The Dragon Gold Cup 2025 in Douarnenez goes down in the history of German kite sport. Dirk Pramann, Commodore of the German Dragon Fleet, secured overall victory with his team on the "Ingrid". With Michael Koch as tactician and Kilian Weise at the helm, Pramann sailed an impressively consistent series and won by eleven points ahead of the Australian Peter Gilmour on "Yred", sailing under the Japanese flag. Third place went to the Briton Grant Gordon with "Louise Racing". The Dragon Gold Cup, which was once the world championship for three-man keelboats, has been held since 1937. Since 1965, there has also been a world championship in accordance with World Sailing regulations. However, the Gold Cup has lost none of its lustre, on the contrary. Because it is sailed according to special rules: All races count, there are no scratch results and the races take place over long courses with crossings of around 1.5 nautical miles.
Challenging conditions off the coast of Brittany
The regatta week was characterised by the foothills of Hurricane Erin, which caused changeable conditions. The spectrum ranged from calm to gusts of 25 knots and high Atlantic swell. Two races were sailed on the second day, for which the crews had to leave the harbour at 8am. It remained unclear until Thursday evening whether the regatta would have to be cancelled prematurely due to strong winds. On Friday, two races were sailed after all, which the German team completed with top placings. The series of results for Pramann and his crew speaks for itself: 2, 4, 11, 2, 3, 4 - only one slip-up, otherwise consistently at the front.
"What a week! When you look at the field here and the names on the trophy, it's pretty incredible to put our name on that list. We stayed consistent, we communicated well on board, we had incredible speed and very good starts," said Pramann after the final race. With his victory, the German sailor joins an exclusive tradition. From a German perspective, names such as Herbert Döhler (1938), Theodor Thomsen (1953, 1955), Achim Ulrich, Alo Schaefer, Klaus Oldendorff, Harm Müller-Spreer, Vincent Hoesch, Markus Wieser, Michael Müller and Stephan Link have already won the Gold Cup before him.
German double success
The triumph of the German dragon sailors was crowned by another success: the Corinthian Trophy for the best amateur crew also went to Germany. Philip Dohse came out on top with his team Nicolas Dohse, Volker Kramer and Marc Hess on "Puck". This meant that both of the event's main trophies went to Germany.
A total of 17 German helmsmen were at the start - 15 under the German flag, plus Hannes Holländer (Netherlands, "Flin") and Michael Zankel (Portugal, "Easy"). Jan Woortman sailed to a strong seventh place on his "Sapphire IV". With Magdalena Gründt ("Lilibeth", 34th place) and Christiane Bruhns ("Liv", 51st place), two women also steered their teams through the difficult conditions. Well-known names such as Stephan Link ("Desert Holly", 46th place) and Thomas Müller ("Sinewave", 57th place) were also among the 75 participating boats from 18 nations.
