarnaigh	D Gomes
Chimera	IRL 175	A Craig	E Peel	A O'Connell
Peer de Schuimer	NED 227	Joep Kuhlwilm	Hans van Drunen	Aai Schaberg
Danish Joker	NED 247	Fred Imhoff	Richard van Rij	Rudy den Outer
Furie	NED 309	Guus de Groot	Pieter van Reeuwijk	T van Vierssen
ESCAPADE	NED 316	Pieter Heerema	Dolf Peet	Joost Houwelig
Deja Vu	SWE 311	Thomas Olrog	Peter Christensen	Thomas Wilton
Lea	SWE 314	Gutta Johansen	Dan Walker	P-O Soderberg
MINC	SWE 315	Sputte Baltscheffsky	Stefan Haskel	J Wallenberg
Maria	SWE 321	Tom Lofstedt	Martin Alsen	Martin Larsson
Clairvoyant	USA 310	Ted Sawyer	Martin Payne	Will Willett