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Very even in the beginning
 The winner Thomas Müller had Mario Wagner and Björn Oesterreich with him onboard. Thomas comes from Hamburg but both of the crewmen are from Rostock. The trio has sailed together for four years, but each one of them has a long sailing career.
-I have sailed dragon since 1982 and I am a proof to the new comers in this class that you can win if you keep on trying long enough!
The winning boat sailed a very even series in the first four races, placing 5, 2, 2 and 3. The fifth race had to be abandoned due to too light winds, and in the sixth race their position was not better than 36. But all this was sufficient, and they took the first place with 63,7 points before Fred Imhoff from the Netherlands with 67 points and Fredrik Markelin from Finland with 82,7 points.
Became complicated
-The last race of today ended up becoming a very complicated race as the wind altered 180 degrees. We would have prefered to sail the last race under normal circumstances, but we managed to survive and despite of all this, to win the whole competition, says Thomas Müller, who now won his first Dragon Gold Cup.
-This is the best we have done sofar. We have encountered the best dragon sailors of the world, so we can feel us really satisfied.
Has enjoyed the stay at the islands
The winning crew have enjoyed their stay at the Åland Islands.
-Can one have it better than this? Wonderful weather and a very peacefull and beautiful island and nice people. We have truly enjoyed our stay over here.
This year’s Gold Cup winner would also like to thank Henrik Dahlman, the local dragon sailor, who has helped the competitors in many different ways; he has towed them to and from the competing area and he has also helped them getting the boats to and from water. Mr. Dahlman usually places pretty high on the scores, but this time he reached a 28th place.
-Maybe he could not concentrate enough! He helped us others too much, says Thomas Müller.
When to moon rised and the darkness fell over the museum ship Pommern, it was time for the participants to say goodbye to each other and the Åland Islands. The PBS Navision Dragon Gold Cup 2002 is over.
PBS Navision Dragon Gold Cup 2002
Pleased organizers:
According to the plans
 Four races were sailed in good conditions, one race was abandoned and one had to be shortened due to light and treacherous winds. But over all an event that succeeded according to the plans.
- We have only heard praise from the participants, says Håkan Lindberg, Chairman of the Organizing Committee.
The weather during the PBS Navision Dragon Gold Cup 2002 was incredibly stable with sunshine, warmth and light winds. The first four races were sailed according to the plans, but the fifth had to be abandoned due to extremely light winds. The last race was accomplished despite wind veers that caused windward sailing on a downwind leg.
- Due to the shifting winds we decided to finish the race earlier and made the course for last race shorter than normal, says Sten Hansen, Principal Race Officer.
Protests
The decision to shorten the course caused a protest from one of the participants- a protest that was rejected by the Jury.
- Otherwise everything has worked well during the competition and we have received only a few protests. Actually the members of the international jury have been complaining over too little to do, says Sten Hansen.
 The biggest change after the last race was Michael Schattan’ s drop from the third to the seventh place, since the German and his crew only reached 38:th place in the last race.
Experienced
The Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Mr Håkan Lindberg, says that the Åland Island Yacht Club is experienced when it comes to arranging big events and competitions. Additionally the club has a lot of competent officials that want to help with the arrangements.
- The participants have been satisfied and they have praised us. The wind conditions were out of our reach, but we did our best when we wished for harder winds.
Satisfied sponsor
Mr Joakim Jansson, Managing Director at the IT-company PBS, is also very satisfied.
- The exposure has exceeded our expectations. As the title sponsor our brand has been exposed in different media in many countries, he says.
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Henrik Lundberg
Commodore of the Åland
Island Yacht Club |
Håkan Lindberg
Chairman of the executive board | |
Maps
After 20 years as a dragon sailor, he took it all and won the Gold Cup!
