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15 August 2005, 04:36 pm

Third Time Lucky For African Queen

Grand Hôtel Dragon Gold Cup 2005

Sandhamn, Sweden

Jörgen SCHÖNHERR and his Danish team on African Queen scored their third successive Dragon Gold Cup with victory in Sandhamn, Sweden adding to the wins they secured in Falmouth, Great Britain last year and in the Netherlands in 2003.

For SCHÖNHERR and co it is the perfect preparations for the Worlds due to start in Germany this week.

SCHÖNHERR came 13th in the last race after sailing in a risk free manner. In second place overall HRH Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark on Nanoq rounded off an excellent Championship by finishing with a bullet.

'He's been sailing very well,' said SCHÖNHERR. 'Especially considering that he hasn't sailed very much this season.'

Nanoq took the start and held the lead through the whole race, finished one a half minutes before MY-WAY, who became the best classic Dragon in eleventh place overall.

Prince Frederik and his crew, Theis PALM and Kasper HARSBERG, knew they had to keep at least six places between themselves and German boat Roberto, to take second overall.

'We got free wind, tacked on every shift on the first beat and had some luck,' said Prince Frederik. 'We are very pleased as this is the best I've done in the Dragon class.'

Lumme became best Swedish boat with a eleventh place in the final race and ninth overall. Helmsman Olle Jo JOHANSSON and crew Patrik and Staffan SALÉN were satisfied with the results.

'We had high ambitions and were aware of the competition, to be among the top ten is an achievement.,' commented JOHANSSON. 'We are sailing with the elite in a class where the level is increasing every year.''We heard a rumour that Germany's Tommy MUELLER kept trying for 17 years before he won the Gold Cup. We still have time!'

Final Results - Top Ten

Pos	Nation	Boat Name	Helm/Crew/Crew	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Points
1	DEN	African Queen	Schönherr/Kaempe/Waldersdorph	0	11.7	5.7	10	19	20	66.4
2	DEN	Nanoq	HRH Frederik/Palm/Harsberg	22	25	3	19	14	0	83
3	GER	Roberto	Ocker/Grosser/Davies	15	26	20	0	10	13	84
4	DEN	Marion	Jensen/Tredberg/Lindeman	19	0	19	22	15	35	110
5	RUS	Godfather	Khopersky/Shternberg/Chugonov	16	20	49	5.7	11.7	10	112.4
6	DEN	Flawless	Bandolowski/Hvalso/Hey	5.7	10	0	47	38	23	123.7
7	GER	Spass	Lätzsch/Droege/Meyer	27	38	18	31	3	11.7	128.7
8	DEN	BB King	Hendriksen/Johansen/Schmidt	14	5.7	29	16	50	15	129.7
9	SWE	Lumme	Johansson/Salén/Salén	8	21	34	20	45	17	145
10	GER	Pinta	Illbruck/Pickel/Borkowski	48	42	26	26	0	8	150