Portugal's Pedro Rebelo de Andrade, Jose Leitmann, and Jamie Lea have won the Astra Construction Dragon Gold Cup at Kinsale on 33 points. After a thrilling final race, the trio overtook weeklong leaders Peter Gilmour, Yasuhiro Yaji, and Sam Gilmour, sailing for Japan on 35.
The Corinthian division trophy was won by Kinsale's own Cameron Good, who finished 15th.
Tied on points with Gilmour, defending champion Lawrie Smith, Ruairidh Scott, Goncalo Ribeiro and Martin Wrigley finished third in the 64-boat fleet.
Going into the last day of the regatta was still wide open. Peter Gilmour had led from day one but had only a three-point advantage over Lawrie Smith and five points on Pedro Rebelo de Andrade, so the stage was set for a spectacular showdown.
Back onshore at Kinsale Yacht Club marina, the magnitude of the victory in the prestigious Dragon Gold Cup has started to sink in for the winning team of Pedro Rabelo de Andrade, Jose Leitmann, and Jamie Lea. Photo: Bob Bateman
After five days of strong winds, it was all change with race six getting underway after an initial postponement and two general recalls in around ten knots from the southwest, which shiftily clocked right and built to the upper teens.
Germany’s Michael Zankel, sailing POR90 with Diogo Peteira and Jaoa Matos Rosa sailed a superb race to take a commanding final win of the regatta, but behind him all eyes were focused on Andrade, Gilmour and Smith. Off the line Andrade looked good, and he rounded the first mark in third, while Smith and Gilmour were down in the teens, putting Andrade into the overall lead at that point. From there on all Andrade could do was sail his own race and hope that the other two failed to gain sufficient places to beat him.
At the end of the first lap Smith was up into eighth with Gilmour tenth, but they still needed to gain places. The spectators, who were out in force, were on the edge of their seats as Andrade crossed the line in second place, followed home by Andy Beasdworth in TUR12 Provezza. Smith and Gilmour had tried everything they could, but it wasn’t enough, and they finished sixth and ninth respectively.
So Pedro Rebelo de Andrade, Jose Leitmann and Jamie Lea sailing POR89 Capable Planet are the Kinsale Dragon Gold Cup Champions 2024. This is Andrade’s second Gold Cup win as a helm, the first being in Medemblik in 2019, but for Lea and Leitmann it was their first.
A delighted and slightly shocked Pedro Rebelo de Andrade commented, "It's still hard to believe. We were far away from the game at some stages, and we kept believing, believing a little bit, not too much. We kept fighting. I don’t know how we managed it. We needed the others to make some mistakes. That's the game, they made some mistakes, and we took advantage. I was lucky to win the Gold Cup for the first time in Medemblik in 2019 and I was supposed to defend the trophy here in Kinsale in 2020 [when Covid forced the event's cancellation], so to be back here now and to win is very special."
The 64-boat Dragon fleet is craned out of the water at Kinsale Harbour and loaded onto trailers ready for departure from Kinsale Yacht Club at the end of a successful edition of the Dragon Gold Cup Photo: Bob Bateman
Andrade’s victory was by just two points, but the other podium places could only be decided on countback with the JPN56 YRed team of Peter Gilmour, Yasuhiro Yaji and Sam Gilmour just grabbing the silver medal from GBR815 Alfie sailed by Lawrie Smith, Ruairidh Scott, Concalo Ribeiro and Martin Wrigley.
The result of the Corinthian Division also went down to the last race as Cameron Good, Henry Kingston and Sam Hunt sailing IRL221 Little Fella leapfrogged into first place ahead of GER1075 sailed by Hannes Hollaender, Arne Hubregtse and Johannes Berg, with Jono Brown, Chris Grosscurth and Andrews Nordon in GBR753 Fit Chick taking the final step on the Corinthian podium.
Alongside their trophies, the Overall and Corinthian winning helms also received a customised Kinsale Dragon Gold Cup 2024 TNG Watch, presented by the event’s official timing partner TNG Swiss Watches.
The Nations Cup team event also went down to the wire with POR90 Easy/Michael Zankel, GER62 Dessert Holly/Stephan Link and GER1075 Grace/Hannes Hollaender claiming a narrow three-point victory over the British team of GBR402 Meteor/Peter Cooke, GBR815 Alfie/Lawrie Smith and GBR610 Rackham/Mark Dicker. Third place went to the Netherlands represented by NED309 Furie/Guus de Groot, NED393 Cobweb/Richard Blickman and NED352 Hestia/Frank Van Beuningen. As the winner of the last race Michael Zankel accepted the Nations Cup on behalf of the team.
Germany won the Dragon Gold Cup 2024 team event. Michael Zankel received the Nations Cup after winning Friday's final race from Anthony Scannell, Commodore KYC, and Gillian Coughlan, deputizing for the Mayor of the County of Cork, along with other members of the German team Photo: Bob Bateman
Race six winner and recipient of the Nations Cup, Michael Zankel, was delighted with the week overall, saying, “It's been a very nice Gold Cup, and I like everything here in Kinsale and would like to come back. We had a great race today and I liked to beat Pedro, but I was a bit scared as I knew he needed the points. Yesterday we had a very bad race with 33 points, but today was perfect and we’ve been three times in the top three. We’re also delighted to be part of the German Nations Cup winning team too.”
At the final prize giving, which was held in the Kinsale Yacht Club courtyard, there were a number of special presentations made alongside the main prizes.
Ireland's Frank O'Keeffe (below), as a past winner, the prestigious Dragon Gold Cup trophy bears his name Photo: Bob Bateman
The Silver Cup was presented to the class by Jacob J Roosjen of Holland and is awarded to the boat that wins the Silver Fleet or finishes at the midpoint if raced as a single fleet. This year’s extremely popular winner, who came to the stage to huge applause, was Denis Bergin sailing IRL161 Sir Ossis of the River with Denis Joseph Bergin and Rory Byrne.
Denis Bergin, Denis Joseph Bergin, and Rory Byrne are the winners of the Dragon Gold Cup Silver Trophy. They are joined by Anthony Scannell and Gillian Coughlan, deputising for the Mayor of the County of Cork. Photo by Bob Bateman
A new Classic Boat Trophy has been presented for the Gold Cup by the family of the late Don Street, who died in May of this year. A world-renowned sailor, Don Street competed in major Dragon championships across many decades, most recently sailing in the 90th Anniversary Regatta in San Remo in 2019. He also played a pivotal role in encouraging youth Dragon sailing in his adopted home of Glandore, with many of those young sailors competing this week.
The inaugural winner of the new Gold Cup Classic Boat Trophy is the beautiful GBR192 Bluebottle sailed by Graham and Julia Bailey, Will Bedford and Killian Boag who finished in tenth place. Bluebottle was built by Camper & Nicholson in 1947 and presented to the then Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on the occasion of their wedding in 1948 by the members of the Island Sailing Club. Bluebottle underwent an extensive restoration by David Heritage Yachts, on which the Duke kept a close eye, but sadly he did not live long enough to see her race again when she was relaunched in 2021. Without doubt he would be delighted to know that at 76 years old she is still capable of winning Gold Cup races.
Presentation to Bluebottle - A new Classic Boat Trophy has been presented for the Gold Cup by the family of the late Don Street, who died in May of this year. A world-renowned sailor, Don Street competed in major Dragon championships across many decades, most recently sailing in the 90th Anniversary Regatta in San Remo in 2019. He also played a pivotal role in encouraging youth Dragon sailing in his adopted home of Glandore, with many of those young sailors competing this week. Photo: Bob Bateman
The Dubarry Boot for the best performance by a crew with a combined age of under 80 years went to IRL22 Missfire sailed by Peter Hayes, Michelle Hayes and Jess Tubb. This young crew from Glandore were racing in their first major regatta and impressed everyone with their grit and determination on even the windiest of days.
The Dragon Gold Cup Dubarry Boot prize, for the combined age under 80 and the 80th anniversary, was awarded to the Dragon "Missfire" crew Peter Hayes, Michelle Hayes and Jess Tubb from Glandore Harbour YC Photo by: Bob Bateman
Organising international regattas of this magnitude takes a vast number of volunteers and The IDA would like to thank the Kinsale Yacht Club, its members and staff for their incredible work in hosting the event, the Race Officer Con Murphy and his team and the International Jury for all their hard work on behalf of the class. Thanks also go to the event sponsors, Astra Construction Services Ltd, Cork County Council, Guinness, the Trident Hotel, Actons Hotel, Yanmar, TNG Swiss Watches, the Kinsale Good Food Circle, the Blue Haven, Rooster, North Sails, Matthews of Cork and Dubarry for their most generous support.
The Kinsale Yacht Club Dragon Gold Cup Race management team, led by International Race Officer Con Murphy (pictured front row second from right) aboard Nadie after a successful edition of the 2024 Cup Photo: Bob Bateman
The 2025 Dragon Gold Cup will be hosted by La Société des Régates de Douarnenez from 25 to 30 August.
Dragon Gold Cup winners 2024 - 1st: Capable Planet, Pedro Rabelo de Andrade, Jose Leithmann, Jamie Lea 2nd: Peter Gilmour, Yasuhiro Yaji, Sam Gilmour 3rd: Lawrie Smith (missing from picture), Ruairidh Scott, Goncalo Ribeiro, and Martin Wrigley Photo: Bob Bateman
OVERALL TOP FIVE
- 1st - POR89 – First Things First – Pedro Rebelo de Andrade – 2, 21, 1, 4, 3, 2 - 33
- 2nd - JPN56 – Yred – Peter Gilmour – 7, 1, 4, 2, 12, 9 = 35
- 3rd - GBR815 – Alfie – Lawrie Smith – 4, 8, 2, 6, 9, 6 = 35
- 4th - TUR12 - Provezza - Andy Beadsworth - 6, 13, 7, 1, 11, 3 = 41
- 5th - GBR402 - Meteor - Peter Cooke - 1, 12, 10, 15, 2, 13 = 53
Andy Beadsworth finished fourth overall at the Dragon Gold Cup 2024 at Kinsale Yacht Club, with Gillian Coughlan standing in for the Mayor of Cork County and Anthony Scannell, the Commodore of KYC. Photo by Bob Bateman
Dragon Gold Cup 2024: 5th overall. The team included Meteor Torvay Mirsky, Peter Nicholas, Peter Cooke, Cork's Harry Durcan, Gillian Coughlan (deputising for the mayor of Cork County), and Anthony Scannell (Commodore KYC) Photo: Bob Bateman
CORINTHIAN TOP FIVE
- 1st - IRL211 – Little Fella – Cameron Good – 20, 17, 18, 10(RDG), 21, 20 = 107
- 2nd - GER1075 - Grace - Hannes Hollaender - 26, 9, 25, 29, 6, 19 = 112
- 3rd - GBR753 - Fit Chick - Jono Brown - 37, 10, 11, 14, 17, 34 = 121
- 4th - IRL225 - Phantom - Neil Heggarty - 17,39, 28, 14, 16, 16 = 130
- 5th - IRL219 – TBD – James Matthews – 26, 16, 5, 26, 32, 29 = 135
At the 2024 Dragon Gold Cup in Kinsale Yacht Club Cameron Good, Henry Kingston, and Sam Hunt, receiving their prize from Anthony Scannell, Commodore KYC and Gillian Coughlan, deputising for the Mayor of Cork County Photo: Bob Bateman
At the 2024 Dragon Gold Cup in Kinsale Yacht Club, the second Corinthian team were Hannes Hollaender, Cor Arne Hubregtse, and Johannes Berg, receiving their prize from Anthony Scannell Commodore KYC and Gillian Coughlan deputising for the Mayor of Cork County Photo: Bob Bateman
At the 2024 Dragon Gold Cup in Kinsale Yacht Club, the third Corinthian team were Jono Brown, Chris Grosscurth and Andrew Norden, receiving their prize from Anthony Scannell Commodore KYC and Gillian Coughlan Deputising for the Mayor of Cork County Photo: Bob Bateman
At the 2024 Dragon Gold Cup in Kinsale Yacht Club, the Fourth Corinthian team included Niall Hegarty, Peter Bowring, and David Williams, with Anthony Scannell serving as the Commodore KYC and Gillian Coughlan deputising for the Mayor of the County of Cork. Photo: Bob Bateman
At the 2024 Dragon Gold Cup in Kinsale Yacht Club, the fifth Corinthian team were James Matthews, David Good, Fergus O'Hanlon who received their prize from Anthony Scannell Commodore KYC and Gillian Coughlan Deputising for the Mayor of Cork County Photo: Bob Bateman
