"That's the most wind I've ever sailed a Dragon in," commented former Solent Fleet Captain Neil Payne after a fraught third day of racing at the Dragon Edinburgh Cup in Cowes today. The fleet was in the closing stages of the day's second race (race five in the series) when a huge localised squall of over 40 knots hit causing two sinkings, two dismastings and a number of other major incidents. Fortunately, thanks to some quick thinking and smart seamanship by the RCYC race committee, fellow competitors and spectator boats, all the crews are now safely back ashore and there are no serious injuries.
Race four in the series got underway in a relatively pleasant 16-18 knots from 320 degrees, but as the first of a series of squalls came through the breeze regularly piped up to over 20 knots giving the crews some very hard sailing, particularly on the down wind legs when the awkward seas were ready and waiting to catch out the unwary. From the off it was a four way battle between Denmark's Poul-Richard Hoj-Jensen in Danish Blue, Germany's Thomas Muller sailing Sinewave, Ireland's Simon Brien aboard Kin and Len Jones in Rumours. Throughout the race they were jostling for position and with every tack and gybe the situation seemed to change, keeping spectators on the edges of their seats. Eventually it was Hoj-Jensen who took the honours with Brien second, Muller third and Jones fourth.
At the start of race five the sun had reappeared and all seemed relatively quiet with the wind back down into the upper teens. Sadly it wasn't long before the next squall line went through and at the weather mark there was a major incident caused when a port tacker misjudged its approach and put a number of boats about causing both protests and some damage.
Amongst those caught up in the incident was Simon Brien who was approaching on the starboard layline but was forced to crash tack setting of a domino effect. Despite Simon's best efforts contact couldn't be avoided and they ended up limping home with a broken forestay as a host of protest flags were being broken out. Down the first run there was plenty of rocking and rolling and the first of several boats dropped out through gear failure. On the second lap there was some temporary respite as the sun came out between the lines of black cloud but as the boats rounded the final leeward mark the weather deteriorated rapidly. The wind increased massively in a matter of moments and suddenly it was as much about survival as racing.
Race four in the series got underway in a relatively pleasant 16-18 knots from 320 degrees, but as the first of a series of squalls came through the breeze regularly piped up to over 20 knots giving the crews some very hard sailing, particularly on the down wind legs when the awkward seas were ready and waiting to catch out the unwary. From the off it was a four way battle between Denmark's Poul-Richard Hoj-Jensen in Danish Blue, Germany's Thomas Muller sailing Sinewave, Ireland's Simon Brien aboard Kin and Len Jones in Rumours. Throughout the race they were jostling for position and with every tack and gybe the situation seemed to change, keeping spectators on the edges of their seats. Eventually it was Hoj-Jensen who took the honours with Brien second, Muller third and Jones fourth.
At the start of race five the sun had reappeared and all seemed relatively quiet with the wind back down into the upper teens. Sadly it wasn't long before the next squall line went through and at the weather mark there was a major incident caused when a port tacker misjudged its approach and put a number of boats about causing both protests and some damage.
Amongst those caught up in the incident was Simon Brien who was approaching on the starboard layline but was forced to crash tack setting of a domino effect. Despite Simon's best efforts contact couldn't be avoided and they ended up limping home with a broken forestay as a host of protest flags were being broken out. Down the first run there was plenty of rocking and rolling and the first of several boats dropped out through gear failure. On the second lap there was some temporary respite as the sun came out between the lines of black cloud but as the boats rounded the final leeward mark the weather deteriorated rapidly. The wind increased massively in a matter of moments and suddenly it was as much about survival as racing.
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