2010 REVIEW 2011 PREVIEW - International Dragon Association

10 knots and persistent light rain. The committee boat end wasfavoured leading to heavy congestion, some boats escaped andtacked off right but it was middle and left which paid, with a bigprocession coming into the mark on port led by Jacob Wallenbergof Sweden, Frank Berg and Joergen Schoenherr. At the first gate itwas Schoenherr from Müller and Wallenberg, but up the next beatit was Müller who hit the gas, got into first place and stayed thereuntil the finish. Berg was second and Wallenberg third.During all these races 30 all-amateur crews were also racing forthe new Corinthian Trophy presented by the late David Atkinson aprevious Commodore of the Royal Brighton Yacht Club and initiallythe Chairman of the Organising Committee. A number of the Corinthianboats had been sailing consistently near the front of thefleet, among them William Packer, Nick Rogers, Frank Berg and DirkDavid. Going into the final race Frank Berg was leading Corinthianas well as posing a big threat to the overall leaders. For many crewsit was ‘all to play for’ on the final day, especially with the prospect ofthe discard coming into play.Saturday dawned sunny and clear and the boats lined up forthe final start in 6-8 knots on a Black Flag. Many were surprised notto see Markus Wieser “all over Lawrie Smith like a rash” as by stoppingSmith from having a good start, Wieser could have guaran-to finish in sixth or higher, asWieser got swallowed up in thishighly competitive fleet, andthat was never going to be easy.With the pin end boats easilyable to cross the fleet MikhailMauratov lead Frank Bergaround the top mark, closelyfollowed by Nick Rogers. Smithrounded just inside the top tenso the experienced British teamknew exactly what they had todo, PASS THREE MORE BOATS!It took every ounce of helmingtechnique; crewing skillsand sail trimming for Smithto slowly climb up to seventhplace on the final run. But withthe race leaders all having theirown private battles which includedsome heavy “cover tacks”,Smith and crew had to braveTavinor and Ossie Stewart.In the Corinthian competitionFrank Berg, Søren Holmand Saren Kaestel’s final racewin confirmed their Corinthianvictory from David Dirk withWillie Packer third.It was a tense week for competitorsand Race Officers alike,the weather threw a lot at both,but in the end a series with adrop was achieved, the winnerswere very happy with theirTrophies, the sun was shiningand the Melbourne hospitalityreached its peak at the PresentationDinner.Congratulations to the winners,the runners up, the RoyalBrighton Yacht Club and theirarmy of volunteers for runninga great World Championship.teed victory. But such was the respect that the German sailor hasfor his British counterpart that the predicted engagement neveremerged. “He never came at us” Smith was later heard to say, sothe start got away fairly with the two boats quite close togethertowards the pin end.For the first time there seemed to be a strong current whichassisted the leeward boats and a massive separation started totake affect as the fleet got up to speed in the light wind. Boats thatstarted right could see that by holding onto their first starboardtack, they were making a considerable gain over the rest of thefleet. In fact it was the boats that started just below Smith and Wieserthat were doing the best and so Smith was able to pull out anadvantage over Wieser who was slightly to windward.This was the first part of the winning strategy, now Smith hadthe bad air caused by such anticsand pray they could holdonto their essential position asthe finish line beckoned. Oncrossing the finish line with alast ditch roll tack the Britishtrio took sixth place by a whiskerwhich put them on 30pts,equal with Wieser who crossedthe line in 25th place. On countback,because Smith had wona race and Wieser had not, theWorld Championship Title wentto Lawrie Smith crewed by TimResults - 2011 WorldChampionship1 GBR751 – Alfie – 30 ptsLawrie SmithTimothy TavinorOssie Stewart2 UKR7– Bunker Queen – 30 ptsMarkus WieserSergey PugachevMatti Paschen3 DEN266 – My-Way – 39ptsFrank BergSøren HolmSaren Kastel4 UKR9 – Bunker Prince – 44ptsYevgen BraslavezSergey TimokhovEvegeniy Kuschienko5 UKR8 – Bunker Boys – 48ptsLars HendriksenGoergiy LeonchukKushchiyenko YevgenCorinthian WinnerDEN266 – My-Way – 39ptsFrank BergSøren HolmSaren KastelPage 11