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Displaying items by tag: Jon Mackey

#Canoeing: Jon Mackey is to head up high performance at Canoeing Ireland. Mackey, who works as training and development officer at Canoeing Ireland, is national coach for Kickboxing Ireland. In this role he guided the Ireland team to fourth place on the medals table at the junior World Championships in Jesolo in Italy in September. He is also studying for a Masters in coaching science in sport at UCD.  

 Mackey said he was looking forward to his new role and that Irish canoeing had some of its best results on the international stage this year. “We have a team with huge potential and I look forward to working along side them as we endeavour to make our mark on the European, world and Olympic stage.”

 Paddy Boyd, the outgoing ceo of Canoeing Ireland, said the appointment addressed a need. “There is undoubted paddling talent in Ireland, borne out by recent results. It is incumbent on Canoeing Ireland to provide the support for our ambitious young athletes.”

Published in Canoeing

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.