WIESER And HENDRIKSEN Battle
The first race, sailed in a light east breeze and with an overcast sky was won by Danish boat Eva, owned by Lars HENDRIKSEN, winner of the 1999 Gold Cup followed closely by the winner of the Princess Sofia Trophy - Mapfre in the Dragon class, Ukrainian boat Bunker Queen, with German sailor Markus WIESER at the helm.
The two boats were quite superior to the other rivals from the start. WIESER was the first to round the windward mark but in the downwind, with shortened course, he was overtaken by HENDRIKSEN, who did not lose the leadership of the race.
Bunker Queen finished close to the first classified; a few metres after, French boat Eclipse with Jean Claude DANET at the helm crossed the line but was frustrated after his excellent performance due to an OCS.
The Race Committee decided to sail a second race at 15:00 hours, with stable 50º wind around 12 knots. The improvement of the weather - it had stopped raining and the sky began to clear slowly - guaranteed, in principle, the best race sailed up to that moment in the Transbunker Dragon Gold Cup. And so it was. The wind did not drop and blew with more equanimity than in the previous two races.
A general recall proved the fleet's anxiety to start in good positions. With two races sailed, the leading places were being already decided and there was a lot of tension.
Spectacular Start
All the Transbunker Gold Cup starting lines are 1 mile long forcing the Race Committee start vessel to be in the middle and the line boats at each side of the imaginary line. The spectacular joint start of 89 Dragons is one of the main attractions of this traditional regatta with the rules forcing the fleet to start the first beat to windward together.
The second race of the day and third of the championship was the fastest and most interesting one and confirmed German sailor MULLER as the great favourite to win the Transbunker Dragon Gold Cup 2007, organized by Real Club Náutico de Palma. His boat, Sinewave, won the third race and most important, none of his potential rivals for the victory was among the top places.
MULLER was followed by S/N, owned by Igor MATVIYENKO (UKR) and Russian boat Versia 3, with Alexey KRYLOV at the helm. These are two Dragons that had been in second term up to now. Danish boat Eva and Bunker Queen, the stars of the previous race, finished 27 and 18, respectively.
The provisional overall standings are comfortably led by Sinewave, with 14 points, followed by Eva, with 41, and Bunker Queen, also with 41.
The Spanish boats did not have a good day. Puñalada Trapera, owned by Simon KEYZER, is 56th, far away from the leading places. HRH Prince Henrik of Denmark's White Lady is 47th after suffering a small collision with another boat hitting the aft of his boat. Both boats continued sailing without major problems.
The fourth race of the Transbunker Dragon Gold Cup will be held on Wednesday.
