XVII Prince Henry – The Navigator Trophy
5th Series of the Cascais Dragon Winter Series 2009/2010
Another successful regatta organized by the Clube Naval de Cascais with the support of the Estoril Tourism was held this weekend in Cascais with the presence of 17 dragons of 5 different countries. Notwithstanding a storm on Saturday conditions allowed the race committee to complete 7 of the scheduled 8 races. Competitor’s enjoyed temperatures around 18º C, average winds from 8 to 20 knots with some gusts about 25 knots on Sunday and some big waves over the weekend, presenting different Cascais wind and sea conditions everyday.
On Thursday, with winds from southwest of 18 to 20 knots the dragons started this event with 2 hard races. On the first race Mikhail Muratov on Murka 8 was the winner, showing the rest of the fleet that he was in Cascais in a good form and ready to race to win in any conditions. Henrique Anjos, taking advantage of the local knowledge of the big waves was second and Jen Christensen was third.
On the second race, Christmas from Pedro Mendes Leal took the lead right from the first windward mark and led the race until the end, followed by Mikhail Muratov and Henrique Anjos on Catarina III. At the end of the first day, Murka 8 was leading and Catarina III was second, anticipating a strong competition with these two boats until the end of the event.
Friday’s conditions changed dramatically and the winds dropped to an average 8 knots, from
Thursday’s 20’s, but from the same direction and similar swell. The race committee decided to hold three races instead of the two scheduled, anticipating the bad weather conditions foreseen for Saturday. Patrick de Barros followed by Henrique Anjos and Mikhail Muratov won the first race of the day. Miguel Magalhães won the second race of the day, Henrique was second and Mikhail forth. The last race of the day was won by Francisco Lacerda, with Henrique Anjos in second and Jens Christensen in third. The overall leader after the first 5 races disputed was Henrique Anjos followed Mikhail Muratov by just 2 points and by Jens Christensen in third 7 points behind Henrique.
The worst forecasted wind conditions came true on Saturday morning. Winds of 40 to 45 knots and waves reaching 7 meters high did not allow competitors to go on the water to race, but instead sailors enjoyed with a truly Portuguese “Feijoada à transmontana” for lunch served in the Club house. During lunch, Petticrows and Vicente Pinheiro Petticrows agent for Portugal, raffled a Hoi Jensen genoa won by Francisco Lacerda.
Some nice and challenging Cascais winds and waves showed up again on Sunday morning. Average winds of 18 knots allowed the race committee to run another two competitive races, which were to decide the winner of the event. Patrick de Barros took the won first race and Mikhail Muratov was second leaving Henrique Anjos in fifth, which put these two boats separated by just one point for the last race of the event. Waves had gotten stronger and the wind had increased to an average 22 knots, when the race committee started the last race of the event. With two boats over the line at the start, Henrique and Mikhail were on the right hand side of the course when the wind shifted to the left putting the two boats at the back of the fleet at the first mark. José Matoso led the final race all the way to the finish and Jens Christensen was second grabbing the second place of the overall standings and forcing Mikhail Muratov to drop to the third place overall with Henrique Anjos securing the victory of the 2010 edition of the Prince Henry The Navigator Trophy.
Check the Results
