#dragon – The Irish Dragon class are kicking off the new season with a new Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Sunday Olympic Racing schedule.
There are eight (8) DBSC Sunday Olympic racing events planned over the course of the season, with a focus on May and June.
The Dragon East Coast championships are being held in the RIYC 7-9 June, Nationals in the RUYC 8-11 August, the South Coasts in Glandore 31 Aug - 1 September, and the season's finale, the Jack Craig Memorial in Lough Derg 18-20 October.
Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.
Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.
More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.
Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.
So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.
The Dragon was designed by Johan Anker in 1929 as an entry for a competition run by the Royal Yacht Club of Gothenburg, to find a small keel-boat that could be used for simple weekend cruising among the islands and fjords of the Scandinavian seaboard. The original design had two berths and was ideally suited for cruising in his home waters of Norway. The boat quickly attracted owners and within ten years it had spread all over Europe.
The Dragon's long keel and elegant metre-boat lines remain unchanged, but today Dragons are constructed using the latest technology to make the boat durable and easy to maintain. GRP is the most popular material, but both new and old wooden boats regularly win major competitions while looking as beautiful as any craft afloat. Exotic materials are banned throughout the boat, and strict rules are applied to all areas of construction to avoid sacrificing value for a fractional increase in speed.
The key to the Dragon's enduring appeal lies in the careful development of its rig. Its well-balanced sail plan makes boat handling easy for lightweights, while a controlled process of development has produced one of the most flexible and controllable rigs of any racing boat.
Sept 6th – 13th - 80th Dragon Gold Cup, Kinsale YC
Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
