2010 REVIEW 2011 PREVIEW - International Dragon Association

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NationalReports[ijklmnoGreeceThe Hellenic Dragon Class Associationhas made good progressover the last four years. It nowcounts ten Dragons and may beanother two will join the Classbefore the end of this year.The Class requested fromthe Ministry of Culture of Greecea part of the Athens 2004 sailingpremises and a positive finaldecision is now pending. If so,the Class will create in Athensa Permanent Winter DragonCenter where the Dragon ownerswill receive privileged pricesto move the boats by ferry toGreece, will not pay any duesthroughout the year, while themain activities will be betweenOctober to April, and will haveall other facilities (storage, parkingetc) for free. At the sameplace the Yacht Club of Greecewill offer high-class hub andrecreational services.With the cooperation ofDragon champions a permanentline of seminars will bescheduled and three majorraces in the winter will takeplace, so that the athletes combinetraining, racing and a goodtime with relaxing and culturalevents at no cost. The athletesand their friends will only covertheir traveling and hotel accommodationexpenses, for whichthe NDA has already obtained a50% discount for the other NDAmembers.The full program and presentationwill be projectedsoon and will really favour theDragon owners greatly.IrelandThe Irish Dragon Fleet was activeat home as always this seasonwith Championships in Dublin,Belfast, Kinsale and Lough Derg.In 2010 we had only two Dragonsrepresenting the Irish fleetat the international events ona regular basis while a numberof others travelled occasionally.While attendances at Club levelwere weak everyone here wassatisfied with the competitiveaspect of the Championshipevents which were well supported.Special mention must go toOlaf Sorrenson who togetherwith Martin (Stavros) Payne &Shawn Kingston sailing “Christianna”have been diligentlyrepresenting the Irish DragonFleet & Kinsale Yacht Club at theinternational events in Franceand Italy over the last few seasons.They are not just makingup the numbers either, as theyregularly finish on the podiumand occasionally take the oddtitle.Our season opened in Mayat the Royal St George YachtClub in Dun Laoghaire for theEast Coast Championships.The event was mostly sailed invery light conditions on DublinBay but nevertheless the fullcomplement of six races wascompleted. Former NationalChampions Neil Hegarty, PeterBowring & Dave Williams sailing“Phantom” led from start tofinish with a consistent set ofresults in the top three. Howevernotice was served by AndrewCraig, Brian Matthews &Mark Pettit sailing “Chimaera”that they intended to return tothe front of the fleet. An OCS intheir results ensured that theywere to finish second overallthis time, however they lookedto be a very fast team. DefendingEast Coast Champions, MartinByrne, Adam Winkelmann &Ronan Murphy sailing “Jaguar”were slow to start this eventand eventually finished a distantthird overall.The highlight of the seasonwas the return of the Irish Dragonfleet to Belfast Lough forthe first time in over ten years.Royal North of Ireland YachtClub hosted a magnificent IrishNational Championship whichwas sponsored by Belfast HarbourCommissioners. The Irishfleet was supplemented by anumber of visitors from the BritishDragon Association fleets inAbersoch, Aldeburgh and Cowes.Simon Brien and his dedicatedteam of volunteers ensuredthat the fun ashore wasat least as exhausting as theracing afloat. Martin Byrne andhis team in “Jaguar” returnedto winning ways when theyregained the title of NationalGreek Dragon AssociationChampions for the second timewww.hdca.grin three seasons. Martin, whowas joined by Pedro Andrade &Adam Winkelmann, won comfortablywith a consistent set ofPage 34
esults all in the top four includingthree bullits. However theItalyples is planning to organize inJune 2011.competition for second overallwas intense and was not decideduntil the final leg of the finalrace. Don O’Donoghue sailing“Seabird” eventually overtookAndrew Craig in “Chimaera” totake second overall by just onepoint. This left the 2010 EdinburghCup holder, Claus Diederichssailing his beautiful newDragon “Fever” in fourth overall.In September we made ourway to Kinsale Yacht Club forthe South Coast Championships.This was to be our onlywindy event of the season andthe fleet enjoyed spectacularsailing conditions with somedecent waves to challenge us.As expected the local fleet wereenjoying their home waters andit was Kinsale’s Cameron Goodsailing his new Dragon “LittleFella” who made the podium forthe first time this season to finishin third overall. However itwas Andrew Craig in “Chimaera”and Martin Byrne in “Jaguarwho fought a close battle overthe six races at the front of thefleet. Despite winning threeraces “Jaguar” could only finishsecond overall to “Chimaera”.Andrew took the title with asuperb result sheet that read2,2,2,1,1,2.Traditionally the Irish DragonFleet completes their seasonin October with a freshwater regattaat Lough Derg on the RiverShannon in the centre of Irelandwhere we race for the JackCraig Memorial Bell. This was tobe “Jaguar’s” event where Martinwas joined by Paul Maguireand John Simms. They won theevent with four 1sts, a 2nd anda 3rd. Richard Goodbody withRic & Rob Johnson sailing theirnew “Diva” were second overallclosely followed by CameronGood in “Little Fella”.There are a number ofevents that many of us in theIrish Dragon Fleet are particularlylooking forward to. Theseinclude the 2011 and 2012Edinburgh Cups in Abersoch& Belfast Lough together withGold Cup 2012 in Kinsale. FourIrish Dragons travelled justacross the Irish Sea to Abersochin 2010 for the British NorthernChampionships. While wewere anxious to support ourneighbours and their developingfleet in Abersoch, secretlysome of us would own up tochecking out the racing watersthere in anticipation of a returnvisit for Edinburgh Cup 2011.After the success of our NationalChampionships in BelfastLough, Royal North of IrelandYacht Club was quick to retainthe sponsorship from BelfastHarbour Commissioners to securethe Edinburgh Cup 2012.In addition 2012 sees the GoldCup return to our shores, thistime to Kinsale, where the organisingteam are already hardat work preparing to welcomethe International Dragons witha traditional Irish welcome. So,all in all, it was a good 2010 seasonwith much to look forwardto in our Dragons in 2011 and2012.Irish Dragon Associationwww.dragonclass.ieNew Dragon owners havejoined the growing DragonItalian fleet. Their motivation ismultifaceted. Firstly Dragons regattasare part of an extremelyinteresting circuit. Some bigboat owners see in the Dragona way to keep up their desireto race at the highest levelof competitiveness, often inrather crowded races, but witha smaller crew and lower expenses.Second, the class, bothnationally and internationallyis buoyant and extremely wellmanaged. Last but not least thesensuous lines of the Dragon,the gleaming of her paint or ofher cabin’s varnished mahogany,all combined with the stateof-theart rig and deck layout,seem to increasingly appeal toboat lovers. Big boat ownershad a chance to test a Dragonin Sanremo waters during thepast IRC/ORC winter championship,an initiative that has bornefruits.A Dragon flotilla is takingshape in Viareggio, a sea sidecity half way between Pisato the south and Genoa tothe north, famous for its boatyards and sand beaches. ClassicDragons are coming backto Naples some fifty years afterthe XVII Olympic Games whenPrince Constantine of Greecewon the gold medal and ItalianNino Cosentino at the helm ofhis Dragon Venilia had to settlefor the bronze medal. This far,eleven classic Dragons are keptin sailing conditions or had amajor refit. Among them a Borresen,a Pedersen and Thuesen,and a 1936 Johansson. It is expectedthat classic Dragons willrace in an event that the RoyalYacht Club “Canottieri” of Na-This past year has seen thestrengthening of the alreadystrong cooperation existingbetween Cannes Dragon Internationaland the Italian DragonAssociation. Two Italian eventshave been included in thewinter series organized by theCannes Dragon Internationalcalled “L’hiver des Dragons”,the Dragons’ Winter. This lastOctober, the Alassio DragonWeek opened successfully theseries that will end in Sanremowith the Italian Championshipin March 2011. A rich series ofseven events in seven months.Alassio and the Circolo Nauticoal Mare proved their mettlewith steady breezes, a goodracing area, a perfect race organizationand social events thatwere even more pleasurable forthe discovery of local gastronomy.Fifteen boats representingsix nations were in the water infront of Alassio - a very promisingbeginning.Sanremo has seen an everincreasing success as a growingnumber of North Europeansparticipated in the event lastMarch with a total of 57 boatsracing in strong and sustainedwinds. Sanremo and the organizerYacht Club Sanremo-Compagnia della Vela, provedonce again to be the main centrefor Dragon activities in Italy.Portofino was host to the AlbertiDragon Cup, a prestigioustrophy presented by the AlbertiPage 35
Page 1: DragonOne Design Racing2010REVIEW20
Page 4: Index3 Chairman’s letter5 Current
Page 7 and 8: Anatoly Loginov, Andrey Kirlyukand
Page 9 and 10: all the other participants hadwhere
Page 11 and 12: 10 knots and persistent light rain.
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Page 15 and 16: PROUDLY PRESENTSDragonEuropean Cham
Page 17 and 18: www.dmk-muc.deBe at the top …inst
Page 19 and 20: as well as some others from the Sta
Page 21: 2011 European Championshipin Bolten
Page 29 and 30: each Dragon country per year shall
Page 31 and 32: 4 New Identity must meet thefollowi
Page 33: spite their knowledge of thecurrent
Page 37 and 38: Norwayahead and this way we mightev
Page 39 and 40: United KingdomThe optimism in last
Page 41 and 42: Regattas RL_F M Date_Start Date_End
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2010 REVIEW 2011 PREVIEW - International Dragon Association

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