Bluebottle Dragon 192 Wins The Edinburgh Cup
Published 10:34am on 24 Aug 2026
RYYC Julia Bailey (Nee Richardson) and the crew of the magnificent Dragon 192 Bluebottle have won the prestigious Edinburgh Cup in the Solent. Bluebottle was a wedding gift from the Island Sailing Club to the Queen and Prince Phillip and spent a season at the RYYC. Read skipper Graham Bailey fascinating report on going into the last day and securing victory with a race to spare!
With the prospect of two more races to be held in a light Northerly, the Edinburgh Cup was still wide open. GB usually sleeps well enough but he was awake from 04:30 wondering how on earth we were going to pull this off but on the way to the start, we saw the wind moving through 40 degrees randomly across The Solent - that was the answer, we had to somehow dial into the shift patterns. We checked in at the Committee Vessel as usual and wished them luck - we would all need it.
We have confidence in our light air settings. Will and GB sailed shoeless to keep the weight down and we endeavoured to treat the race just as any other but there was quite a lot at stake, leading the event in the most iconic Dragon against an international fleet of 50 in front of a home crowd. A race of potential historical significance. Best not think about it.
Not at all obvious where to start but the right side would give the greatest chance to get in phase early on as mentioned in yesterday's analysis so we lined up 20% from the starboard end in loose proximity with our nearest rivals. Reasonable launch and immediately into a high mode to secure our lane with Beadsworth just to weather. Boats above him tacked opening a clear lane which he took. Jan Secher had been 5 lengths to our left but had not made a great start and had tacked onto port to pass astern of the boats between us. We tacked under his bow so now we had Beadsworth below and Secher above us. Christoph Toepfer was to the right of Beadsworth and we were well placed against them all so we simply sailed at our optimum trim and angles and waited. Beadsworth was first to feel the next shift to the right which he took - we tacked below his bow and sailed optimum again. Secher tacked also but had fallen back. We inched forward on Andy and it took several minutes but we eventually got him and he tacked away.
Secher had really been punished and was out of the fight so now we had Beadsworth and Toepfer heading right, with us heading left. Critical moment. Standard texts would require us to tack and follow them toward the shore awaiting our next encounter but we have sailed this course area many times before and whilst the right can look attractive, even brilliant at times, it is prone to collapse. We backed ourselves and carried on to the left. Could have gone wrong but it didn't and we were able to pick our way up the middle left. There were a couple of escapees from the right who came in ahead of us but Andy and Christoph had been seduced into the trap.
Third round the top with our competition in the rear view mirror but not a moment to relax. Martin Bryne led from Dave Tabb who each gybed when we gybed. Beadsworth was in the teens and pushed the right side of the run whilst Toepfer pushed left. We had been 70 metres ahead but a large gust propelled Christoph and others toward us at double speed. Will is brilliant in these situations as he studies the wind patterns to position us in max pressure and in clear lanes. The gusts were incredibly localised but with a bit of manoeuvring and some world class trimming by Killian, we broke clear through a gap between the leaders and then managed to lead the bunch into the bottom right gate with Stavros next.
From here it was relatively straightforward as the fleet followed us. Stavros was well placed against the bunch and we worked together to extend on the pack. The course was shortened and we took the winner's gun at the top mark. Stav next then Dave Tabb. Christoph was in a very close finish with Swiss 335 helmed by Christiana Hugelmann battling for fifth place. It was confirmed that Christiana beat him so Christoph now had to count a 6. Another point in our favour.
As the measurer boarded to undertake his usual compliance checks we borrowed his pen and the calculations began. We were clear leader after 6 races discarding our 11th but there was one more race to go which we could discard if we elected not to start so would our 11th be good enough? Julia worked out that no matter who won the final race, we could not be beaten but asked the boys to check her maths. Killian is a wizard at mathematics normally but his brain had fried, as had GB's. We sailed over to the Committee Boat who congratulated us. We had thankfully done enough to win with a race to spare.
Felt weird sailing home alone whilst the fleet carried on and after we moored up and hoisted Bluebottle's burgee and white ensign, Will decided there was some additional entertainment to be had by telling Neil we had been disqualified. By the time J and I walked up the path to the RYS, Neil was looking a little crest-fallen and Will had his thumbs up behind his back. GB was incapable of carrying on the joke " you haven't been listening to his nonsense have you Neil?" He then realised and began plotting his revenge. These two never stop teasing each other.
Franck joined us following a radio interview and we all tried to absorb what had just happened. Quite emotional actually.
Gala dinner, cups, prizes, speeches, opera singers, smiling faces everywhere and much hugging and hand shaking between friends and competitors from several nations who all celebrated this magnificent event.
Bluebottle was the absolute star of the show. She has finished second in the Edinburgh Cup twice, in the 1950s and scored third in 1960 but now, some 66 years later she has finally won the Duke's own trophy and this has happened on Admiral Rankin's watch. We shall remember this day forever.
GB
Y&Y - good report with more photos https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/299093/International-Dragon-Edinburgh-Cup-overall
IDA - mostly correct https://internationaldragonsailing.net/graham-bailey-wins-2026-edinburgh-cup-and-uk-dragon-grand-prix-with-a-race-to-spare/
Photos courtesy of Geoff Dixon who kindly provided high resolution shots if anyone needs
Bottom of first run. About to gybe just ahead of Stavros https://dixong1.smugmug.com/Events/Sailing-Events/International-Dragons-Edinburgh/i-LgsFTVS/A
Round right hand gate in leadhttps://dixong1.smugmug.com/Events/Sailing-Events/International-Dragons-Edinburgh/i-wXJ9tTc/A
Accelerating - powerful rig. Note top leech tell tale on mainsail streaming nicelyhttps://dixong1.smugmug.com/Events/Sailing-Events/International-Dragons-Edinburgh/i-m9GJFvP/A
Final beat - low drag. Genoa flow matching mainsail https://dixong1.smugmug.com/Events/Sailing-Events/International-Dragons-Edinburgh/i-JrkSdGK/A
Dittohttps://dixong1.smugmug.com/Events/Sailing-Events/International-Dragons-Edinburgh/i-xdNmKbL/A
Bluebottle can sense the finish linehttps://dixong1.smugmug.com/Events/Sailing-Events/International-Dragons-Edinburgh/i-tvbsTXg/A
Last updated 10:36am on 24 August 2026
