The final day of the Ski Voile International run by the Club Nautique D’Antibes, saw another glorious sunny day, but alas very little wind. Even though our PRO Dominique Geniaux, knew one more race was required to constitute a series (3 races), he simply could not send the 25 Dragons out for the scheduled 10.30 start as the bay of Juan Les Pins was like glass……  Another factor for Dominique to consider was that no warning sigal could be made later than 14.30. So as like most final sailing days, he had only a small window to work with…

Competitors could only wait and listen for the gun shot to alert their teams to the fact of AP flag down and off we go. Indeed this did eventually happen at around 13.00 although not a breath of wind was evident. It was a gamble that had to be made by the PRO who was as keen as anyone to validate the series. At 14.15 the faintest of “crows feet” showed on the water and so at around 14.25 the final race was started in less than 2 kts of wind. Normally, this would not have happened, but it was the only chance we had…

The first Dragon to make a significant move was RUS 35 Victor Fogeldon who slowly crossed the fleet from the PIN END, but neither side looked to be favoured at this stage and even if it was, you could not get anywhere fast …  However, when the wind did pick up slightly, one side or the other was goining to see a considerable gain. On this occasion it was the left and of the leading four boats overall it was local helm Francois Jacquard helming FRA 348 who led the fleet at the top mark. With already two excellent results to count Francois and his very able and young team of brothers, Oliver and Jeaniuc Terrol, knew that overall victory was their’s if they could just keep the boat going as all the other title contenders were back mid fleet…  Oliver, the tactician and top French Laser sailor (who incidently is currently coaching the Swiss Laser Radial Olympic Team), chose to stick to the same side downwind (left) that had been successful for them upwind.

This proved to be a winning call as the PRO had to shorten the course at the leeward gate, for fear of not completing the full course. Meanwhile the frustration onboard many of the other leading contender’s was very evident. None more so than with the early series leader ITA 54 Paolo Manzini  who finally crossed the line in 18th place, but still manage to keep hold of 2nd place overall. Another team who had a super last race was FRA 381 helmed by Etienne Lafon who matched his previous race by again finishing in 3rd place, which gave him and his team of Jean Claude Roumaillac & Alain Jacob the final podium position overall. Well done.

In closing its fair to say that we were blessed with three super sunny days in the midle of January and apart from Saturday’s Evening Meal which quite honestly left a little to be desired…….  It was a very enjoyable regatta, well organised, friendly helpers and an excellent PRO. I for one hope to return next year and spend another nice long weekend in this lovely part of France.

Higher, Faster, Longer………….   Stavros. (NED 410).

The principle Race Officer Dominique Geniaux, managed to complete two races today in very light winds that saw many position changes amongst the 25 boat fleet. But it was Paolo Manzoni helming his Petticrow Dragon, crewed by Albino Fravezzi and Davide Learini who lead the field after recording a 1st and 6th place. In second place overall is another Petticrow Dragon, FRA 348 helmed by Francois Jacquard with 2nd & 8th…

Then tied on 11pts are two Doomernik Dragons, ITA 62 Gianni Murziezio and NED 410 Martin Payne (yours truly), Gianni has a 9th & 2nd and we have a 7th & 4th.  So the final races tomorrow will decides who collects the winners Trophy.  Still very much in contention is RUS 27 Anatoly Loginov who was unfortunately Black Flagged in race one, but bounced back to win the second race. Providing the PRO can manage more than two races tomorrow, Anatoly will be able to discard his DSQ and more than likely finish on the podium as per usual….   As 4 races are needed to allow a discard.

Tonight all the competitors tavel out of Antibes to the small village of Biot, where local Flower Producer and Seller Gerard Blanc has chosen a most excellent restaurant, right next to his house   Lets see if Petticrow sailors can out drink the Doomernik teams!!

Higher, Faster, Longer………..   Stavros. (NED 410).

Unfortunately Campers, all racing had to be postponed today due to the heavy winds. It’s a shame as 28 Dragons were all ready to do battle on the first day of the 2012 Ski-Voile… With teams from many different Nations all eager to blow away those New Year cobwebs, it was simply not possible or safe to race. So a 10.30 start tomorrow should see up to 4 races take place…..  The sun shone and the competitors were prepared, but an early beer was called !

Higher, Faster, Longer…………..   Stavros.

I for one am looking forward to the first European event this weekend in Antibes. For those brave enough to take to the slopes for the skiing day on Thursday, “Good Luck”,,, For the rest of us lets hope for three days of top racing and some favourable winds….

Meanwhile many congratulations to Rob Campbell, Simon and Rene’, for their 2nd place to Nick Rogers in the Prince Phillip Cup, down under in sunny Tasmania. When I sailed the Worlds there in 2003 Hobart gave us a variety of winds, from flat calm to 40kts. By the look of some of the photo’s and the daily update’s, the sailing looked fun, highly competitive and exremely close at the end…….   Great stuff.

Also down here in sunny Cascais, the first of my Winter Clinic’s has gone very well, with wind and sun every day. It’s good to see Quinten Strauss back in the class and i hope to see many more happy faces in the remaining three clinic’s.. Jan 25th-31st. Feb 15th-21st and the final one in the superb location of Vilamoura April 11th-17th..  Still places available  !

Finally, lets all look forward to a busy and successful 2012. Try to support your home fleets as well as contiue to travel all over Europe.  What a fantastic Class we have….  

Higher, Faster, Longer……………    Stavros.

Yes Campers, 2012 offers probably the fullest calendar of Dragon Racing ever….With the South of France events about to kick off with the Ski Vol in a few weeks time which precedes the Primo Cup in Monaco,  followed by the 4th Cascais Winter Series in Feb! We are already spoilt for choice, the great thing this year is there are minimal overlapping events, Jean-Pierre in Cannes and Bruno Sanches in Cascais have worked the dates well for 2012. Once these first events get up and running sailors can pick and chose how they start their year, will it be Cannes, Cascais, Monaco or San Remo…  why not do them all !!!

With excellent boats available to charter both in France and Portugal, even if your own boat is not yet ready, there is no reason to miss all the early season fun in the sun. I shall also be running Training/Coaching clinics in Portugal, with the last clinic based in Vilamoura in April. So if individuals or teams want to blow away those winter cobwebs, give me a call. Likewise for boat charters…

Looking further ahead to our great year of sailing. Douarnenez should be the first event put into the racing diary. Louis/Annie and their terrific team are putting together an even bigger social package of entertainment this time and with the current World Champion Lawrie Smith, promising to attend it will be a fantastic regatta…. Lets make it 100 boats!!

The Europeans will be fun in Attersee as will the German Grand Prix in Boltenhagen. Then with the “IRISH GRAND SLAM” incorperating the Edinburgh Cup in Belfast. The Irish Nationals in Dublin and then the GOLD CUP in Kinsale..  It’s going to be a fantastic year…

In closing can I take this opportunity to wish all you Campers/Sailors out their who take the time to read my regatta blog’s throughout the year a Very Happy and Successful 2012.

Higher, Faster, Longer…….          Stavros.     (Martin Payne)  Mobile +447788587017

The “Bavarian Dream Team” of Vincent Hoesch and Michi Lip guided Marcus Brennecke to a very comfortable overall victory yesterday in Cascais to round off the 2011 season here in Portugal. In winning two of the last three races GER 10 “Billy Baby” finished the 7 race series with a score of just 15 points, their nearest rival (and current European Champion) Jens Christensen, crewed by Tim Tavinor & Kim Anderson finished 9pts behind in 2nd place and then GBR 720 Julia Bailey, Graham Bailey, Richard Powell & Malfalda Ribeiro da Cunha a further 12pts back in a well deserved 3rd place overall……

It was a particularly tricky day of sailing as the wind sometimes was up around 10-12kts but then could die away to just 6kts which made helming difficult as the waves rolled in from the vast Atlantic Ocean. Also both sides of the race course was “paying” at different times, so it was not just a case of chosing one side or the other, teams had to secure a good start but then make the most of the changing pressure and favourable wind shifts…

Stefan Winberg SWE 356, crewed by Thomas (at least the boat’s still in one piece and we are all still talking to each other) Wilton and tactician Fredrik Brotell won the middle of the 3 races yesterday after making substantial gains from the LEFT hand side of the course, which is quite unusual for Cascais, especially when the wind blows from the North-West. Stefan has been sailing in Cascais for many years now and is one of many sailors who love to “Winter” their boats in this wonderful sailing arena which offers fantastic racing all the year round. With other competitors from Monaco, Germany, Hungary, Great Britain, Russia and Denmark the Portugese hosts are very happy with the Cascais programme…

In closing I would like to thank the President of the Portugese Dragon Class Mario Quina, plus all helpers and volunteers of the Clube Naval de Cascais for supporting this great Winter Series (which will continue after the New Year), and making all of the visiting sailors so welcome in this truly exceptional part of Europe…… With more boats making the long journey down to Portugal in February as the series build’s towards the Grade 1 Juan Carlos Trophy in April, will you be joining in the fun ?  Come on Camper’s, life is too short!

Higher, Faster, Longer…………      Stavros (GBR 767).

The 3rd Cascais Winter Series recorded 3 more great races yesterday in a mixture of rain, squalls & sunshine, with a reasonably steady wind from the Northwest at around 12kts. Each race saw a different boat take the winners gun which proves how competitive even a 25 boat fleet can be, even though the conditions remain more or less the same. In race 1 the current European Champion Jens Christensen helmed “Bear” into the lead at the first mark and held onto first place despite some close racing with RUS 27. In race 2 GER 10 helmed by Marcus Brennecke made the most of a late left-hand shift at the top of the beat to hold a commanding lead and was never bothered for the rest of the race. Then is race 3 “yours truly” got his arse into gear and after winning the committee boat end at the start,  managed to keep a leading position for the remainder of the race with HUG 57 always a serious threat……

Meanwhile some very consistent sailing from GBR 720 helmed by Julia Bailey has moved her into a well deserved 3rd place overall and with 3 more races planned for today, still has a realistic chance to take the title from either Brennecke or Christensen….  These three boats have at least a 6pt gap from the rest of the fleet and I would expect the winner to come from either “Billy Baby”(Brennecke), “Bear”(Christensen) or “Aimee” (Bailey)….    But what do I know…..eh ?

Higher, Faster, Longer……………   Stavros. (GBR 767)

The 25 boat fleet had a frustrating first day in Cascais yesterday as the 3rd Dragon Winter Series got underway. It is unusual to have to wait for wind in Portugal, but that’s what this very talented fleet had to do until shortly before 3.45pm. Starting in extremely light winds is not best suited to a Dragon as the slightest turn or change of course can slow the boat and then take an absolute age to get going again… So with that in mind the four boats that attempted to win the “PIN” end, arrived seconds too early and could only hope that the Race Oficer would be generous, but the double hooter sounded and as they did not return to restart, all four were correctly pulled out at the first windward mark…… (OCS) !!!

However RUS 76 helmed by Yury Bozhedomov made a nice gain on the left and was never challenged as he easily went on to win the two upwind and two downwind legged race. After starting on the right side but soon getting back to the left GER 10 helmed by Markus Brennecker sailed a steady race to take 2nd place & SWE 356 Stefan Winberg finished 3rd.

Today and tomorrow will hopefully see three races per day, to give this high standard group of sailors a seven race series….  The forecast is looking good with westerly winds of around 12-14kts and only a 20% chance of rain. Watch this space for the next update…..

Higher, Faster, Longer………..   Stavros.  (GBR 767).

POR 50 “Christmas III” helmed by Pedro Mendes Leal won the 2nd Winter Series here in Cascais yesterday, after only a total of three races could be completed due to unusual weather conditions over the weekend….  After Friday’s most perfect start, the heavy rain that killed the wind was the beginning of a very calm weather system. Indeed Saturday saw all the 22 teams have to sit it out at the club, waiting for some positive news to come from the race area to signal sailing was possible, alas that signal never came……… But Tim Tavinors 50th Birthday Party still went ahead on time & for some… did not finish till 4am!

However, yesterday the teams all left their moorings on time as a very light Easterly wind offered the possibility of a chance to race.  Even though a Northerly wind was forecast racing began around 11.30am in around 6kts of breeze and long rolling waves. Although the committee boat was favoured, Pedro Andrade (tactician on POR 50), knew from his many years of Cascais sailing that the left would probably pay. In fact a starboard bearing of 82 degrees soon came down to less than 70 degrees as the leading boats made their way up the left-hand side of the course. So when tacking on the port lay-line POR 50 easily crossed the fleet and proved what a substantial gain the left side had over the boats coming in from the right. POR 46, GER 1087 and GER 10 also came in from the left to round the top mark behind “Christmas”…  These 4 boats held their respective positions to the finish.

In race 2 with the wind still just holding from the East, the majority of boats headed left off the line, only this time POR 26 helmed by Rui Boia took the lead after making an excellent start from the committee boat end. He sailed all the way to the port lay-line and held a comfortable lead by the top mark. RUS 76 and POR 47 also made good use of the left hand side to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively to Rui who held onto his modest lead till the end….

With a discard not applied until a 4th race was sailed a number of teams were hopeful of a final race. But the wind died away to nothing and eventually at 3.20pm the race officer had to call it a day and send the disappointed teams back to the harbour. Well of course not ALL the teams were disappointed, as without a discard, consistency is the name of the game and although POR 50 was tied with GER 1087, on count back POR 50 took the title as he had recorded a 1st place. But GER 1087 were still delighted with their 2nd place as helm Peter Alarie and crew Theis Palm & “Rooster” Stevenson had only just launched a “brand new” out of the wrapper Petticrow, that weekend. In 3rd overall was local favourite POR 47 Henrique Anjos crewed by Pedro Costa Alemao and Tiago Castro, just 2pts behind the winners. Again another consistant performance from a top local boat. Well done…..

At the prize giving Class President Jose Matoso, thanked all the helpers and volunteers and invited all sailors to join in for the next winter series event Dec 9th-11th which will conclude the Portugal programe for 2011. But for a smiling Pedro Mendes Leal and his winning team aboard POR 50 CHRISTMAS has arrived early…….. 

Higher, Faster, Longer……………..   Stavros. (NOR 282).

Yesterday saw the start of the 2nd Cascais Winter Series in Portugal. With two races planed and a wind of around 15-18kts from a southerly direction, the 24 registered Dragons had to deal with some large waves as they gathered momentum towards the shore of Estoril. I had the pleasure of sailing my own boat NOR 282 Finito’, crewed by two excellent “Bavarian” sailors Peter Liebner and Philipp Blinn. We had established that because of a 10 degree line bias at the PIN end it was the place to be and indeed POR 50 made the perfect start and easily crossed the fleet after a short starboard tack. We decided to wait for a few more minutes before taking our advantage and only had to “duck” one boat GBR 648 (Hombre’), helmed by Jens Rathsack and crewed by Mario and Stefan. I was very pleased to see Jens doing so well in my chartered boat, (the sister-ship to Finito’).

After a tough 1mile beat against a small current it was Finito’ who just rounded first ahead of Hombre’ closely followed by POR 55 Jose Matoso and POR 47 Henrik Anjos. With some excellent surfing waves the leading 4 boats pulled away from the fleet to then choose different leeward marks at the downwind gate to set up a thrilling second beat. It’s so important these days to have a “gate” at the bottom of the course because it gives sailors options, instead of having to follow the leader in a single line procession….  At the top end of the 2nd beat it was Finito’ that held onto the lead from Hombre’ then POR 55.. On the final run, Jose managed to gybe inside Jens to snatch 2nd place as the boats surfed side by side.

So 1st NOR 282 Martin Payne.   2nd POR 55 Jose Matoso.  3rd GBR 648 Jens Rathsack.

When the 2nd race started in similar conditions, the skies were much darker. In fact due to 2 general recalls it was now quite late in the day and with sunset around 5.0pm the Race Officer must have been a little concerned. However, Jens Rathsack again made an excellent start and made a huge jump on the fleet as the first “Rain Storm” blew through. Quite often in the Northern Hemisphere, a rain squall will pull the wind right and this is exactly what happened here in Cascais. So at the top mark GBR 648 had the lead from POR 49 second and POR 50 third. Unfortunately the rain continued to come down with such force even “Noah” was considering if he should start building a 2nd boat!  Indeed by the start of the 2nd beat visability was poor and the southerly wind was beginning to die.

Halfway up the 2nd beat the wind not only dropped away but it started to “puff” from all directions as the rain continued to fall with such intensity. Spinnakers were set by some boats as others slowed to a stand-still.. Thus giving the Race Officer no other option than to stop the race… So the Black and White flag was shown aboard the Clube Naval de Cascais RIB and we all turned our boats towards what we thought was the Marina !! It took a while before all boats were finally moored up safely at the club, but the “Happy Hour” soon had the frozen faces smiling again and the “if only” stories getting more and more exciting as the alcohol was consumed..  With 3 races planed for today and Sunshine! we will see Cascais back to it’s best, and the competition really begin…..

Higher, Faster, Longer……………    Stavros. (NOR 282).