#dragons – On driving to Kinsale yesterday to photograph the 2014 Irish Dragon Nationals it was a miserable outlook with the rain thundering down in quantities not experienced for some months writes Claire Bateman. Even while waiting around in Kinsale the rain was still incessant. However, some thirty minutes later it was as if a miracle had occurred, the rain ceased, the clouds disappeared and the sun shone gloriously. The wind filled in from a different direction going from south easterly of some 15 knots with a lumpy sea to west/south west 12 knots.

With the marks re-laid on the windward/leeward course Race Officer Alan Crosbie got the race underway for the twenty one boat fleet of which ten are Irish and the remainder of the fleet are visitors from outside the country.

In Race two leading the fleet was Neil Hegarty, David Williams and Peter Bowring from the RStGYC sailing Phantom and, trying to make amends for a poor 15th in the first race, did just that by taking the winning gun. From the Kinsale team, a consistent result in both races was achieved by Cameron Good, Simon Furney and Henry Kingston sailing 'Little Fella'. They had a second in the first race and third in the second race. This result has now placed them at the top of the leader board. Following 'Little Fella' and second on the leader board is the wily fox from the RStGYC, Andrew Craig, sailing with Brian Mathews and Mark Pettit counting a first and a sixth.

The fleet is very strong and includes two former Olympians Robin Hennessy. who sailed in the 1972 Olympics in Kiel, sailing Aphrodite with John Wolfe and John O"Connor, sailing under the burgee of the Royal Palma Yacht Club. Making a welcome return to Kinsale is the second Olympian and Round the World Sailor Lawrie Smith with Adam Bowers and Jack Wilson.

The seven race series will continue until Sunday.

#dragon – Race officer was Barry O'Neill, who ran six great races in perfect Dragon conditions - 12-15 knots, and calm sea with all but short waves. With windward leeward courses around 1 hour, three races were sailed on Saturday and three on Sunday, completing the six races series one day earlier than planned. Results are downloadable below as an excel file.

Andrew Craig (RStGYC) in Chimaera was overall winner of the event. He went into the last race as leader, and needed at least a 6h place in the final race to retain his position. However, the final race proved very tricky, with very fickle winds, and during past of the race he found himself in unfamiliar territory, way down the fleet. In the end, Andrew Craig retained his first overall, on the same amount of net points as Cameron Good from (KYC) in Little Fella, but with two bullets in his series.

The fleet was joined by James Peters, Dave Cummings and Richard Robinson in Yeah Baby from the Abersoch Dragon Fleet.

The East Coasts were managed by Ronan Adams (RStGYC), sail manager, and crew.

This was the first graded Dragon regatta of the reason. The Dragon Nationals will be held in Kinsale 26-29 June, with several international Dragon teams on the list of competitors, and the Dragon South Coasts in Glandore 29-31 August. The final main Dragon regatta of the season is the Jack Craig Memorial Bell at the LDYC Freshwater Regatta in Lough Derg 17-19 October.

Dragon East Coasts (full results downloadable below as Excel)

I. Chimaera. Andrew Craig, Brian Mathews and Mark Petitt
2. Little Fella. Cameron Good, Simon Furney and Henry Kingston
3. Phantom. Neil Hegarty, Peter Bowring and Nevin Powell
4. Jaguar. Martin Byrne, Adam Winkleman, Maurice O'Connell
5. Zu. Tim Pearson, Conor Grimley, and Matt Minch

#kinsale – The May bank holiday event saw the inaugural 'Axiom sponsored One Design keelboat Regatta' held in Kinsale YC. Twelve Squibs and five Dragons came out to do battle for the very generous prizes and newly commissioned trophy.

PRO Tony Ireson and his team provided great racing with 6 races held over the two days on a windward leeward course. Saturdays racing was held in 12-18 knots from the south west with the opening races in Dragons been taken by Little fella sailed by Cameron Good/Simon Furney and Henry Kingston.

The Squibs were having a fierce battle with places at the top constantly been swapped with National Champion James Mathews in Mucky Duck, Colm Dunne and Rob Gill in Allegro and Finbarr and Cian O'Regan in Fagin. Kevin Downey knocked in a great day with 4, 4, 5 in his new squib Grey Matter.

Day two saw the wind blowing from due south so Tony Ireson set his line at the mouth of the harbour. Lumpy seas and slightly lighter winds made for difficult sailing but Colm Dunne and Cameron Good found the groove and extended their leads with both finishing as overall winners.

At the prize giving there was great excitement as to which boat would win the newly commissioned trophy and after the criteria was spelt out by sailing secretary John Stallard the first name to go on the trophy is Allegro sailed by Colm Dunne and Rob Gill.

Such was the success of the event club Commodore Finbarr O' Regan was able to announce that Axiom Private Clients are to come on board for 2015 as the main sponsor and the dates were announced as May 2nd &3rd 2015.

#hyc – A Sportsboat Cup for Irish keelboat classes to be held around Midsummers day and tailored especially for 1720s, SB20s, Quarter Tonners, J24s, RS Elites, Dragons, J80s and J70s, is to be staged for the first time at Howth Yacht Club in north Dublin from 20th - 22nd June 2014.

At this multiclass event each of the sportsboat classes will be given their own start, results and prizes.

The event will incorporate the 1720 European championships as part of the event and there is an expectation of visiting UK and continental crews too.

Racing will be one design with the exception of the quarter tonners and mixed class who will race under IRC. Class rules will apply where applicable.

HYC says any other sportsboat type that has an IRC cert will also be accommodated in a mixed sportsboat fleet.

Howth is using the event to champion its sailing facilities both on the water and ashore at the 'bustling fishing village' venue that is also close to Dublin airport.

The largest club in the country has two cranes, a 300–berth marina, sizeable hardstanding, a large club house with bar, terrace and dining facilities not to mention secure changing and showering facilities

HYC is ideally placed to host this Sportsboat Cup. Car parking, craning, berthing and trailer storage are all included in the entry fee and racing will be organised by top National and International Race Officers.

With no racing starting before 12 each day there will be ample time to freshen up in the morning after the great social that is planned for each evening.

Online Entry available by clicking the HYC advert at the top of the Afloat homepage.

Weymouth finally showed herself at her best for day three of the Gazprom International Dragon World Championship where the fleet enjoyed two stunning races, races two and three of the eight race series.

Sole Irish trio competing Garry Treacy, Don O'Dowd and Paul Maguire are lying 6th in the Corinthian classification. Results here.

With a north westerly wind ranging from as little as 6 knots all the way up to around 18 knots and constantly shifting, the race committee rose to the occasion and produced spot on courses. The Dragons like to sail long legs for their World Championships and typically run with a 2.2 to 2.5 mile first beat. Despite this the fleet was still rounding the first mark tightly packed and the jury had a number of customers this evening following mark rounding incidents.
The quality of the fleet is truly exceptional and contains multiple Olympic medalists, America's Cup veterans and World and Continental Champions and it is clear from the results that there is a huge depth of talent as some very big names are to be found well down the rankings tonight.

Boat of the day was without any doubt Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen's Danish Blue crewed by Hamish Mackay and Andrew Norden. Having won Sunday's opening race they consolidated their lead by taking a good steady fifth in race two, then going on to win race three in exceptional style. A double Olympic Gold Medallist, Poul is also the winner of five Dragon Gold Cups, four European Championships and is one of only two helms to have won the Worlds twice, first in 1989 and again in 2009. Known to the Dragon fleet as simply "The Man", Hoj-Jensen proved today that his physical and mental strength are in no way diminished as he approaches his 70th year and he is still more than able to give the young pretenders a good whipping. He led from the first mark and by the time he rounded the last gate for the beat home he had a comfortable lead. The fleet split evenly port and starboard for the final leg making it impossible to cover everyone, but Poul's final beat was a master class in how to defend a position and was the talk of the regatta village post racing.
The only man who came close to Hoj-Jensen's performance was Russia's Andrey Kirilyuc who is sailing with Aleksey Bushuev and Alina Dotsenko. Kirilyuc is another Olympian who raced for Russia in the Laser in '96, in the Soling in 2000 and in the Tornado in 2004. Better known in the Dragon fleet as one of the top tacticians this has been Aleksey's first chance to show his skills as a helm. He only discovered he would helm the boat late last week when owner and regular helm Dmitry Samokhin was forced to pull out. A quick phone call brought Russian match racer Alina Dotsenko into the team and despite having no practice time they rapidly found their feet taking fourth in the opening race. Today they came off the port end of the start of race two like the proverbial scalded cat and never looked back winning by a comfortable margin. This afternoon they again sailed very consistently finishing in seventh place to put them into second overall.
In the overall standings Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen now leads the regatta on 7 points with Andrey Kirilyuk second on 12 points. Third place overall is held by Hendrik Witzmann, Michael Koch and Markus Koy sailing for the United Arab Emirates, who added a seventh and third to Sunday's ninth place to give them 19 points overall and an eight point margin on fourth placed Inna Shternberg of Russia. Places fifth to eighth are all held by Brits with Martin Payne fifth, Klaus Diederich's sixth, Quentin Strauss seventh and defending champion Lawrie Smith eighth. After his crew Tim Tavinor sustained a nasty hand injury when fending off another boat on the dock after racing on day one Lawrie was left one man short and facing the prospect of having to withdraw from the regatta. Fortunately good friend Bill Masterman, who has sailed with Lawrie and third man Ossie Stewart in the past, was able to drop everything and rush down to Weymouth to step in.
In the Corinthian Division for amateur crews Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen also leads the way with Mark Wade in second, Peter Froschel third, Remy Arnaud fourth and Rob Campbell fifth. One Corinthian team who got more than they bargained for today was Julia Bailey's Aimee. Going up the first beat of race two they were looking very nice on the left hand side. They went to tack and Julia's husband Graham, who calls tactics in the boat, pulled on the runner. He'd just put his full weight into the final adjustment when a block gave way and he effectively threw himself out of the boat. Fortunately he managed to remain in contact and within less than a minute fellow crew members Richard Powell and Will Heritage had fished him out and they were on their way again. Sadly though the advantage was lost and they finished the race in 63rd place.
As always at the post racing prize giving there were some special lucky draw presentations with Tommy Mueller's team taking home three sets of Maui Jim sunglasses and Julian Sowery claiming goodies from Zhik.
Later in the evening the teams enjoyed a wonderful cocktail party at Portland Castle where guests could take a guided tour of this 16th century Tudor Castle, built by Henry VIII to protect against French and Spanish invasion and now owned by English Heritage and open to the public. As well as delicious canapes and English sparkling wine the guests also enjoyed a traditional Morris Dancing display - an entertainment all too familiar to the British competitors but baffling and entertaining in equal measure to the international visitors. All together a thoroughly British evening.
Tomorrow's two further races are planned and the forecast is for 10+ knots, again from the north west. You can keep up with the latest from the race course via the Pantaenius Live Tracking, where you can also replay past races. News, results and further information will be posted at the event website. The regatta will continue until Friday 13 September with a maximum of eight races scheduled and a single discard coming into play after the completion of race six.

#dragon – Peter Bowring's Phantom was the winner of the ten-boat Irish Dragon nationals at the Royal Irish Yacht Club at the weekend. Second was Royal North's Simon Brien with Bowring's Royal St. George club mate Andrew Craig third in Chimaera.  Download full results as a jpeg file below.

Meanwhile, Glandore Harbour Yacht Club has issued a Notice of Race for the South Coast Dragon Championships to be held from August 30th to September 1st and it is available to download below as a word file. 

#dragon – Phantom skipered Peter Bowring holds a one point lead over Martin Byrne after day two of the Irish Dragon National Championships hosted by the Royal Irish Yacht Club at Dun Laoghaire writes Aidan Tarbett. Andrew Craig's Chimera lies third. The situation going into today's first race in the ten boat fleet is: 1. Phantom - Peter Bowring 11 points, 2. Jaguar - Martin Byrne 12 points and 3. Chimera - Andrew Craig 14 points

#dragon – The Dragon keelboat National Championships at the Royal Irish Yacht Club will be held from Thursday 8th – Sunday 11th August 2013, a change from an earlier venue due to lack of numbers. The Notice of Race and entry form are downloadable below as an MS Word file.  The class aim to improve on the number of participating boats from its last big event, the 12 boats at the East Coasts on 8-9 June.

#dragon – The Irish Dragon class has been unable to commit to 'more than a handful of boats' travelling to Bangor in County Down for the 2013 Irish National Championships in August.

As a result, the class has been forced in to a change of venue and the championships will now take place at the Royal Irish Yacht Club on Dublin Bay from August 8-11. The class has an entry of nine for this week's Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta.

It was all change on day three of the 2013 Dragon Edinburgh Cup supported by Aberdeen Asset Management in Weymouth, where today's fifth race brought high tension on the race course and the introduction of the discard. As a result the leader board has been well and truly shuffled and it will be all to play for in tomorrow's final race.

Today's race winner was fleet newcomer Grant Gordon, sailing with Ruaridh Scott and Joost Houweling, who enjoyed a spectacular dog fight with Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen, sailing with Andrew Norden and Hamish McKay. Initially Hoj-Jensen just had the upper hand, but on the second run Gordon got through to take control for the remainder of the race. Behind them the chasing pack was vying for position with constant place changing and some nail biting mark roundings. Ultimately Gavia Wilkinson-Cox, sailing with Jean Sebastien Ponce and Vicente Pinheiro de Melo, got the best of the situation and led Simon Brien, sailing with Mark Brien and David Gomes, Mick Cotter, sailing with Simon Fry and Tim Goodbody, Mark Dicker, sailing with James Campbell, and Drummond Sydenham and Klaus Diederichs, sailing with Andy Beadsworth and Jamie Lea, across the line.
The race also produced some big upsets with several of the leading boats being black flagged including overnight leader Lawrie Smith, sailing with Ossie Stewart and Tim Tavinor, and leading Corinthian Julia Bailey, sailing with Graham Bailey, Keith Tippell and Will Heritage.
In the overall standings Hoj-Jensen now leads the regatta on twenty points, a single point ahead of Diederichs with Wilkinson-Cox third on 22 and Smith fourth on 24. Gordon has jumped up the leaderboard from ninth to fifth, seven points behind Smith and one point ahead of Bailey.
In the Corinthian Division Julia Bailey hangs onto her lead by four points despite today's black flag. Simon Brien, sailing with Mark Brien and David Gomes, is in second and Julian Sowry, sailing with Claire Sowry and Neil O'Hagan is eight points back in third.
Today's other big excitement was the traditional Edinburgh Cup Crews Race, which is normally a fairly relaxed affair. But this year the crews were clearly in fighting form and it took two general recalls and the introduction of the black flag to get the race underway. Even with the black flag deterrent the fleet was still over eager and three of the teams, including German Star saillor Marc Pickel, sailing Marcus Brennecke's boat with Thomas Auracher, were sent home for the early bath.
For the sixteen teams remaining on the course it was action all the way. Guy Clarabut, sailing with owner Jono Ratnage and Ross McKissock, led on the first lap but a couple of big shifts turned the fleet inside out and ultimately it was James Campbell sailing with owner Mark Dicker and Drummond Sydenham who took the winner's laurels, with Justin Waples sailing with owner Rob Campbell and Tom Waples second, Jon Mortimer sailing with co-owner Owen Pay and Matt Walker third, and Katie Cole sailing with Peter Marchant and Andy Biddle fourth. Although a little disappointed with his eventual fifth place in the race Guy Clarabut was none the less delighted to accept the prize for the first helm 30 years old or under, which he just managed to snatch on the line from Will Heritage.
The Edinburgh Cup supported by Aberdeen Asset Management concludes tomorrow with just one final race to sail, a forecast of north-westerly backing westerly at 10 to 18 knots and a latest start cut off time of 13.00. With only twelve points separating the top six boats and Hoj-Jensen currently discarding a fourteenth place the championship remains wide open.

You can keep up with all the news from the event via the 2013 Dragon Edinburgh Cup Website, at the British Dragon Association Facebook page and through the Edinburgh Cup Live Tracking.

Overall Top Six After Five Races

1. Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen, GBR775 Danish Blue - 5,(14),10,3,2 = 20
2. Klaus Diederichs, GBR758 Fever - 1,(15),7,6,7 = 21
3. Gavia Wilkinson-Cox, GBR761 Jerboa - 10,8,(12),1,3 = 22
4. Lawrie Smith, GBR785 Alfie - 8,6,8,2,(42bfd) = 24
5. Grant Gordon, GBR780 Louise - 7,7,16,(19),1 = 31
6. Julia Bailey, GBR720 Aimee - 3,2,2,25,(42bfd) = 32 (Corinthian)