Tied for the lead

Thomas Muller and Lars Hendriksen fight it out after day two of the Aberdeen Dragon European Championship in Cowes

The second day of racing at the Aberdeen Dragon European Championship in Cowes brought near perfect conditions as the 42 teams from 11 nations enjoyed two more spectacular races. The competition is incredibly close and this is reflected in the fact that Germany's Thomas Muller and Denmark's Lars Hendriksen are currently tied for the lead on 16 points. Third and fourth place are also extremely close with Frank Berg of Denmark on 25 points and Maksim Semerkanov of Russia on 26 points, while Bo Selko, also of Denmark is fifth on 32 points. Just to keep the excitement levels up Georgy Shayduko of Russia, Louis Urvois of France and Portugals's Antonio Correia have a three way tie on 38 points for sixth. With four more races scheduled between now and the close of the regatta on Friday there's everything to play for.

This morning race two of the series got underway in 5-6 knots from 150° on a course paralleling the Lee on Solent shore. Unsurprisingly the majority headed left for the beach in search of the wind bend and at the weather mark it was Denmark's Bo Selko, helming for Peter Johansen, who led the fleet from fellow Dane Peter Warrer. Ireland's Simon Brien was third very closely followed by Germany's Jakob Bergbauer, Russia's Maksim Semerkanov, Denmark's Valdemar Bandolowski and in seventh Thomas Muller of Germany. The remainder of the top ten was filled by Russian teams with Sergey Maslov in eight, Alexander Ezhkov ninth and Georgy Shaydukov, helming for Artem Kuznetsov, in tenth.

Selko had clearly decided his name was on this race and defended his lead magnificently to the finish. Behind him Warrer initially looked good for second place but Brien got through him on the second beat and from there he slid backward to finish 16th. Having sailed himself into second Brien was not letting go so the battle was now for third place with Semerkanov, Bergbauer, Bandolowski, Muller and Ezhkov giving it all they'd got with every tack and gybe as the wind slowly increased. Eventually it was Semerkanov who took third from Ezhkov with Muller fifth. Russia's Oleg Khopersky sailed a very nice final lap to move from tenth to sixth with Denmark's Lars Hendriksen, helming for Edward Sawyer, seventh, Bandolowski eighth, Bergbauer ninth and Poul-Richard Hoj-Jensen tenth.

By the start of race three the sea breeze had filled in and the wind was up to 14-16 knots. Despite having wind and tide against them the fleet was over eager at the first attempt and PRO John Grandy called them back to try again. They got away on the second try and the combination of blue skies, good wind and a relatively flat Solent made for perfect racing and the fleet certainly gave it's gripped audience value for money as these beautiful classic yachts crossed tacks time and again. At the first weather mark Denmark's Frank Berg showed the fleet a clean pair of heels with Ireland's Neil Hegarty in second. Selko slotted into third with Hendriksen, in fourth. Bandolowski rounded sixth in a gaggle of boats that included Sweden's Tom Lofstedt, Louis Urvois from France, Warrer, local girl Gavia Wilkinson-Cox and Portugal's Antonio Correia.

As Berg consolidated his lead Henriksen pulled up into second and the two of them settled in for the remainder of the race. Behind them the pack remained tight right up until the line where Selko took third from Bandolowski with Hegarty fifth and Correia sixth. Hoj-Jensen sailed a cunning final lap to move up into seventh while Semerkanov kept hold of eighth just ahead of Lofstedt. The battle for tenth place was a hum-dinger between Muller and Wilkinson-Cox made all the more tense by the fact that Wilkinson-Cox is sailing Muller's old boat which she purchased from him earlier in the year. Initially it looked as if Muller had made a mistake in letting the boat go but eventually he managed to slip past on the final beat to take tenth with Wilkinson-Cox 11th.

For Wilkinson-Cox, a Dragon crew of many years standing who only turned to helming a couple of season ago, today was a highpoint in her sailing career. "I'm thrilled to be the top British boat in this afternoon's race and as Captain of the Cowes Dragon Fleet I'm also thrilled to have such a high level event sailed in the Solent." said Gavia after sailing.

Although our attention is naturally focused on the regatta leaders there are some interesting stories further down the fleet as well. Each day Dubarry of Ireland present the Dubarry Team of the Day Award which yesterday went to Robert Alpe and his crew Bob McCluskey and John Mellows. Robert and Bob have come all the way from Australia to compete with local boy John in this regatta and the Dubarry Award recognised them as the furthest travelled team. At the daily prize giving last night Robert and his crew were given a very warm reception by the assembled Dragon crews who particularly appreciated their enormous effort in representing Australia at the Aberdeen Dragon European Championship.

There is one race schedule for tomorrow with a planned start time of 1100.

Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat	R1	R2	R3	Tot
1	GER996	Sinewave	1	5	10	16
2	DEN138	Clairvoyant	7	7	2	16
3	DEN66	My Way	13	11	1	25
4	RUS-77	Diamond	15	3	8	26
5	DEN372	BB King	28	1	3	32
6	RUS44	Red October	2	13	23	38
6	FRA300	Ar Youleg	6	19	13	38
7	POR-48	El Gringo	12	20	6	38
9	RUS-1	Godfather	11	6	22	39
10	GBR705	Danish Blue	25	10	7	42
11	RUS2	Alisa	4	4	38	46
12	IRL193	Kin	21	2	25	48
13	GBR702	Rascal Rat	3	29	18	50
14	GER951	Saphir	10	9	31	50
15	DEN380	Lil	14	16	20	50
16	IRL176	Phantom	29	17	5	51
17	GBR 682	Ecstatic	8	12	33	53
18	RUS34	Russo Orient Express	18	18	17	53
19	DEN368	Flawless	42	8	4	54
20	GBR653	Njord	5	28	21	54
21	GBR708	Rumours	22	21	15	58
22	GBR709	Kuling	9	39	14	62
23	RUS25	Versiya 3.0	23	24	16	63
24	GBR684	Hand of Fortune	17	35	12	64
25	SWE 336	Pilen	24	33	9	66
26	GBR669	Supremacy	16	27	27	70
27	GBR716	Jerboa	30	31	11	72
28	RUS3	Bars	27	15	37	79
29	GBR710 / GBR679	Avalanche	19	32	29	80
30	GBR688	Quicksilver III	33	23	24	80
31	MON-001	Munegu	38	14	30	82
32	GBR610 / 788	Rackham	20	30	32	82
33	GBR693	Virago	35	26	26	87
34	GBR656 / GBR648	Apalala	26	22	40	88
35	UKR777	Transbunker	36	37	19	92
36	GBR 700	Princess Jalina	32	25	35	92
37	GBR660	Aimee	31	38	28	97
38	FIN63	Nenya	37	36	34	107
39	GBR706	Chips	40	34	36	110
40	GBR681 / GBR690	Stampede	34	41	39	114
41	GBR593	Flamboyant	39	40	42	121

More photos on the following pages...