Irish team on countback

Aberdeen Asset Management Dragon Edinburgh Cup concludes

Saturday July 16th 2011, Author: Fiona Brown, Location: United Kingdom

It all went down to the wire for the 43-strong fleet from Japan, Australia, Russia, Ireland and the UK on the final day of the 2011 Dragon Edinburgh Cup, supported by Aberdeen Asset Management, at the South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club in Abersoch.

Going into the day Mikhail Muratov and Klaus Diederichs were tied for the lead on 16 points, Martin Byrne was on 17 points, Julia Bailey counted 23 and Olga White 28. In the Corinthian fleet Richard Goodbody led Simon Brien by a single point with Patrick Gifford and Nigel Biggs both five points behind them.

There were four attempts at getting the final race, the sixth in the series, started including three under black flag. A total of six teams were disqualified including Olga White, whose hopes of making the podium were immediately dashed. Eventually on the fourth attempt the fleet got away cleanly for what proved to be the best race of the series with the wind up at around 20 knots from the southwest and big waves making the runs pretty exciting.

Off the line Byrne got the best start at the committee boat end and was the first to tack off to the right with Diederichs and Muratov following. By the mid-point Byrne had already established a lead with Diederichs and Muratov jostling for position on the front edge of the pack. Muratov went further right than Diederichs gaining a significant advantage at the top end of the course and as they rounded the first mark Byrne led with Muratov in fourth and Diederichs seventh.

As Diederichs and Muratove fought their way out of the pack, Bryne established control of the race and clearly had no intention of relinquishing it, gradually stretching away from the fleet. Behind him at the leeward mark Muratov rounded third with Diederichs on his tail in fourth.

On the second beat Byrne extended his lead to some 200 yards, Muratov moved into second and Diederichs third. They held their positions on the second run and up the final beat Byrne was able to maintain a loose cover on the fleet and cruise to a very well deserved victory. As Byrne was enjoying himself out front Muratov and Diederichs were still fighting it out. Meanwhile Simon Brien had been showing bursts of incredible speed to pull up through the fleet and as the fleet came on to the final beat he was challenging Muratov and Diederichs. Brien chose to work the middle whilst the other two went hard right and his move paid off. On the line Byrne and his team looked back to see Muratov finish second, Brien third and Diederichs fourth. Brien's nearest Corinthian challengers Nigel Biggs and Patrick Gifford crossed the line in fifth and thirteenth places.

So Martin Byrne and his crew of Pedro Andrade and Adam Winklemann sailing Jaguar were declared 2011 Dragon Open British Champions and winners of the historic Edinburgh Cup. In his acceptance speech at the prize giving Martin paid tribute to the many famous names engraved on the trophy since it was first presented to the class by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh in 1948 and said how thrilled and delighted he was to be joining such illustrious company. He also paid tribute to his crew and to his "fourth crew member", wife Triona, explaining that it is she who is responsible for making sure they actually get to the regattas, for organising all the accommodation and logistics, for buying the beers in the bar, for making sure they get dinner and for getting them home again each evening before they get into too much trouble!

Second place overall went to Russia's Mikhail Muratov sailing Murka 8 with Valentin Uvarkin and Vladimir Krutskikh, and in third was Klaus Diederichs sailing Fever with Peter O'Leary and David Burrows. At the prizegiving there were also a number of special presentations including the Jordan Bell, which is presented to the highest scoring team in the regatta without a top five result in an individual race. The popular team of Julian and Claire Sowry and John Greenwood sailing Scimitar received rousing cheers from their fellow Dragon sailors as they came to the stage to collect this trophy. Another very popular presentation was the "most sociable crew of the regatta" award, which went to Simon and Mark Brien and David Gomes of Kin whose dedication to the social cause was second to none. Having soaked the crowd with the presentation bottle of champagne Simon and his crew helped Martin and his team start their celebrations by filling the Edinburgh Cup and toasting them.

Simon Brien was awarded the Edinburgh Cup Corinthian Trophy with Richard Goodbody sailing Diva with Rick and Rob Johnson in second, Nigel Biggs sailing Puca with Franz Rothschild and Pete Evans third, Patrick Gifford with Harry Pynn and Edward Streeter in Nereid fourth and Julian Sowry fifth. The Corinthian teams are the lifeblood of the Dragon Class and it has been terrific to have such a strong fleet of Corinthians racing this week and to see so many of those Corinthian teams seriously challenging the professional crews. It's also been great to see the camaraderie and friendly rivalry amongst those who weren't making it to the front of the fleet, but were none the less enjoying great racing and truly getting into the spirit of the Edinburgh Cup.

Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Tot
1	IRL201	Jaguar	Martin Byrne	1	6	18	7	3	1	18
2	RU98	Murka 8	Mikhail Muratov	2	1	5	9	8	2	18
3	GBR758	Fever	Klaus Diederichs	3	5	1	29	7	4	20
4	IRL212	Kin	Simon Brien	17	4	7	11	6	3	31
5	GBR720	Aimee	Julia Bailey	18	2	3	1	17	12	35
6	GBR690	Blue Movie	David Atkinson	12	9	10	16	4	6	41
7	IRL210	Diva	Richard Goodbody	13	10	11	6	5	10	42
8	GBR761	Jerboa	Gavia Wilkinson-Cox	9	7	17	25	2	9	44
9	RUS89	Murka 7	Olga White	4	12	9	3	16	DNF44	44
10	IRL162	Puca	Nigel Biggs	16	15	29	4	11	5	51
11	GBR708	Rumours	Len Jones	14	11	8	5	21	14	52
12	IRL207	Christianna	Olaf Sorensen	7	14	2	20	10	BFD44	53
13	DGBR717	Nereid	Patrick Gifford	21	8	14	18	1	13	54
14	GBR755	Scimitar	Julian Sowry	24	17	6	8	19	8	58
15	GBR704	Ganador	Rob Campbell	8	16	15	12	9	16	60
16	GBR744	Tigger	Tim Tavinor	6	27	13	2	13	BFD44	61
17	GBR653	Njord	Owen Pay	22	3	12	22	14	11	62
18	GBR722	Avalanche	Mark Wade	5	13	24	23	22	7	70
19	IRL176	Phantom	Clare Hogan	10	21	21	10	28	BFD44	90
20	GBR590	Mystere	James Peters	20	22	4	24	30	21	91
21	AUS206	Whimsey	Gordon Ingate	15	DNF44	25	15	23	15	93
22	GBR742	Flotation	Richard Davies	25	24	20	13	12	BFD44	94
23	GBR760	Hands Off	Mike Holmes	23	19	BFD44	14	20	18	94
24	IRL213	Whisper	Michael Cottor	28	28	16	19	18	17	98
25	GBR633	Fei-Lin's Flirtation	Ron James	19	26	19	17	25	24	104
26	ANT10	Bella	Edward Fort	38	20	22	28	15	DNC44	123
27	GBR655	Phormerly Phantom	Andy Wilkins	29	18	30	32	24	22	123
28	GBR622	Merlin	Robert Ridell	31	31	23	26	31	20	131
29	GBR764	Naiad	Michael Hayles	30	34	26	37	26	19	135
30	JPN50	Yevis	Bocci A. Aoyama	32	25	37	21	29	DNC44	144
31	GBR710	Alcyone	Simon Winn	27	29	31	33	37	26	146
32	DB508	Atalanta	Jamie Uren	33	23	40	38	32	25	151
33	GBR747	Valkyrie	Stewart Coltart	11	35	32	35	DNC44	DNC44	157
34	GBR711	Leah	Brian Holland	26	30	28	31	BFD44	DNC44	159
35	K575	Hagrid	Huw Foulkes	34	36	35	30	35	DNC44	170
36	IRL157	Tenacious	Anthony O'Neill	DNF44	DNC44	27	34	27	DNC44	176
37	GBR557	Amazon	Graham Price	41	37	41	41	36	23	178
38	GBR699	Gitane	Colin Brereton	39	33	34	36	38	DNC44	180
39	GBR759	Sanuk	Nicholas Jordan	35	39	36	27	DNF44	DNC44	181
40	GBR564	Djinn	Nick Whipp	37	32	DNF44	DNC44	33	DNC44	190
41	K573	Thunder	Ian MacMillan	36	40	38	DSQ44	34	DNC44	192
42	GBR623	Musketeer	Andy Brook	40	38	39	40	40	DNF44	197
43	GBR599	Secret	Steve Harral	DNF44	DNF44	33	39	39	DNF44	199