AYC Dragon Fleet Report 2006

The Aldeburgh Dragon fleet has had an eventful, if not always happy, season with the successful development of a handicap system balanced by the loss of one of our boats, though not the crew.
The experimental personal handicap system has proved to be a big success. Using the skimpiest of evidence from the results achieved by Dragons in AYC handicap results ( class racing results were untimed!) George Johnson, the AYC handicapper, produced the initial handicaps which were then reviewed by Patrick Gifford for reasonableness and some interpolation. We didn't, for example, think that Pongo was the fastest Dragon in Aldeburgh on the basis of one result. Dusty might have felt unduly burdened by this load. The end result was that the season's handicap points were won by Mike Hayles and Patrick Gifford, crewed by Monique largely because they turned up more than anyone else. They unfortunately had to use two boats to do it, starting with Kraken and finishing with Nereid. Second was Rick Gillingham who made a virtue also out of staying at home to run the Junior Regatta. However, races were won by most of the other participants and Rory Bowman was heard to remark how hard it was to save his time on handicap. He had to be reminded that this was the point of the exercise. Above all the “coloured” boats were enthusiastic about their racing.

The Regatta produced a different result. A turquoise “coloured” boat of vintage years appeared and won every race on handicap. Clearly Patrick's interpolation hadn't been quite right since it would be hard to argue that Harkaway was an unexposed dark horse since she has been owned by club members for nearly 60 years and by Peter Wilson for 14 years. Peter has spent many happy hours arguing about If's handicap and this may have opened up a second front.

Level points racing produced the same win for the Kraken/Nereid combination. The format of three races on designated Saturdays continued to appeal and has certainly made some of us sharper since the courses are inevitably short. The races were won by the three travelling boats, Yeah Baby with Rory, Navaho with Rick and Kraken/Nereid with Patrick or Mike. There didn't seem to be much between them though Rory seemed to have an advantage in stronger winds, unless, as in one memorable race, deciding to match race Rick to Patrick's advantage. In the Regatta, with nine boats competing, however, Rory returned to winning form after last year's third and won conclusively despite Rick's efforts in the protest room. Racing in the rest of the fleet was close, sometimes too close as when Hawkeye removed Pongo's mast.

We travelled less as a fleet than before and with less success. Rory found that work and family kept him at home and Rick only managed to do the Edinburgh Cup. Kraken should have stayed at home since sinking in the Alde is only a minor inconvenience whereas sinking in the Solent is a hurried “Goodbye”. It is a strange feeling, standing on a boat that is inevitably sinking and being unable to see any other boats! Nereid has stood in well and is already much travelled, mostly to the fleshpots of the Mediterranean. She is, after all, still young having only raced for three of her nine years. We have a fleet that is competitive at all levels, from the international one through to local intra-Dragon handicap racing.

We aspire to attract more competitors to some of the tightest racing available. Where else can you race a Dragon at such close quarters?