Dear Mike,
2007 has really flown past in the workshop. Usually over
the summer months things quieten off with most sailors
competing at regattas. This summer, however we have been
busy building the new Antiguan Dragon fleet. I am pleased to
say we are now finishing the final boats ready for shipment
in early October. Having a new fleet in Antigua will create
lots of great opportunities for Dragon sailor; I am sure
Poul will fill you in on these in his next newsletter.
On a number of occasions we have been requested by sailors
to "raise the floor" in their new boats; for shorter sailors
it can be quite a stretch to hop up onto deck of a Dragon.
In the past, we have done this by making special raisers to
fit inside our existing cockpit. In response to the
requests, we will now be offering a "high floor" as a new
boat option. Work is underway on a new internal mould which
will mean we can make Dragons with a floor raised by 6cm
throughout the length of the cockpit and under the cuddy.
By creating the new floor moulding we will not only
improve the comfort for some sailors, but by sealing some of
the under floor compartments we will increase the overall
buoyancy, particularly in the aft section of the boat. The
raised floor below the cuddy will mean that we can run the
control ropes beneath the floor, leaving a large clean area
for storage of sails and bags; it will also be easier for
the crew to move about under the cuddy without getting
tangled up. For taller sailors our standard floor layout
will still be available.
The high floor is one of the things we have implemented
to improve safety as this is always of paramount importance,
other steps we have made is to fit a higher capacity
electric pump as standard, have a robust one-way valve in
the forward bulkhead and create a solid spinnaker chute.
These steps all reduce the amount of water on board at any
time.
In strong winds early in the season we had several incidents
of genoa cleats failing; we set about trying to find out the
reason why. We concluded that crews were not pulling the
sheets straight between the centre of the jaws of the cleat,
but pulling from one side, causing excessive strain to be
put on one jaw of the cleat. Our new custom fairlead was
designed which can be retro fitted onto the genoa cleats.
This ensures that even the mightiest of crews can not
explode their genoa cleats.
Graham and Julia Bailey decided their new "Aimee" should be
a Petticrow with a difference. Both Graham and Julia are
small and often find it difficult to reach the class crew
weight limit. An option available to them is to sail with an
extra crew member. In the standard Petticrow Dragon it can
be a bit of a squeeze fitting an extra body into the
cockpit. By removing the traveller beam the useable cockpit
area is greatly increased. We redesigned the systems and
fitted a "Barney post" arrangement on "Aimee". Their 10 year
old Nephew, Joe enjoyed being their 4th crew member at
Cowes. The new design was a great success and will be an
available option for new boats.
It has been a great season so far, I am now particularly
looking forward to the regatta in Uruguay; a great
opportunity for the Dragon class to spread its wings, and a
chance for some winter sunshine. My personal congratulations
go to Tommy Mueller, Vincie and Max for their victory in the
Dragon Worlds.
See you on the pontoon
Tim Tavinor
Petticrows
Phone: +44 1621 782115 Fax: +44 1621 785389
