By mid April sailors from Great Britain are in the second largest fleet (after Russia, of course) already entered for the upcoming European Championship. This is not surprising at all, as the sailing traditions in the United Kingdom are very strong and widely known. Nevertheless, it is now the right moment to introduce the British riders who will arrive in St. Petersburg.
One of the favorites of the Gazprom Dragon European Championship 2016 will be GBR 801 – Lawrie Smith. Former World Champion (Melbourne, 2011) and a current Gold Cup holder. Plus, Lawrie has won the Olympic Bronze Medal in 1992 in the Soling class. His crew includes Tim Tavinor (the owner of Petticrows Ltd in UK) and Joost Houweling – a top sailor from the Nwtherlands.
Klaus Diederichs (GBR 758) is also a former World Champion (2013, Weymouth) and is bringing an extremely strong team to St.Petersburg with Karol Jablonski and Jamie Lea.
Ivan Bradbury (GBR 375) has won Regates Royales in Cannes Cannes and is extremely fast in certain conditions with his old-school 1959 Pedersen and Thuesen boat (Wooden Dragon). He is coming to St.Petersburg with the talented tactician from Denmark Lars Hendriksen.
Two other British sailors – Mike Hayles (GBR 764) and Ron James (GBR 633) – have attended many regattas around Europe. They have retired from work to spend most of their time racing Dragons. Both of them will be coming to St. Petersburg to sail with their wives.
With 3 months to go the entry list shows 35 entries from 13 countries.
