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Displaying items by tag: Gunboat

On a day that proved exciting for all, Timbalero III was flying on the downwind leg of the course at the Voiles de Saint Barths regatta on the east side of the island when the bright orange, futuristic foiling cat tripped up and capsized.

"It was such a silly mistake," said Peter Johnstone, Gunboat's founder and G4 crew member. "A gust hit us and for some reason we didn't dump the mainsheet and she just carried on heeling."

More on this capsize here by Matthew Sheahan in Yachting World

Published in News Update

Like any good sailing match race, the second class to depart in the Transatlantic Race 2011 today was a duel of two radicals – this time between a 66ft carbon cat, and a 289ft 3 masted mega yacht. Today size didn't matter and the nimble cat, the Gunboat 66 Phaedo, quickly shot away leaving the Perini Navi, Maltese Falcon, flapping in her tracks.

Published in Racing

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.