The dragons have rediscovered the Bay of Lübeck as an outstanding sailing area. After hosting the German Championship at Travemünde Week last year, the class formerly known as the premier class is now returning with the second act in its Grand Prix circuit, bringing international sailing greats to the regatta week. Entries and information can be found at manage2sail.com.
The Dragon has a glittering history. Designed in Norway in 1929 by the “King of Lines”, Johan Anker, as an inexpensive standardised keelboat, it quickly became a popular cruising boat in Scandinavia, Germany and England due to its good sailing characteristics and high seaworthiness. However, regatta sailors also adapted it to their needs, and so the Dragon became an Olympic class boat in 1948 – and remained so until the 1972 Olympic sailing competitions off Kiel.
The European royal houses discovered the class for themselves. Constantine II, the later and last king of Greece, even became Olympic champion in Rome in 1960. Juan Carlos of Spain sailed off Kiel at the 1972 Olympic Games. And the newly crowned King of Denmark, Frederik X, was also a passionate kite sailor during his time as heir to the throne. There was also a close connection between Queen Silvia of Sweden and the Dragon class for many years. She took part in many Grand Prix races to promote her charitable Childhood Foundation.
Splendid class with a grand appearance at the Travemünde Week
The dragons have rediscovered the Bay of Lübeck as an outstanding sailing area. After hosting the German Championship at Travemünde Week last year, the class formerly known as the premier class is now returning with the second act in its Grand Prix circuit, bringing international sailing personalities to the regatta week. Entries and information can be found at manage2sail.com.
The Dragon has a glittering history. Designed in Norway in 1929 by the “King of Lines”, Johan Anker, as an inexpensive standardised keelboat, it quickly became a popular cruising boat in Scandinavia, Germany and England due to its good sailing characteristics and high seaworthiness. But regatta sailors also adapted it to their needs, and so the Dragon became an Olympic class boat in 1948 – and remained so until the 1972 Olympic sailing competitions off Kiel.
Travemünde was an important part of the regatta calendar for many decades. In 1938, the Gold Cup, the most important regatta in the class, was held in the Bay of Lübeck for the first time. This was followed by five more regattas for the Gold Cup off Travemünde until 1989. After that, however, things went quiet in the relationship between the premier class and Lübeck, the Queen of the Hanseatic League.
Last year, however, the dragons celebrated their Travemünde comeback by organising the German Championship and are now going one better with the Grand Prix. The series, which runs from Italy via Germany to Ireland and returns to Italy for the finale, started in spring on Lake Garda and is coming to Travemünde Week for the second time this year.
Jan Woortman, regatta manager of the Dragons, sees good reasons to come back to Travemünde: “The Bay of Lübeck is a beautiful area and ideally suited for the Dragons – as the former Gold Cup events show. With the Grand Prix, we want to build on old great times.”
The fact that the dragons had to contend with a lot of rain and difficult winds at last year’s German Championship does not deter the class from competing in Travemünde: “We certainly won’t have as much bad luck with the weather as last year,” says Woortmann, adding: “We really enjoyed the atmosphere. We enjoy sailing together with other classes at the same time. We often organise the big events with the dragons away from the high season all to ourselves. The Travemünde Week is different. And what could be better than experiencing the sun and the beach feeling in the Bay of Lübeck in the middle of summer?” The four days of sailing at the start of the Travemünde Week should also attract the young crews of the class. Woortman: “Young people are joining the class. We want to strengthen this momentum and provide charter boats.”
The social evening with the reception on the Passat and the proximity to the European Championships two weeks later in Pärnu/Estonia should also ensure that a large fleet with well-known names comes to Travemünde. After the TW, they can take a relaxed ferry trip to Finland and then on to the Baltic States.
There were 30 crews off Travemünde for last year’s German Championship, and Woortman is now expecting an increase, especially due to the international participants. Evgeny Braslavetz has already registered. The Ukrainian won Olympic gold in the 470 off Atlanta/USA in 1996 and was world champion in this class in 2001. He then found his new sailing home in the Dragon, was twice runner-up (2013 and 2016) in the Dragon Gold Cup and will now be looking to demonstrate his skills off Travemünde.
The list of starters for the Travemünde Week also includes other personalities – such as Peter Gilmour. The Australian is a multi-talent when it comes to regatta sailing, having sailed in all classes from small dinghies to America’s Cupper. He has been world champion in match racing four times. He took part in five America’s Cups, the battle for the world’s most famous sailing trophy – as skipper and coach. In 2007, he scored a major coup when he lifted the Cup as coach of the Swiss team Alinghi.
Gilmour will start in an Australian-Japanese team for the Travemünde Week and will also have to deal with strong female competition. Nicola Friesen from Hamburg won the World Championship silver medal in the historic wooden kites last year, and Tanja Jacobsohn brings special expertise to the table. As a Lübeck native, she not only has outstanding knowledge of the area in the team with her husband Bernhard and Jan Scharffetter, but also showed that she is a world-class helmswoman as world champion in the Olympic 470 class back in 1990. In 2017, she also confirmed her class in the dragon, becoming European champion among the amateurs on Lake Thun in Switzerland.
Captions:
The Dragon class always creates great photo opportunities on the course with the classic lines of boat building. Prominent sailing personalities are expected to attend the Grand Prix during the Travemünde Week.
Photo: segel-bilder.de/Travemünde Week.
