Only one race on day three of the 2026 Edinburgh Cup and UK Dragon Grand Prix off Cowes, but what a race it was, with gusts of up to 30 knots, torrential rain squalls and nasty short seas.
For some it was a case of survival, while others revelled in the lively conditions.
At the first mark, Richard Leask in GBR731, who had gone hard left on the beat, led the fleet around, with Jan Eckert’s SUI355 second, Andy Beadsworth in TUR12 third, Laura Schewe’s GER1238 fourth and Christoph Toepfer’s GER11 fifth.
Beadsworth did everything he could to get through, but Eckert took the lead and gradually stretched away to win by an impressive margin, with Beadsworth second, Toepfer third, Martin Payne in GBR818 was fourth and Schewe fifth.
Overnight leaders Graham Bailey and the Bluebottle GBR192 team finished in 11th place, but with the discard now in play they retain their lead, reduced to a five-point delta over second-placed Jan Secher’s Miss Behaviour SWE800 on 20 points. Beadsworth has moved up from fifth to third on 21 points, with Toepfer fourth on 22 pts.
The leading four, all still with single figure score lines, will face a final day showdown Friday when the forecast is for lighter winds and the race committee aims to run two final races.
2026 Edinburgh Cup & UK Dragon Grand Prix (49 entries)
Overall Top six after five races
1st GBR192 Bluebottle – Graham Bailey – 6, 2, 1, 6, (11) = 15 pts
2nd SWE800 Miss Behaviour – Jan Secher – (15),3, 8, 2, 7 = 20 pts
3rd TUR12 Provezza Dragon – Andy Beadsworth – (13), 8, 5, 1, 2 = 21 pts
4th GER11 Aurora – Christoph Toepfer – 3, (22), 9, 7, 3 = 22 pts
5th POR49 Jupiter – Andrew Lawson – 9, (11), 2, 10, 6 = 27 pts
6th SUI355 – Gingko Racing – Jan Eckett – (20) 9, 15, 4, 1 – 29 pts
Corinthian Top Five after five races
1st IRL161 Sir Ossis Of The River – Denis Bergin – 19, (26), 10, 5, 13 = 47 pts
2nd BEL79 Corso – Dries Van den Abbeele – 8, (24), 7, 24, 14 = 53 pts
3rd IRL201 Jaguar Sailing Team – Martin Byrne – (25), 6, 22, 14, 22 = 64 pts
4th GBR753 Fit Chick – Chris Grosscurth/Jono Brown – (28), 14, 14, 21, 16 = 65 pts
5th GER1151 Lilibeth – Magdalena Gründt – 26, (34), 3, 17, 26 = 72 pts