Tricky Invitation tests Dragons
By Morgan Vaudrey, 18 January 2003

The Hellenic Cup, also known as the International Dragon World Championship, got off to a shaky start today.

Despite the weather in Hobart being near perfect, with clear skies and warm temperatures, the Dragons racing on the Derwent had challenging conditions for the Invitation Race.

The wind played the greatest role in the tricky conditions. With the wind ranging anywhere from twenty-five knots to nothing, and shifting dramatically throughout the race, a difficult start line was just the beginning of today’s problems.

A massive wind shift five minutes before the start, which then swung back again just before the start, meant that boats could not lay the start line on starboard.

The shifty conditions continued throughout the race to such an extent that some boats eventually crossed the finish line hard on the wind, while other boats crossed under spinnaker.

Ireland’s Chimaera (Andrew Craig, Claus Hoj Jensen and Graham Elmes) controlled today’s conditions to cross the line first. They were followed by Ian Macdiarmid’s Imagination (NSW), crewed by John Wilson and David Baines in second place and Tasmania’s Karabos VIII (Nick Rogers, Leigh Behrens and Peter Lilley) in third.

Many of the local dragons chose to sit the Invitation race out today, instead preparing (or is that REpairing?) their boats and themselves for when the Hellenic Cup starts in earnest tomorrow.