PPC Dragons On Fire
The International Dragon Class held the 2011 Prince Philip Cup followed by the World Championships out of Royal Brighton Yacht Club (RBYC) on Port Philip Bay in Melbourne in January Eight crews from RFBYC made the journey across to the event which attracted 75 entries from 12 countries.
AUS 154 Merrum
AUS 147 Gilt Dragon II
AUS 144 Hotspur
AUS 170 Icefyre
AUS191 Puff
AUS 208 Puff-eu
AUS 210 Linnea
AUS 214 Scoundrel
This was no place for the faint hearted with some of the top skippers in the world with pedigrees listing Olympic Medals, America’s Cups and World Champions liberally sprinkled throughout. The Australian contingent was not without chances including previous World Champion and 10-time Prince Philip Cup winner Nick Rogers from Tasmania, and a host of PPC winners from RFBYC that included multiple winner Richard Lynn, Olympian Willy Packer, and brother Ron from America’s Cup days. The winner would hold the crown of World Champion for the coming two years. The preliminaries for this bi-annual event had been superb, both on and off the water, and included two warm-up regattas at RBYC during 2010.
Notes on 2011 PPC Races
4th of January 2011
Heat 1: 8 – 12 knots direction 195°
The start was abandoned with less than a minute to go after a significant wind shift. After a successful start second time, Annapurna (RUS 27) led at the first mark with Puff, Scoundrel and Puff-eu prominent. Linea was 12th with the rest of the WA boats further back. The top 10 positions remained fluid with Puff getting to the lead for a period.
Final result was 1st RUS 27, 2nd GER 996, 3rd Puff.
Puff-eu 5th, Scoundrel 10th, Linnea 23rd, Merum 40th, Icefyre 46th, Hotspur 48th, Gilt Dragon II 55th.
Heat 2: 10 – 12 knots 185°
Port Phillip Bay started to live up to her reputation developing a big slop which made sailing conditions difficult - the breeze built up to 18 knots with increasing seas. The white caps that studded the waters could not disrupt a clean start from which Puff and Puff-eu were prominent. DEN 401 (African Queen) led at the top mark and was never headed. GER 996 was again second to lead the series after day 1.
Puff 10th, Puff-eu 12th, Scoundrel 25th, Hotspur 30th, Icefyre 42nd, Linnea 43rd, Merum 48th, Gilt Dragon II 53rd.
5th of January 2011
Heat 3: 18 knots 185°
Big waves and studding white caps resulted in a general recall and black flag for the restart – the conditions were ideal for good seamanship. Some great surfing was had downwind. Puff-eu led at every mark and won by 30 seconds with Tommy Muller (GER 996) continuing his consistency with a 3rd. There was a steady trickle of retirements and 5 “man overboards”.
Puff-eu 1st, Puff 9th, Scoundrel 22nd, Icefyre 30th, Hotspur 31st, Linnea 35th, Merum 46th, Gilt Dragon II 48th.
Heat 4: 18 – 25 knots 185°
Forecast was for increasing wind strength and larger seas. DEN 401 (African Queen) cleared out to win by 90 seconds. GER 996 was 3rd again with Puff-eu 4th – the cream is rising. A number of boats retired for varying reasons. Scoundrel had a spinnaker hatch ripped off in a port and starboard incident and had to retire but was awarded redress following the subsequent protest. Linnea was DNS due to concerns with the safety of their 11 year old crew Ethan. Gilt Dragon II was a DNF due to a badly tangled spinnaker incurred during a gybe. The fleet enjoyed some long and thrilling "skates" during the down-wind surfing competitions, dropping adjacent boats by 50 m or more only to have them suddenly reappear alongside again. Adjacent boats would be dropped by 50 m or more only to suddenly reappear alongside … “where did they come from”?
4th Puff-eu, 15th Puff, 19th Scoundrel, 25th Hotspur, 27th Icefyre, 39th Merum. 40 finishers out of 63!
In a colourful scene at the evening's presentations, the sail design team for Puff-eu’s spinnaker were introduced to the audience, and the six young Lynn (Richard) and Olssen (Ian) children were recognised for all to see as the architects of the unusually coloured spinnaker on board - no "blame" here, just budding creativity... It did make the spinnaker easy to spot for the support team!
6th of January 2011
Shifty, light and sloppy conditions.
Heat 5: 8 – 12 knots 200°
Markus Weiser in Bunker Queen led from the second mark followed by Ming (SWE 345) with Bunker Price 3rd.
19th Icefyre, 20th Puff-eu, 36th Puff, 37th Hotspur, 49th Linnea, 51st Merum, 56th Gilt Dragon II.
Heat 6: Back-to-back with Heat 5 with slightly stronger winds but overall similar conditions,185°.
Annapurna (RUS 27) led all the way until the last work when Lars Henrickson in Bunker Boys (UKR 8) got past to win the race. Achilles (GER 1056) was 3rd. Gilt Dragon II went in briefly for repairs but still managed to get back out and finish (did you enjoy the long bike ride to and from the chandlery shop Ian?).
4th Puff-eu, 19th Scoundrel, 25th Linnea, 28th Icefyre, 33rd Puff 47th Gilt Dragon II, 51st Hotspur, 57th Merum.
7th of January
Strong 25 – 30 knot winds saw the AP flag displayed for the first time on-shore with boats held until they were given the go-ahead for a 12.30 pm start at 15 – 18 knots with flat seas at 350°
The right side was favoured along the shore after the first beat. Ray Chatfield and crew Karen Chatfield and Peter Massee on Merrum had to dive back to shore for a quick repair during the race; they sailed most of the first leg without a genoa and still led four boats home at the finish! DEN 401 African Queen led all the way which claimed the PPC for them. 2nd Bunker Queen, UKR 7 3rd Fever GBR 758.
Scoundrel 5th, Puff-eu 6th, Puff 7th, Icefyre 19th, Linnea 30th, Gilt Dragon II 35th, Merum 39th, Hotspur (after massive spinnaker problems) 40th.
PPC overall
1st 26 points |
African Queen DEN 401 |
Joergen Schoenherr |
2nd 28 points |
Sinewave GER 996 |
Thomas Müller |
3rd 30 points |
Annapurna RUS 27 |
Anatoly Loginov |
4th 32 points |
Puff-eu AUS 208 |
Richard Lynn |
11th Puff, 13th Scoundrel, 30th Icefyre, 35th Linnea, 39th Hotspur, 49th Merum, 56th Gilt Dragon II.
So for the first time the PPC title has gone overseas; however, the trophy itself remains secure in Australia at Royal Brighton Yacht Club. It is hard enough to win one PPC but Teis Palm made it two out of two this year after crewing on Puff during Richard Lynn’s exciting win in Perth last year. To date there is nothing to fault with the organisation which has been very good, in particular RBYC staff who have been engaging and most helpful.
The rest day between series was very much welcomed by the all the crews. A good time to visit some of the attractions in the city.