Dragon European Grand Prix Circuit 2021 Review and 2022 Preview

Dragon European Grand Prix Circuit Review 2021 / Preview 2022

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the French and Portuguese legs of the 2021 Dragon European Grand Prix Circuit, which had been due to take place in the spring, but fortunately restrictions had lifted sufficiently to allow the second half of the series and the Grand

Finals to take place.

What the circuit might have lacked in quantity of events was more than made up for by the quality of those events that were able to take place and of the sailors competing.

Danish Grand Prix

The series eventually got underway in Dragør, Denmark where 27 teams completed six races in some challengingly windy conditions from 27 July to 1 August. The racing was exceptionally close with four different winners over the six races, including two race wins by the Corinthian team of Stig Lassen, Soren Hvalso and Carsten Hey. Anatoly Loginov and Andy Beadsworth won a race each, but it was Dmitry Samokin, crewed by Andrey Kirilyuk and Kasper Harsberg, who won the first and last races of the regatta to claim ultimate victory by a narrow margin. Andy Beadsworth, Simon Fry and Arda Baykal took second overall with Anatoly Loginov, Vadimm Statsenko, Alexander Shalagin and Mik Jensen third. Italian Grand Prix

The fourth Grand Prix and the Finals both took place in San Remo. The Italian Grand Prix saw a real mix of conditions with both big breeze and tricky light airs, but Race Officer Nino Shmueli and his team nonetheless succeeded in running six excellent races. Andy Beadsworth, sailing with Arday Baykal and guest crew Pedro Andrade, put in an outstanding performance to win the regatta with confidence. In second place was Dmitry Samokhin with Anatoly Loginov third. In the Corinthian division Karl GustafLohr and Martin Pälsson were vying for the victor’s laurels with Karl just pipping Martin to the post.

Grand Prix Series Overall Standings

In the overall Grand Prix Series standings Andy Beadsworth and the Provezza Team claimed the Standfast Trophy for the overall top performance in the series. In the Corinthian Division Martin Pälsson, Peter Lidh, Gustav Gärdebäck and Thomas Wallenfeldt just beat Karl Gustaf-Lohr to the overall series victory.

European Grand Prix Grand Final

With the regatta series completed the top 20 teams went forward into the Grand Final knockout regatta. In the quarter final five boats were eliminated leaving 15 to race in the semi-final. Britain’s Klaus Diederichs won the semi-final from Nicola Friesen and Wolf Waschkuhn. Also making it through into the final winner takes all race off to decide the European Grand Prix Champion and the new holder of the Sami Saloma ‘Flow’ Trophy – a magnificent bronze Dragon sculpture – were Andy Beadsworth, Anatoly Loginov, Pieter Heerema, Martin Pälsson, Yevgen Braslavets, Viktor Fogelson and Wolfgang Bays.

And what a race it proved to be. Martin Pälsson established an early slender lead over Nicola Friesen and Wolf Waschkuhn. These three held their places until the final run when everything kicked off. Pälsson gybed early to keep clear of the chasing pack. Friesen was not so lucky and a strong challenge from Waschkuhn and Andy Beadsworth saw all three boats pushing hard. Meanwhile Pieter Heerema took full advantage of the situation to gybe early and come into the finish on starboard. On the Line Pälsson won in style with Waschkun second and Heerema third, meaning that Martin Pälsson, Peter Lidh, Gustav Gärdebäck and Thomas Wallenfeldt were declared both the overall and the Corinthian 2021 Dragon European Grand Prix Grand Final Champions.

2022

In 2022 the Grand Prix Circuit will once again comprise four regattas as follows:

2-5 March – Monaco Grand Prix 4-7 May – Douarnenez Grand Prix 12-15 October – Port Camargues Grand Prix 15-20 November – Puerto Portals Grand Prix and Finals

Further information about these events can be found at www.internationaldragonsailing.net.