News From Petticrows Spring 2008

It has been a busy winter here at Petticrows developing and producing the new 2008 model Dragon. Our winter schedule is always governed by when Easter falls, so with Easter being early this year we have been busily preparing and servicing boats ready for the spring season regattas.

Our recently issued Petticrows newsletter featured the new 2008 model Dragon undergoing a capsize test to ensure its compliancy with the new 2008 class rules. If you have not seen this it can now be viewed on our website. www.petticrows.com.  If you are not on our circulation list and would like to receive the Petticrows newsletter please let me know and we would be delighted to add you to the list.

Capsize testing Dragons in Burnham Marina in January is a far cry from the fantastic sailing the new Antiguan Dragon fleet have been enjoying over the winter. Carlo Falcone’s 8 boat fleet have now been supplemented by 4 privately owned boats in Antigua. Poul and Sophia have spent some time with the fleet offering their support and advice and helping to organise their first championship, we are delighted that the fleet is going from strength to strength. A number of European sailors have ventured to the Caribbean to make use of the charter fleet which is now available with highly favourable reports.

One interesting, but not class legal feature on the Antiguan fleet boats was a jib as an option on the sail plan. Poul developed this because the general prevailing winds in Antigua are strong; with a variety of crews on board he felt this would allow the fleet to sail together without compromising the safety of the more inexperienced crews. Poul reports that the boats sail beautifully under jib, so it may be something for the IDA to consider in the future.

Since Julia and Graham Bailey’s great 3rd place in the South American Championship sailing in Aimee their new “central console” model Dragon, we are pleased that this configuration it has caught the eye of many sailors as an alternative option to the traveller track boat; we now have a number of central console boats on order. This model offers increased space in the cockpit for ease of movement and is particularly suited to sailing with a 4th crew member.

It is always interesting to do something different: we are currently building a wood decked Dragon for Victor Woolf. Victor had always admired the Dragon’s beautiful lines, but was always nervous of negotiating a lock to access his sailing area under sail alone. He felt it would be useful to have some additional power but did not like the idea of an ugly engine mounting. Victor is both technically minded and innovative, together we are developing a retractable electric motor contained within the aft tank, this can be deployed via a trapdoor in the underside of the hull. Having an engine in a Dragon is not completely new but this neat solution is a first for Petticrows. The boat “Cutting Edge” is almost complete; it will be a lot of fun testing the near silent motor in Burnham. I can’t wait to turn some heads in a light wind race by making remarkable progress against the tide!

Tim Tavinor Petticrows The Quay .
Burnham on Crouch. Essex .UK
CM0 8AT
+44 1621 782115
petticrows@petticrows.com