Smith has Dragon Gold Cup in sights
In theory at least, Smith’s performance this week — apart from one slip on Monday — has been consistent enough to deliver the result .
The former round the world race skipper placed second yesterday in breezy conditions off the Old Head of Kinsale but that was more than enough to overtake the previous overnight leaders, Dmitry Samokhin with Andrey Kirilyuk and Aleksey Bushuev from Russia, when the St Petersbrug crew had their worstresult of the series, finishing 20th.
None of the pre-event favourites have escaped a poor result but Smith, with his crew Tim Tavinor and Joost Houweling, has been the most consistent.
Yesterday saw previous overall leader Tommy Mueller of Germany, with Vincent Hoesch and Michael Lipp, hold third overall after a 16th place finish yesterday followed the previous day’s 27th.
Even class master Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen from Denmark, with Theis Palm and Andrew Norden, slipped further down the leaderboard to 10th as he finished in 13th place yesterday, following 17th and 27th-place finishes previously.
Although Irish boats had been to the fore in the earlier part of the regatta, today’s final will be the remaining chance to regain a top 10 result in the 60-boat fleet from 16 nations.
Andrew Craig from the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, with Brian Mathew and Mark Pettitt, won yesterday’s race and moved up to 11th overall to become top Irish boat.
Kinsale Yacht Club Commodore Cameron Good, with Simon Furney and Henry Kingston, is once again top Corinthian boat in 14th overall after Graham Bailey from Britain was unable to maintain his earlier form when he secured two consecutive race wins.
He scored a 47th yesterday after it emerged that the tactical key to the day was taking the right-hand side of the course closer to the land, out of the bigger waves and the worst of the tide effects.
Bailey, like many others, opted to go left and paid the price.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
