After two days of racing at the Dragon Marblehead Trophy in Vilamoura, Portugal Martin Byrne’s Jaguar Sailing Team lie in fourth place overall.
The Royal St George sailor is crewed by Adam Winkelmann and John Simms.
A 7th & 4th on day 1 was followed up by a second place in the only race today in light breezes.
There was some drama ashore yesterday after five competitors were called OCS at the start by the Race Officer and subsequently, three skippers challenged his judgement with protests for redress. Pedro Andrade from Portugal (often a crew on Byrne’s Jaguar Team) was the only one to win his case and was subsequently reinstated in first place today to lie second overall.
Royal St George's Jaguar (blue spinnaker on left) races downwind at the Marblehead Trophy
Byrne’s result today keeps his Irish team in touch with the leaders in fourth overall with two days of racing remaining.
“We have been conservative in our approach to date but we are very happy to be, in touch with, or ahead of the elite teams on the international Dragon circuit this season all of whom have way more race time than we have had in 2021”, he told Afloat.
The small but very competitive fleet is led by former European Champion Jens Christensen from Denmark who launched a brand new Dragon for this event. He is followed by the holder of the Marblehead Trophy and current European Champion Pedro Andrade from Portugal. While the recent Gold Cup winner and Vendee Globe competitor Pieter Heerema from the Netherlands is third.
Five more races are scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
Results are here
