With four races down and two to go Australia’s match racing legend Peter Gilmour sailing JPN56 YRed continues to hold a narrow lead at the Kinsale Dragon Gold Cup 2024 supported by Astra Construction Ltd. Race four got underway after an initial general recall and a line reset in glorious sun and a squally north westerly that ranged from the mid-teens to the mid-twenties. It was a cracker of a race with the results only decided right on the line.
Peter Gilmour took an early lead but was then constantly pressed by Portugal’s Pedro Rebelo de Andrade in POR89 First Things First, Belgium’s Xavier Vanneste in BEL82 Herbie, Britain’s Andy Beadsworth sailing TUR56 Provezza, and defending Gold Cup Champion Lawrie Smith in GBR815 Alfie. As the boats approached the finish line Gilmour looked good, but the day still had surprises in store, as Andy Beadsworth’s tactician Simon Fry explains:
“We had a very good start at the starboard end with Gilly [Peter Gilmour] and Lawrie [Smith]. The Aussies [Grant Alderson] made gains out to the hard right and a couple of people made gains out to the left. Gilly went to the top left and we kind of played the middled and rounded the top mark fourth. Luckily, we were on the inside, it favoured the gybe set so we got the gybe in. Then us and Gilly got away a little bit, but Xavier [Vanneste] was on our hip. If I’m honest we could have done with sailing a little bit lower and attacking Pedro [Rebelo de Andrade], but Xavier was thinking he would attack us. So Gilly escaped to about a 60m lead.
The 62-boat Dragon Gold Cup fleet under spinnaker off Kinsale Photo: Bob Bateman
“We had a good second beat, closed in on Gilly, we both gybed and we beat him to the gybe back. We decided right gate, he went left. Coming away from the bottom mark, it was a small lefty, so we were straight back onto port and rotated inside Gilly. It became clear Gilly was a little bit exposed and we were worried about Pedro and the Aussies. Luckily Gilly dragged it back into the middle, because I think he was worried about Pedro, so it became a little bit of a shepherding job. Approaching the line a right came in and we were lucky enough to be on the right layline under Gilly and it was thanks very much and have a Guiness!” – Simon Fry, TUR12 Provezza.
As they came across the finish line Beadsworth narrowly pipped Gilmour for race victory with Alderson third, Andrade fourth, Vanneste fifth and Smith sixth.
In the overall standings Peter Gilmour has increased his lead over Lawrie Smith to six points. Today’s race win jumps Andy Beadsworth up into third, but tied on points with Michael Zankel who drops from third to fourth, while Pedro Andrade remains fifth.
In the Corinthian Division Spain’s newest Dragon team, ESP9 helmed by Javier Chacartegui, had a superb day to lead the Corinthians home and take eleventh overall. Jono Brown’s GBR753 Fit Chick was second with Dublin’s Neil Hegarty aboard IRL225 Phantom third.
After racing ESP9 crew member Leonardo Armas talked about his first Gold Cup experience – “We did it, we had a good race. A little bit windy, but we had a lot of fun. It’s our first Gold Cup and our first regatta in the Dragon Class. It was so hard because the wind was so strong, but I think we are improving a lot. We are trying to learn as much as possible, and we are sure that in the next regatta we will do it much better than this one. We’re looking forward to taking part in the Palma winter series, and our next big target is the Vilamoura Worlds next year.”
Also taking part in his first Gold Cup is Grant Alderson “This is my first Gold Cup. I’ve done a couple of local regattas at home, but nothing overseas. Today was interesting, we were able to just get off the line cleanly, play the shifts, play the compass and were able to be in the top bunch the whole way round the race.” His crew Emma Shand added, “We got lucky in some of the shifts. What’s wonderful about the Dragons is that the places change quite often within the fleet and that’s what keeps it interesting for the fleet and spectators, but we were really pleased with the result today.”
The Corinthian racing was somewhat marred by two of the teams being caught up in an incident at the first mark. Cameron Good’s IRL211 Little Fella and Colm Dunne’s IRL181 Ghost were on the starboard layline when another boat attempted but failed to force its way in on port. Dunne had no option but to take avoiding action and, in the process, caught Good’s backstay, bringing down the rig and leaving the two boats entangled. Both boats protested and requested redress, and each was given 10 points.
In the overall Corinthian standings Cameron Good has now moved into the lead ahead of Jono Brown with overnight leader James Matthews dropping down into third. Fortunately Good was well on the way to replacing his rig by the end of the day so he hopes to be back on the race course tomorrow.
One of the highlights of the Dragon Gold Cup is the Nations Cup team competition. After the first race the three top scoring boats from each nation are selected to represent their country. With four races completed the British Team of GBR402 Meteor (Peter Cooke), GBR815 Alfie (Lawrie Smith) and GBR610 Rackham (Mark Dicker) currently lead the Nations Cup by just nine points from Germany’s GER62 Desert Holly (Stephan Link), POR90 Easy (Michael Zankel) and GER1075 Grace (Hannes Hollander). In third place are the Netherlands team comprising NED309 Furie (Guus de Groot), NED393 Cobweb (Richard Blickman) and NED352 Hestia (Frank Van Beuningen).
There are a number of beautiful Classic Dragons racing this week Photo: Bob Bateman
There are a number of beautiful Classic Dragons racing this week, including the famous GBR192 Bluebottle, which was raced by the late Duke of Edinburgh. But perhaps the most interesting Classic Dragon on the water here in Kinsale is IRL45 Titan, which was built in 1969 by Borresens as DK450. Exactly fifty years ago this year she won the Dragon Gold Cup in Le Harve in the hands of legendary Dragon sailor Nick Truman. Gerry Owens brought her to Ireland in 1975, racing her regularly both at home and abroad for half a century, including winning the 1983 Irish National Championship. She underwent a partial refit in 2012 and was then purchased by her current owner Ben Cooke in August 2020 who undertook a major restoration, relaunching her in 2021. Sadly, Nick Truman passed away earlier this year, but we are certain that he would be proud to see Titan racing again in a Gold Cup half a century after his victory.
The conditions this week have been pretty extreme for a classic, but asked about how Titan’s regatta is going Ben said, “She’s staying mainly in one piece. We were pretty much last round the first mark today because we went the wrong way, and we got back up to the late 30s, so we count that as a success. Nothing broke, although it was pretty much on the limit for us, as we start to run out of boat stiffness at around 25 knots and she just bends, so the pumps get a workout. Owning a boat like Titan is a real honour and I like to think that her previous owners would be delighted to see her still competing on the international circuit.”
Kinsale Schoolchildren following the Gold Cup hosting in their town cheer on the departing international Dragon fleet Photo: Bob Bateman
Two races remain to be sailed in the six-race series which concludes on Friday 13 September and with just 14 points separating the top five boats in this no discard series it's still all to play for. The forecast for the penultimate day is for more potentially blustery north westerlies and sunshine, so the race committee has announced its intention to start race five at noon.
Dragon Gold Cup Race Four Photo Gallery By Bob Bateman
PROVISIONAL OVERALL TOP FIVE AFTER FOUR RACES
- 1st - JPN56 – Yred – Peter Gilmour – 7, 1, 4, 2 = 14
- 2nd - GBR815 – Alfie – Lawrie Smith – 4, 8, 2, 6 = 20
- 3rd - TUR12 - Provezza - Andy Beadsworth - 6, 13, 7, 1 = 27
- 4th - POR90 - Easy - Michael Zankel - 13, 3, 3, 8 = 27
- 5th - POR89 – First Things First – Pedro Rebelo de Andrade – 2, 21, 1, 4 - 28
PROVISIONAL CORINTHIAN TOP FIVE AFTER FOUR RACES
- 1st - IRL211 – Little Fella – Cameron Good – 20, 17, 18, 10(RDG) = 65
- 2nd - GBR753 - Fit Chick - Jono Brown - 37, 10, 11, 14 = 72
- 3rd - IRL219 – TBD – James Matthews – 26, 16, 5, 26 = 76
- 4th - NED309 – Furie – Guus de Groot – 10, 25, 25, 18 = 79
- 5th - GER1075 - Grace - Hannes Hollaender - 26, 9, 25, 29 = 89
