Don’t forget that we’ve now switched over to our new embedded blog on the IDA website so to read our reports from this weekend’s Irish National Championship in Cultra you need to switch over to the new location. Click Here to follow us.
Update Your Subscription
July 21, 2010If you subscribed to this original edition of the IDA Blog you should receive an automated e-mail from our system shortly asking you to validate your new subscription to the new version of the IDA blog which is now embedded within www.intdragon.org. Should your subscription renewal reminder not arrive by e-mail automatically please go to http://www.intdragon.org/idablog/ and manually renew your subscription using the link at the top right of the page. Apologies for any inconvenience this transfer may cause but we hope you will find our new embedded blog much easier to use. Thanks. Fi
Irish Dragon Nationals – Follow Us This Weekend
July 21, 2010I’m off on my holidays again this weekend and this time I’m going to Cultra on Belfast Loch to watch the Irish Dragon Nationals. Racing actually gets underway tomorrow, Thurs 22 July, and we’ll do our best to bring you a remote update after sailing tomorrow, but we’ll be blogging in ernest from Friday morning (my plane lands at Belfast City Airport at 09.55 and I hope to be on the RIB by 10.30!) some keep an eye on us from Friday morning and we’ll update you with all the latest results, photos, videos, interviews and of course gossip.
The official event web site is at www.rniyc.org and results and more info will be available there.
Switch Over To Our New Blog Home For Edinburgh Cup Coverage
June 28, 2010The IDA Blog has a new home within the IDA website so to follow our future postings please switch over to our new Blog Site. Coverage from the final day of the UK South Coast Championship and the Edinburgh Cup, which runs from Wednesday until Saturday, kicks off tomorrow.
Erste Private Banking Dragon European Championship – By Popular Demand
June 13, 2010We’ve been asked to repost the video of our illustrious IDA Chairman Rob Campbell and Secretary David Dale leading the choir on the Bakery Party in Balaton. While we were posting we thought you might also like to see our European Champion Markus Weiser Hungarian folk dancing!
Erste Private Banking Dragon European Championship – Day 4 & 5 Photos
June 11, 2010There are now some lovely official photos from day 4 and 5 on the Event Website (scroll down to find them as the days are not posted in order).
Erste Private Banking Dragon European Championship – Final Press Release
June 11, 2010Here is the official final press release
Balatonkenese, June 11, 2010 – The German Markus Wieser defended his European Champion title after he finished fourth in the last, seventh race of the Erste Private Banking Dragon European Championship in Balatonkenese. The Russian Dmitry Berezkin won the race under ideal condition with a breeze of 10-12 knots. Lars Hendriksen finished as second and Markus Wieser as third.
Full Results and individual race mark roundings.
Erste Private Banking Dragon European Championship – Prize Giving A Fitting Finale
June 11, 2010Firstly apologies for not being able to update the blog earlier today. Sadly various airline delays and heavy Friday night traffic meant my run up to Budapest took a lot longer than anticipated so I’m afraid we are light on interviews tonight.
As I am sure you will already have seen from the Official Website our 2010 European Champions are Markus Weiser, Sergey Pugachev and Matti Paschen sailing Bunker Queen for the Ukraine.
I got back just in time for the prize giving gala dinner and what an evening it has been. Vilmos Naray of the Hungarian Dragon Fleet and the Organising Committee opened proceedings by inviting the jury members, the organising team and the principle race officer to the stage. PRO Gert Schmidleitner then invited the individual race committee members to the stage and the assembled Dragon sailors thanked them with a huge round of applause. There were also special thanks for title sponsor Erste Private Banking and for the many supporting sponsors who made the event possible.
Following a delicious dinner served with a selection of excellent Hungarian wines and background music provided by Hungarian gypsy musicians the formal prize giving got underway. A representative of each boat was called to the stage to collect a set of commemorative calendars produced from images taken during the Hungarian Championship and the Erste Private Banking Dragon European Championship.
All the competitors received rousing applause as they came to the stage, but without doubt the most enthusiastic and heartfelt recognition went to Great Britain’s Jenny Green whose determination to overcome an increasing physical handicap caused by motor neurone disease has been an inspiration to everyone at the event. Despite now being reliant on a wheelchair Jenny is still actively helming her Dragon with husband Malcom and crew Andrew Davies and she put in a sterling performance this week. As she wheeled herself to the stage the entire room leapt to its feet to give her a standing ovation.
With the initial presentations over the ceremony moved onto the main prizes. Finally it was down to the top three and the representative of Erste Private Banking was called to the stage to make the presentations to third placed Anatoly Loginov, sailing RUS27, Annapurna, crewed by Andrey Kirilyuk and Alexander Shalagin; second placed Dimitry Berezkin sailing RUS90, Zenith, crewed by Anatoly Kudristkiy and Aleskey Bushuev; and our 2010 European Champions Markus Weiser, Sergey Pugachev and Matti Paschen sailing UKR7 Bunker Queen.
In his speech a clearly delighted Markus thanked his owner Sergey Pugachev and crew Matti and acknowledged the outstanding quality of the competition. He was fulsome in his praise of Balaton as a venue commenting that, despite the difficult start with two windless days, ultimately it had proved to be one of the best championship he’d ever done. He also acknowledged the emergency of Eastern European countries within the Dragon Class with the Russian and Ukraine teams dominating this regatta and the development of the Hungarian fleet. He also praised the increasing number of female helms now competing on an equal footing with the men – Olga White finished seventh and Gavia Wilkinson-Cox ninth in this championship.
With the formalities over the very attractive lady representative of Marinepool insisted that Markus and his crew join her in some traditional Hungarian folk dancing – much to the delight of the assembled throng. The general advice from the audience seems to be to stick to sailing!
The sailors are now winding down and exchanging stories at the bar.
Spotted On The Dock In Balaton – George Andreadis
June 11, 2010Whilst walking the docks this morning we spotted the very famous face of ISAF Vice President George Andreadis taking a good look at the Dragons and chatting with some of the sailors. The extremely unofficial word on the dock is that he may soon be joining the Dragon fleet and a very welcome addition he would be. George Andreadis’s contribution to sailing administration is second to none, he joined the IYRU Keelboat Committee in 1972 and remains heavily involved in the work of ISAF and many other sailing administrative bodies to this day. He is also an outstanding sailor having represented Greece at the 1968 Olympics in the Flying Dutchman and the 1976 Olympics in the Soling. He is an eight time European Champion in the International Lightning Class and has won the Half Ton Cup twice, the Corel 45 World Championship twice, the One Ton Cup and the IMS600 World Championship, plus national and international regattas too many to mention.
The Dragon Class is already home to a host of Olympians and World Champions so we very much hope that the rumours are true and that we will soon be adding George Andreadis and his Atalanti crew to the list.
Erste Private Banking Dragon European Championship – Final Day And They’re Off
June 11, 2010The start of the final race is scheduled for 11.00am and right now it looks as if they should be running on time. The boats are just making their final preparations to leave the dock and the race committee is already out on the water.
I’d just like to take the opportunity to say thanks to the IDA for allowing me to run this unofficial holiday blog while I’ve been here on Lake Balaton. It’s been great fun watching the event unfold and as always the racing has been spectacular and the company entertaining.
Sadly I can’t be out on the water today, but I’ll be back online again later this afternoon to bring you final news and some interviews after the last race. In the meantime keep checking with the Official Event Website where results will be posted as soon as they are available.
Look – waves on the beach and the little tree is actually bending in the wind – and it’s only 10am!
