Please select your home edition
Edition
Leaderboard feb 2025

70th Dragon Edinburgh Cup at Royal Torbay Yacht Club - Overall

by Rupert Holmes 6 Jul 2018 21:06 BST 3-7 July 2018

The first three days of racing produced a tantalisingly close leader board in the 70th edition of this iconic regatta, which forms the Dragon class's open British Championship. With only one point separating the top three boats, there was enormous pressure on the leaders in the final race.

The event, run by the Royal Torbay Yacht Club, saw a wide mix of conditions, including big onshore seas and winds over 20 knots, while other races were sailed in fluky light airs in which the breeze frequently dropped below five knots.

Laurie Smith's Alfie delivered an impressive master class in consistency, counting a second place, three thirds and a fourth, while discarding a fourth. It was the kind of performance that would easily win most regattas. By contrast, Graham and Julia Bailey's Aimee had a wobble on Day 2 that saw them finish 12th in the first race of the day and a sixth they had to count in the second. However, in every other race they dominated the front of the fleet, scoring three wins and a second place.

Aimee and Grant Gordon's Louise Racing went into the final race tied on 10 points, with Smith third overall on 11 points. After one general recall the fleet got away cleanly under a black flag. Aimee's strategy was clear at the outset – they hung back at the committee boat end in a conservative start and tacked immediately to the favoured right-hand side of the course.

The fleet split exactly 50/50 up each side of the first 1.0 mile long beat, until Laurie Smith was one of the earlier boats of the left hand group to tack onto port. However, Gordon held out on the left for longer. For a while it looked as though a growing number of boats in the middle were in better breeze, yet Aimee continued on port tack until 10 lengths off the layline.

How did it feel to be hard out on the right hand side of the fleet on the first beat when the championship was at stake? "We were pretty confident," says Graham Bailey. "There's something going on with the current here – we were taking cross bearings on the fleet and could see quite early on that we were going the right way – we just wound round them all.

"The game plan was to get to the right – we wanted to be the first boat to go right and were prepared to sacrifice the start to achieve that. We had to queue a bit at the committee boat, but that didn't matter as long as we were fast dragging it out to the right. When you see Laurie Smith and Grant Gordon following a different strategy in a fleet like this you have to be brave."

By the first windward mark she had drawn out a commanding lead of more than a minute and a half on Eric Williams' Ecstatic. Andrew Millband's Supremacy was next round, followed by Ron James' Fei-Lin's Flirtation and Peter Cunningham's Power Play in fifth. However, Alfie was buried in 10th place, with Louise Racing a couple of lengths further behind.

On the first run Aimee continued right to the layline before gybing, building her lead on Ecstatic even further at the bottom mark. This pair was not challenged again for the rest of the race. Peter Cunningham's Power Play had another good race, finishing third, while Smith worked his way up to fourth place. Fei-Lin's Flirtation also had a good day, finishing fifth. By contrast, Louise Racing never recovered and finished 12th, a result they discarded.

Aimee took overall victory with 11 points, with Alfie second on 15 points, and Louise Racing third on 16. Aimee also won the Corinthian Division, ahead of Jono Brown's Storm, Simon Barter's Bertie and Mark and Amanda Wade's Avalanche.

Huge thanks go to the Royal Torbay Yacht Club, vice commodore Phil Rumblelow, and race officers Bill Butcher and Gill Smith for organising an excellent series of racing and equally impressive après sailing events.

Overall Results:
If you finished in the top ten at the Dragon nationals then enter your Gear Guide information here

PosSail NoBoat NameHelmCrew1Crew2Crew3R1R2R3R4R5R6Pts
1GBR782AimeeGraham BaileyJulia BaileyWilliam HeritageWiliam Bedford211261111
2GBR815AlfieLawrie SmithJoao Matos RosaGoncalo RibeiroDiogo Pereira32334415
3GBR820Louise RacingGrant GordonRuairidh ScottJames WilliamsonLaura Dillon135161216
4CAY9Power PlayPeter CunninghamPedro Rebelo de AndradeCharles Nankin 710452321
5GBR682EcstaticEric WilliamsRory PatonKatie Cole 1492023230
6GBR819FeverKlaus DiederichsDiego NegriJamie Lea 8511612632
7GBR763BertieSimon BarterDonald WilksJoanna Richardson 5472114838
8GBR761JerboaGavia Wilkinson-CoxMark HartAde Bevan-SmithLauren Fry12824161339
9GBR408JoannaDimitry BondarenkoVadim StatsenkoAlexander Shalougin 61413115742
10JPN50Yevis IIBocci (Atsushi) AoyamaMartin Stavros PayneJunichiro Shiraishi 11296881043
11GBR810BadgerThomas VernonOllie Spensley-CorfieldAdam Bowers 47117152444
12GBR770StormJonathan BrownDavid BrownLynette BrownFrances Wood9.29.28991144.4
13SUI318CK1Wolf WaschkuhnAndy BeadsworthPete Cumming 106291571654
14GBR818HarryMike BuddMark GreavesChris Gowers 1511910132958
15GBR722AvalancheMark WadeAmanda WadeNigel Cole 16121514101767
16GBR633Fei-Lin's FlirtationRon JamesJulia WalshPeter Aitken 2329161817579
17GBR669SuprmacyAndrew MillbandRob GoddardRob Smith 1829102522984
18GBR777FuriousOwen PayDr. Jonathon MortimerTom Hicks 13132312262384
19GBR753Fit ChickSimon RawChris GrosscurthEmma York  25181422241593
20GBR696Good Grief!Patrick LomaxGeorgina DewarSimon Cash 17201919201994
21GBR617FlameAgainDavid HallGeoff ButcherJulie Thomas-Page 19212520112596
22GBR788Quicksilver VIRob CampbellPenny AndersonPaul Fletcher 20192213272296
23GBR806VixenTim SaundersCarole HolmeGeorge Davies 24162117212196
24IRL201JaguarMartin ByrneConor ByrneAdam Winkelmann 9291723192997
25GBR704GanadorMartin MakeyTim WilkesTeresa Wilkes 22171827281498
26RUS2Riassa (809)Michael CopeRob EldridgeSusie Delves LomaxDaniela Urban211526262318103
27GBR644TsunamiColin BreretonChris MillsAndy Wilkins 292924241826121
28FRA341Nanouck IVEric Le BonMuriel Requet-BarvilleAurore Declerck 292929292520132

Corinthian Results:

PosSail NoBoat NameHelmCrew1Crew2Crew3R1R2R3R4R5R6Pts
1GBR782AimeeGraham BaileyJulia BaileyWilliam HeritageWiliam Bedford1131115
2GBR770StormJonathan BrownDavid BrownLynette BrownFrances Wood22222310
3GBR763BertieSimon BarterDonald WilksJoanna Richardson 22195212
4GBR722AvalancheMark WadeAmanda WadeNigel Cole 43553620
5GBR777FuriousOwen PayDr. Jonathon MortimerTom Hicks 34103111131
6GBR696Good Grief!Patrick LomaxGeorgina DewarSimon Cash 510777834
7GBR753Fit ChickSimon RawChris GrosscurthEmma York  11841010537
8GBR806VixenTim SaundersCarole HolmeGeorge Davies 106868937
9GBR704GanadorMartin MakeyTim WilkesTeresa Wilkes 9761313439
10GBR788Quicksilver VIRob CampbellPenny AndersonPaul Fletcher 7994121039
11GBR617FlameAgainDavid HallGeoff ButcherJulie Thomas-Page 61112841241
12RUS2Riassa (809)Michael CopeRob EldridgeSusie Delves LomaxDaniela Urban8513129741
13GBR644TsunamiColin BreretonChris MillsAndy Wilkins 1414111161355

Related Articles

Entries open for Cowes Week
199th edition of the world's biggest annual keelboat regatta Cowes Week Ltd is delighted to announce that entries for the 2025 Regatta are now open. Posted on 17 Jan
Dragon Prince Philip Cup overall
Richard Lynn and his team sailing Gordon win the trophy Richard Lynn and his team sailing Gordon have won the Prince Philip Cup, the Australian Dragon class championship by just one point after a nail biting final day of the series, hosted by Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club and sailed on the Swan River. Posted on 10 Jan
Dragon Prince Philip Cup Day 4
Richard Lynn clings to lead Richard Lynn and his team sailing Gordon are clinging to a one point lead at the end of the penultimate day of the Dragons' Prince Philip Cup, the class's Australian Championships. Posted on 9 Jan
Dragon Prince Philip Cup Day 3
A Classic Beauty Classic good looks, no I'm not talking about Sophia Loren, Brigitte Bardot or Princess Grace, I mean the Dragon class. Posted on 8 Jan
Dragon Prince Philip Cup Day 2
Richard Lynn still leads after boat busting day First and third places on a day of boat busting conditions were enough to keep Richard Lynn and the Gordon crew at the top of the leader board on the second day of the Dragons' Prince Philip Cup, the class's Australian Championships. Posted on 7 Jan
Dragon Prince Philip Cup Day 1
Richard Lynn grabs an early lead Richard Lynn and his crew sailing Gordon have grabbed an early lead at the end of the first day of the Prince Philip Cup, the Dragon Australian Championships, being hosted by the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club on Perth's Swan River. Posted on 6 Jan
Dragon Ted Albert Memorial Trophy overall
Willy Packer's clean sweep Willy Packer sailing Scoundrel made a clean sweep of the Dragon class's Ted Albert Memorial series, winning all three races, but by his own admission there was a bit of luck involved. Posted on 5 Jan
Dragon Ted Albert Memorial Trophy Day 1
Willy Packer leads all the way Willy Packer sailing Scoundrel sailed to a comfortable win in the opening race of the Ted Albert Memorial Series, the warm up regatta for the Dragons' Prince Philip Cup, their national championship. Posted on 4 Jan
Dragon Prince Philip Cup Preview
"It'll be tight," Richard Lynn Richard Lynn believes there are six boats that are capable of winning the Dragons' Prince Philip Cup, "it'll be tight", he commented, adding "we'll scrape in at sixth place on that list". Posted on 3 Jan
Olympic sailing videos part 2
Yachting footage from the 1970s to 1990s Games As 2024 draws to a close, we decided to look back on this Olympic year with a summary of all the oldest Olympic sailing videos we could find, from the analogue era before the year 2000. Here we cover the Seventies through to the Nineties. Posted on 1 Jan