A top 10 finish in the final race was enough for Denmark's PoulRickard Hoj-Jensen on Dublin Bay yesterday as the Double Olympic gold medallist claimed his fourth Dragon Gold cup title at the Royal Irish Yacht Club.
In a series hampered by fickle winds an Ulster crew provided an Irish highlight when they came within 1.5 points of breaking the stranglehold of professional Continental sailors.
Yesterday's final race of the series should have been the finest moment of Simon Brien's Dragon career when he held a narrow lead at the first leeward mark. Instead, Brien, of Royal North of Ireland YC, together with his brother Mark and Dave Gomes, were robbed of their winning margin by a localised header (wind-shift) that the eventual race winner Fred Imhoff of Holland by-passed completely by going to the left gatemark on his way to second overall, in an event that he too has won three times.
Amazingly third overall was taken by the Dane Borge Borressen competing in his 50th Gold cup at the age of 82.
The oscillating breeze also relegated the Royal St George's China Blue where, again at the leeward mark, John Ross-Murphy, Aiden Tarbert and Bill Nolan, who were slotted nicely behind the Ulstermen as they rounded up for the second beat, suffered a worst fate and were pushed back to 10th place, just for taking a prospective tack towards stronger wind.
The blame, in part, for the problems at the leeward mark was a combination of light winds and some of the strongest tides of the year, which ran in a direction from Dalkey island to the Bailey lighthouse. Ross Murphy's short tack for more pressure proved the most expensive of the series knocking the Dun Laoghaire crew back to 12th overall and out of the top 10 by just three points.
The fact the series was cut short by one race may have contributed to the fact that no Republic of Ireland entries made the top 10. Robin Hennessy, Des Cummins and Philip Watson were the closest at 11th overall but it will be small consolation to them to finish as top Republic of Ireland boat when at the halfway stage of the competition an overall win was still a possibility for the crew.
