Dragon Slayers

How long have you been involved with the International Dragon?

My first year in the Dragon was in 2004 and the 75th Anniversary Regatta in St Tropez was the first real event that I did. So it’s been a good while.

How did you first get involved in the class?

I sailed the Soling three-man keelboat in the Olympics [1996 in Savannah, 2000 in Sydney] and then I got quite into the Etchells Class – another three-man boat. So the Dragon appealed to me because it was a similar concept to those classes. I got asked to help someone race their Dragon and so I started learning about the boat – and I have been learning ever since.

The Dragon Class is 96-years-old this year and still going strong. What do you think is the appeal of the class?

The Dragon Class benefits massively from the fact that a lot of past Olympians, world champions, and America’s Cup sailors have been attracted to the class. I am not entirely sure why that is, but I think Poul Richard Høj Jensen had a lot to do with it. He got involved with Petticrows after the Dragon got dropped from the Olympics, and he did a good job of developing the class and getting a new crowd of people involved.