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Final Countdown Underway To 75th Edinburgh Cup and UK Dragon Grand Prix 2023 sponsored by Clear Solutions International Ltd

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  • Final plans are being put in place for the 75th Edinburgh Cup and International Dragon UK Grand Prix sponsored by Clear Solutions International Ltd.
  • The British Dragon Association and the Royal Yacht Squadron look forward to welcoming 42 teams from 13 nations and 4 continents to compete.
  • Registration opens on Sunday 13 August. Championship racing runs from Tuesday 15 to Friday 18 August with up to eight races scheduled.

10 August 2023 – Cowes, UK – The final countdown is running for the 75th Edinburgh Cup and International Dragon UK Grand Prix sponsored by Clear Solutions International Ltd, which will be raced from Tuesday 15 to Friday 18 August 2023. From Sunday 13 August the Royal Yacht Squadron and the British Dragon Association (BDA) will begin welcoming competitors to Cowes for two days of registration and pre-regatta preparation. With the biggest entry in over a decade and the largest number of overseas competitors ever – 42 teams from 13 nations and 4 continents – this special celebration event is going to offer exceptional competition and a spectacular social programme.

The teams will compete for both the historic Edinburgh Cup, which is awarded to the winner of the British Dragon Open Championship, and the UK Dragon Grand Prix, part of the International Dragon Association’s premier regatta circuit which features four international regattas plus a Grand Final. The UK Grand Prix is the third in the series, with the teams having already raced the Turkish Grand Prix in Bodrum and the Italian Grand Prix in Malcesine. The fourth Grand Prix and Grand Final will take place in Vilamoura, Portugal in November.

Organising top level National and International regattas of this type takes a great deal of time and experience. The inaugural Dragon Edinburgh Cup was run from Cowes and so it was natural to return to the venue for the 75th celebration. The Royal Yacht Squadron was selected as the host club as it has extensive experience in running both top level racing and excellent social events. To coordinate the event the BDA appointed Cowes based Dragon sailor and event coordinator extraordinaire Gavia Wilkinson-Cox as the Regatta Chair. Gavia worked for the Royal Yachting Association and then the International Yacht Racing Union (now World Sailing) for 18 years before forming her own very successful event management company, which she ran for 25 years until retirement. Now based in Cowes, she has raced Dragons since childhood and has been one of the top female helms on the international circuit for nearly 20 years. This will be her fifth Edinburgh Cup as Regatta Chair and she will also be competing in the regatta.

“From the outset of the organisation my goal has been that the 75th Edinburgh Cup and UK Grand Prix be a celebration and festival of Dragon sailing: excellent racing and excellent shoreside fun. I am delighted that we have attracted such a large international entry and look forward to welcoming teams from across the globe. I am also particularly pleased that so many past Edinburgh Cup winners and sailors will be joining us for the social events to help us celebrate the illustrious history of the trophy, which was presented to the class by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1948. I hope that, together with my team, I deliver a truly memorable regatta – one that I can be proud of. One that the Solent Dragon Fleet, the British Dragon Association and the International Dragon Class Association can all be proud of.” – Gavia Wilkinson-Cox, Regatta Chair, 75th Edinburgh Cup and UK Dragon Grand Prix 2023. Click here to read a full interview with Gavia.

Amongst those competing will be British Olympian, current Edinburgh Cup holder and 2019 Dragon World Champion Andy Beadsworth with his Turkish Provezza Dragon team, four-time World Match Racing Champion Peter Gilmour with the Japanese YRED team and 2017 World Match Racing Champion Torvar Mirsky from Australia. From the Cayman Islands comes Peter Cunningham, who’s MOD70 Powerplay has broken numerous multihull records in recent years, and from France top Dragon and offshore sailor Gery Trentesaux, while Marc Castagnet makes the journey from Hong Kong to compete against the top UK and European sailors.

With a host of VIP guests including multiple past Edinburgh Cup winners joining the competitors for social events, this truly will be a celebration worthy of the 75th Edinburgh Cup. There will be après sailing gatherings and parties each evening with sponsors including MTM Integrated Marketing, The Royal Yacht Britannia, Yanmar, Hendrick’s Gin and Wessex Distillery. 

The 75th Edinburgh Cup and UK Grand Prix sponsored by Clear Solutions International Ltd will take place from 13 to 19 August 2023 with championship racing from Tuesday 15 to Friday 18 August. You will be able to follow the latest news from the regatta via the Event Website and the British Dragon Associations Facebook and Instagram accounts.

The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust presents new Edinburgh Cup Trophy and sponsors 75th Edinburgh Cup Gala Prizegiving Dinner

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The new Britannia Trophy
  • Largest Edinburgh Cup entry in over a decade with 42 boats from 12 nations and 4 continents competing.
  • The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust confirms sponsorship of Dragon 75th Edinburgh Cup and UK Grand Prix Gala Dinner.
  • New Britannia Trophy to be presented by The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust for the top scoring boat in the series without discard.

3 August 2023 – Cowes, UK – The 75th Edinburgh Cup and International Dragon UK Grand Prix sponsored by Clear Solutions International Ltd will get underway from the Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes, on Sunday 13 August with the largest number of competitors taking part in over a decade participating. Twelve countries will be represented from across Europe, Scandinavia, Turkey, Australia, Japan and the Cayman Islands – possibly the largest number of nations ever represented at an Edinburgh Cup.

Registration for the event will open on Sunday 13 August, with championship racing taking place from Tuesday 15 to Friday 18 August. Alongside top class racing the regatta will also feature a spectacular social programme which opens with the Opening Ceremony sponsored by Yanmar on Monday 14 August and concludes with a spectacular Gala Prizegiving Dinner sponsored by The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust.

The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust has a close association with the International Dragon Class, as in addition to owning and managing The Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh, which is currently Trip Advisor’s top UK visitor attraction, they also have in their custody the legendary Dragon Bluebottle, which was built by Camper & Nicholson and presented to the then Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip on the occasion of their marriage in 1947.

Bluebottle was raced very successfully by Prince Philip himself, and was also loaned to other sailors, most notably winning a Bronze Medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics with Lt-Cdr Graham Mann at the helm. Having retired from racing in 1962 she then spent time as a training vessel at the Royal Naval College, before being put on display outside the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth. Sadly, she fell into disrepair until The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust came to her rescue.

Bob Downie, Chief Executive of The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust, takes up the story; “In 2014, I was in Falmouth, on behalf of our Trust, to purchase the former Northern Lighthouse Board ship MV Fingal which had been moored and fully maintained on the River Fal since it was acquired in 2000 by Mark Bamford of the JCB family. I then went into the National Maritime Museum Cornwall (NMMC) expecting to view Bluebottle which they had in their care, only to be told that she was in a poor state of repair and no longer on public display. We then made repeated offers to take Bluebottle into our care and have her fully restored, but it was not until 2017 that NMMC agreed to our request and contacted the Duke of Edinburgh’s office to formalise the transfer which took place in the summer of 2018. Not only did the Duke of Edinburgh kindly give us permission to restore Bluebottle but He also gave us permission to race His beloved yacht for the first time in 60 years! Throughout the restoration project that David Heritage Racing Yachts undertook on our behalf, we kept The Duke fully updated with reports and photographs. Sadly, by the time the restoration was completed The Duke’s health was such that He was unable to see the fully restored Bluebottle. I would like to think that The Duke would have been delighted and somewhat flabbergasted that Bluebottle could compete so incredibly successfully on the world stage racing against all these modern GRP yachts thanks to David Heritage’s incredible restoration, and Graham Baileys’ outstanding helmsmanship.” Find out more about Bob Downie and the work of The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust here.

In addition to sponsoring the Gala Prizegiving Dinner, the Royal Yacht Britannia Trust has also presented a spectacular new perpetual trophy for the Edinburgh Cup. Today the Edinburgh Cup rules allow for a single race discard in the overall score for the regatta, as is typical in most modern international regattas. However, in the early years of the competition all races counted towards the overall result and the new trophy will be awarded to the top scoring Dragon counting all race results.

“The new Britannia Trophy is a maquette of a Royal Yachtsman’s statue that we had commissioned in 2011 in memory of all who served aboard BRITANNIA. As someone relatively new to sailing, I was fascinated by the discard or no-discard rules, and the deep-rooted late-night debates about which was the truer test of the best performing skipper and boat.” – Bob Downie

Bluebottle will be raced in the 75th Edinburgh Cup by past Edinburgh Cup winners Graham and Julia Bailey. Having recently won the Turkish National Championship and claimed third place at the 2023 Dragon World Championship in Bodrum all eyes will be on her to see if she can claim the Edinburgh Cup or the new Britannia Trophy.

The 75th Edinburgh Cup and UK Grand Prix sponsored by Clear Solutions International Ltd will take place from 13 to 19 August 2023 with championship racing being run from Tuesday 15 to Friday 18 August. Entries can be made online via the event website. Entries made prior to 30 July will be at the standard entry fee. Late entries will be accepted from 31 July to 7 August and will pay the late entry fee.

Further information about the Edinburgh Cup can be found at www.britishdragons.org or by contacting:

Gavia Wilkinson-Cox
75th Edinburgh Cup 2023 Regatta Chair
T – +44 7973 165888
E – gavia@wilkinson-cox.co.uk