Mast inversion tangy, speed good. Running backstays completely slack and standing backstay fully eased on Andy Beadsworth’s Petticrows V6 for forward rake surfing downwind in Portugal; not very exciting if you are used to a Star rig hanging over the bow but a Dragon carries a spinnaker plus it drags a great deal more of the ocean along with it. Just keep repeating it: Dragons don’t plane…
hull shape information by scanning all the hulls to create accurate 3D models to identify precisely the numerous small variations. One of the interesting aspects at this stage
was taking a variety of these hull designs out sailing, simulating a tuning session and observing, documenting and contrasting how the different hull shapes move through the water and particularly how the water leaves the aft sections of the hull. On most occasions the feedback from the sailors correlated with video observations which all led to some lively discussions. Everything learnt was then carefully
incorporated into the fresh Version 6 design and a new, stable plug was CNC machined. Next the female mould was accurately `created to the precise design shape. Using the latest build techniques Tim
Tavinor’s small team delivered a new mould that was both more accurate and more stable than those relied upon in the past. Plenty of fresh ideas in terms of rigs and
systems had also appeared at the front of the fleet since the previous Petticrows Dragon and the best of these were then carefully incorporated into the finished V6 design.
58 SEAHORSE
The Ferrari 312B My 11-year-old son and I enjoy an arrange- ment whereby he shares his vast knowledge of racing cars with me, and I share what I think I know about racing boats with him. While we were looking over some Dragon coaching video together he observed that the Dragon reminds him of the Ferrari 312B. He told me that it didn’t take an expert
to appreciate the beautiful lines and the shape of the hull as it slips through the water with minimal drag… Apparently as pleasing to his eye as mine. Then he told me about the extraordinary passion the Ferrari team poured into the 312B – most of the reason for its success over an unprecedented period of five Formula One seasons. He explained to me how all the best F1
drivers wanted to drive that car. I think he’s right on a number of levels because for me the Dragon, just like the Ferrari 312B, is a platform that presents so many attractive design challenges that any number of elegant solutions can be developed and proven over the years. This must be partly why so many top-shelf sailors reside in the Dragon Class. I find this both intriguing and inspiring.
One pull One of the beautiful things about the Dragon is that the sophisticated manner in which they are rigged allows latitude for complex adjustments to be performed quickly and simply. In addition to the typical upper and lower shroud and mast butt adjustments, you’ll also find an elaborate set of diamond shrouds that can be adjusted to control the fore and aft stiffness of the top section of the mast, and also individually for side-to-side or even tack-to-tack adjustment – to either pull the tip to windward for added power and leech closure, or to let the mast tip move to leeward to flatten the sail and open up the leech in the upper half of the mainsail… all with the simple pull of a string. Perhaps the most direct and often used
control line on the boat is the easily adjustable fore and aft mast ram which smoothly controls the mast position at the deck. All of these mast-tuning tools can be very helpful to obtain the desired flying shape for your mainsail while racing, given the specific conditions. This simple tool-set also allows a wider crew weight range to enjoy the class. These tools leave lots of room for
MAX RANCHI
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