On the third morning of Dragon Gold Cup the wind conditions looked less than ideal and all the sailors were prepared to wait.

While waiting for the race to begin, it is good to sit down and pass the time chatting to competitors. Andreas Johanson from FIN 92 tells that he’s been sailing for 32 years, with dragons about 20 years.

“These days I sail mainly in different competitions, during my freetime I don’t really even sail all that much. The competitions take up so much time that it’s nice to save some time for other things as well”, Johanson explains.

The Gold Cup has been going well for Johanson and the rest of the crew (Ii-min Tcheng and Niko Ruokosuo). Currently they are number 10 in the overall competition. Johanson is also happy with the how the Gold Cup has been organized.

“Everything has been going smoothly and the facilities are good. Yesterday we had good wind although the forecasts didn’t look too promising. Let’s see how it plays out today, if we can do the race at all. But this is the name of the game with sailing, you can’t force the wind”, Johanson concludes.

Around twelve o’clock all the dragons left the dock and headed towards the track. However, the waiting game continued out on the sea – for hours. It was only around four that race was able to begin. Patience was definitely needed!

After a long day out on the say the sailors finally returned the marina. This time the table was set in Blue Peter restaurant with an all time Finnish favourite dish: sausage hash, also known as pyttipannu. Thank you Blue Peter!

The third days winners were (TUR 1212) Andy Beadsworth, Ali Tezdiker and Simon Fry. Congratulations to the winners! After the third day the over all leaders are (NED 412) Pieter Heerema, Lars Hendriksen and George Leonchuk. Let’s see how the competition develops!

The third day of Dragon Gold Cup was sponsored by Harken. Over its almost 51 year history, Harken’s main focus has always been to design and produce high-load, rope handling equipment for sailboats. Harken blocks, winches, travelers, and furling systems dominate events like the America’s Cup, Volvo Ocean Race, and the Olympics. The daily prizes were provided by Harken, Taiga Chocolate and Nokian Panimo. The prizes included a Harken block award, sunglasses, Taiga Chocolate product package and a bucket full of Nokian Panimo beer. After all, we Finns do love our buckets (and beer). Thanks to all the sponsors!

If you want to see more pictures of Dragon Gold Cup 2018, head towards Sailpix.fi.