October 10, 2019
Champion became Samokhin
We envy those who are now in San Remo, where the festivities dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Dragon class are in full swing. Yesterday was truly magnificent – one of those that are remembered for a lifetime!
© Elena Razina
Wednesday began with the 90th Anniversary Race, in which 150 “Dragons” from 26 countries took part immediately. When everyone was lined up at the start (which, as you know, was not at all an easy task), the spectacle turned out to be fantastic. Indeed – you will not forget this!
The winner of the race, which took place with a northeast wind of 12-15 knots, turned out to be the German GER1216 with skipper Benedict Gach (he used to race on the Laser) – and this is a kind of sensation. No one expected such agility from Gakh and his team: there were no special achievements behind him in the Dragons, and here, in San Remo, he went to the Silver Fleet following the results of two qualifying races of the anniversary regatta. And suddenly – such a success! Moreover, the Germans were in the lead from start to finish: to the first mark Gakh and his team were ahead of the second (who ended up second) Jens Ratsak on MON 2 JEANIE by almost a hundred meters!
The Russians in this holiday race, alas, did not shine. The best of the yachts under their own tricolor – RUS 2 ALISA Alexandra Ezhkova – finished only the 36th.
An important touch. The oldest boat to compete in this race was the Irish IRL15 Gypsy: it was built in 1933! Unbelievable! On the steering wheel in Gypsy was 89-year-old Don Street. And one of the clews – Kieran O’Donoghue – has recently turned … 16 years old! He was the youngest participant in the 90th Anniversary Race.
The detailed results of this race are
http://dragon90.com/docs/AnniversaryRace.pdf
But let's go further. After that, several special races were held – for the classic “Dragons” (it was won by Tallinn Alexei Zhigadlo on RUS12 DRUG, for teams where a woman is on the steering wheel, youth crews, veterans, family teams …
And finally, it was the turn of the race, which was designed to determine the Champion of Champions: the crews took part in it, where the helmsmen were the champions or prize-winners of the Olympics, the World and European Championships, as well as the World Cups in any class or winners of the Dragon Gold Cup. By the way, 49 crews took part in this race: can you imagine what the level of the current "dragon" celebrations is!
And here, finally, the turn of the Russians came: among the first four in the final protocol there were three of our compatriots at once. The current leader of the Dragon European Cup Series Dmitry Samokhin (RUS 76 ROCKNROLLA) won. In third and fourth places are RUS 2 ALISA by Alexander Ezhkov and RUS 27 ANNAPURNA Anatoly Loginov. Only Englishman Mike Budd on GBR818 HARRY was able to infiltrate this wonderful campaign.
Detailed results of all special races, including Champion of Champions –
http://dragon90.com/results/group-races/
After that, everyone moved to the shore, where a celebratory 90th anniversary dinner was held at the Victory Morgana nightclub.
Well, today – again the race. The anniversary regatta will continue – now in two fleets, Gold and Silver.
251 October 10, 2019 # 9545
Chief Editor
