Seabird has the early legs

Racing underway at Dragon Edinburgh Cup (after Royal Navy nuclear sub clears out)

After a day of postponement due to strong winds, the Edinburgh Cup, finally got underway in Plymouth on Thursday. Hosted by the Royal Western Yacht Club and sponsored by Knight Frank, 23 teams from across the UK, Ireland, France and the USA are competing for the title of International Dragon Open British Champion.

Today's racing was initially delayed whilst a Trident nuclear submarine left the harbour and all movements within Plymouth Sound were suspended. Once the submarine was clear racing got underway outside the breakwater in 17-20 knots from the south-south-west and the race committee was able to complete the first two races in the six race series. Although the wind had dropped overnight there was still a considerable sea running making for some interesting and challenging sailing.

Dubliner Don O'Donoghue, sailing Seabird with Brian Matthews and Mark Pettitt, proved to have the luck of the Irish today winning both races to lead the regatta. Equally consistent but not quite able to best the Irish was Louis Urvois of Douarnenez, France, sailing Ar Youleg II with Gwen Chapalain and Eric Droiuglazet, who finished second in both races; and Tim Tavinor, of Burnham on Crouch, helming Biff for Thomas and Nicky Wilton, who took third in both races. Unsurprisingly the leader-board tonight shows O'Donoghue first, Urvois second and Tavinor third.

Speaking after racing Don O'Donoghue commented, "We were waiting out there for a long time while the sub went through, but once we got going there was a lot of breeze and a lot of waves and I like that. We went the right way most of the time and it's easy to sail fast when you're up at the front. It's my first time in Plymouth, but the sailing is quite similar to where I grew up in West Cork. We had a good day, but there's a long way to go and we're expecting Louis Urvois, Tim Tavinor, Rob Campbell, Len Jones and Gavia Wilkinson-Cox to all give us a run for our money."



For International Dragon Class Chairman Rob Campbell from Burnham on Crouch, who won last weekend's South Coast Championship and went into the regatta as a favourite; it was a moderate first day. He opened with a fifth then scored seventh in the second race putting him fifth overall. Despite this he greatly enjoyed his day and was full of praise for PRO Mike Pearson saying, "The courses the race officer set us were superb and we enjoyed great racing today."

Giving Campbell some tough competition was Eric Williams of Cowes who traded places with Campbell scoring seventh in race one and fifth in race two. Both teams now count equal point but overall Williams takes fourth on count back.

Today's races were very close with exceptionally fair beats and plenty of excitement across the course for the watching spectators. In race one the line was port biased and Don O'Donoghue took full advantage, winning the pin and making a great start before tacking onto port and crossing the entire fleet. He then played the middle right of the course to great effect leading round the weather mark comfortably. Meanwhile Louis Urvois took the left hand side of the course, but thanks to the very even conditions rounded second just in front of the pack. Tim Tavinor, who had also gone out to right on the beat, followed Urvois round in third and the podium order was set for the race with the leading three stretching our from that point on. Behind them places were changing regularly as Gavia Wilkinson-Cox, Rob Campbell, Alan Krailing, Eric Williams and Mike Holmes enjoying a great battle for fourth place, ultimately finishing in the above order.

Race two saw fights for places right through the pack. At the start O'Donoghue took the same approach as in race one winning the pin and tacking early to cross the fleet comfortably. Urvois and Tavinor went left, but this time it paid handsomely as they rounded first and second respectively with O'Donoghue in third. Their order held for the first lap but on the second beat O'Donoghue overtook Tavinor and as they set off down the second run he clearly had Urvois in his sights. He spotted his moment at the bottom of the leg and slipped into the lead as the boats approached the gate. Despite a building sea on the final beat O'Donoghue successfully defended to the finish with Urvois crossing the line second and Tavinor third.

Friday's racing is scheduled to start at 11am and, subject to agreement with the Queen's Harbour Master, the race committee hope to keep the fleet inside the breakwater to enjoy flatter conditions. The forecast is for tomorrow is for a south westerly in the high teens to low twenties. The regatta concludes on Saturday with four races still to be sailed. The discard comes into play once five races have been completed.

	Boat	Helm	Race 3	Race 4	Gr Pts
1	SEABIRD	Don O'Donoghue	1	1	2
2	AR YOULEG II	Louis Urvois	2	2	4
3	BIFF	Thomas Wilton	3	3	6
4	ECSTATIC	J E Williams	7	5	12
5	QUICKSILVER III	Rob Campbell	5	7	12
6	BASILISK	Alan Krailing	6	10	16
7	HAND OF FORTUNE	Mike Holmes	8	8	16
8	JERBOA	Gavia Wilkinson-Cox	4	13	17
9	CLAIRVOYANT	Edward Sawyer	11	6	17
10	FEI-LIN'S FLIRTATION	Ron James	15	4	19
11	RUMOURS	Len Jones	10	9	19
12	NORBERT	Chris Brittain	12	12	24
13	DUCRU	Christopher Hunt	13	15	28
14	NEREID	Michael Hayles	18	11	29
15	MAGIC	Jonathan Hughes	9	21	30
16	NJORD	Owen Pay	16	17	33
17	BLUE SKIES	Matthew Ratsey	21	14	35
18	VIRAGO	Timothy Blackwell	17	18	35
19	ALCYONE	Simon Winn	14	22	36
20	SEAFIRE	David Crabb	19	19	38
21	CAVALIER	Tony Singer	24	16	40
22	MOONBEAM	David Jephcott	20	20	40
23	INGE	David Dale	24	24	48

For more information see the event website:
http://www.edinburghcup08.co.uk

More pictures on the following pages...