Kite (boat class)

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Notation
Dragon black.svg
Boat dimensions
Length above : 8.95 m
Width above sea level : 1.90 m
Draft : 1.20 m
Weight (ready to sail): 1700 kg
Weight (ballast, keel): 1000-1020 kg
Sail area
Sail area close to the wind : 27.7 m²
Mainsail : 16 m²
Genoa : 11.7 m²
Spinnaker : 23.6 m²
Others
Rigging type: Sloop
Yardstick number : 107
Class : international
Ripped dragon

Drachen is the name of a boat class that was constructed in 1929 by the Norwegian Johan Anker as an inexpensive unit keelboat ( unit class ) with a simple open cabin . The kite was recognized by the then International Sailing Federation (ISAF) as an international keelboat class and was sailed as an Olympic class from 1948 to 1972 . In regattas , the kite is sailed as a three-man boat.

After 1972 it was replaced by Soling as the Olympic keelboat class, but this did not affect the spread of the kite.

history

At the end of the 1920s, sailing developed into a popular sport. The poverty-stricken economic situation created a need for cheap boats. Therefore, the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club (GKSS) announced in 1928 a design competition for "an inexpensive unit boat for young people to be built in series". What was required was "a relatively fast, appropriately large, seaworthy and elegant keelboat". The design by the Norwegian Johan Anker was selected from four submitted applications because the boat was very elegant, fast, safe, but above all cheap to produce (less than 1,600 Skr. In mahogany). The class was approved by GKSS (Sweden), KDY (Denmark) and KNY (Norway) that same year. The name kite is said to come from a literal translation of the designer name “anchor” into Norwegian (“dragging”). The IYRU (today: World Sailing ) corrected the supposed spelling mistake and called the boat class from then on in English "Dragon". Between 1930 and 1939 the Anker + Jensen A / S shipyard built around 40 kites. In February 1940 the shipyard was liquidated. Johan Anker, the "artist of lines" died in October 1940. Two of his employees continued to run the shipyard until 1949.

In 1946, after approval by IYRU (now ISAF), the kite was given the status of an Olympic class boat. The kite class was sailed for the last time at the Olympic Games in Munich / Kiel (1972) . After that, many kite sailors sold their boats and the imminent death of this class was prophesied. The loss of Olympic status could only break the kite's popularity for a short time. As early as 1973, the Danish boat builder Børge Børresen launched the first GRP kites. Every single part of the wooden kite was measured and weighed, then the weight distribution was transferred from the original wooden boat to a GRP construction in a complex calculation process.

Successfully restored wooden yachts, such as the GER 150 "ONYX" built by Abeking & Rasmussen in 1956, are still victorious in regattas today.

At the beginning of 2004 over 1500 dragons from 26 countries were registered with the International Dragon Association. However, it is believed that the actual number of dragons in existence is roughly double. In Germany there is the largest fleet of kites with 1090 registered boats, followed by England (280), the Netherlands (128), Austria (99) and France (95). An average of 50 kites are built every year.

construction

Initially open, the long keeler with closed cabin quickly became a popular cruising boat, equipped with a double berth, built-in cupboard and cooking area including a cutlery drawer. The rapid spread of this unit class, especially in Scandinavia, Germany and, after 1935, the British Empire encouraged an active regatta life. The strictly regulated building regulations (One-Design) were gradually adapted for regatta purposes in the 1930s and the boat received a spinnaker and a genoa . By the end of the decade, the boat had little more in common than the hull with the first draft. In 1946, essential aspects of the construction were changed: the headsail was raised, the rig changed and the mast moved 40 cm forward. With the sail area increased from 20 to 26.6 m², the kite becomes a boat with excellent sailing properties. The boats with the new rig are called "A-kites" (older rig = B-kite). The cabin was replaced by the original small weather protection.

Boatyards

Wooden kites by Abeking & Rasmussen (built in 1954) on the Großer Brombachsee

Regatta and races

  • In 1937 the Clyde Yacht Clubs 'Conference (since 1968 the Clyde Yacht Clubs' Association , CYCA) established the Dragon Gold Cup for the dragon class , which is held annually to this day. The International Dragon Association provides clear rules for comparable conditions between traditional wooden boats and modern GRP constructions.
  • The European Championship (European Dragon Championship) will be held annually until 2020, thereafter in every even year, alternating with the World Championship. The winner will receive the Virginie Heriot Cup , named after the French Madame Virginie Heriot, who was committed to yachting.
  • The World Championship (Dragon World Championship) is held in alternate years in all regions in which the dragon is sailed.
  • National championships take place annually in the respective countries (International German Championship).

In Germany, the largest kite squadrons can be found in Berlin, Hamburg, on Lake Starnberg and on Lake Constance.

The kite is often referred to as the “royal class” among sailors, as it was often sailed from 1948 to 1972 during the time as the Olympic boat class by members of the European royal houses from Scandinavia ( Prince Henrik of Denmark , Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark ), Greece and Spain, with whom he is still very popular today. The later King of Spain Juan Carlos I started in the kite at the 1972 Summer Olympics off Kiel and finished fifteenth. King Constantine II of Greece and his team in the kite won the gold medal at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome . Today he is connected to the sport of sailing through the honorary presidency of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) and the honorary chairmanship of the ISAF Sailing Hall of Fame .

For the 75th kite jubilee regatta - in which members of the royal families of Spain, Denmark, Greece and Bavaria also took part - 269 ​​kites from 29 nations met in Saint-Tropez in October 2004 .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 6, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Yardstick numbers of the DSV 2018, accessed on March 5, 2018 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dsv.org
  2. ↑ International Dragon Association: The Dragon - Origine of the Name , accessed January 11, 2017
  3. ↑ website: Børresens Bådebyggeri: BB Drage - THE HISTORY , English, accessed on January 10, 2017
  4. ↑ www.nova-dragon.de
  5. ↑ The Clyde Yacht Clubs' Association: Dragon Gold Cup , accessed January 10, 2017
  6. ↑ International Dragon Association: The Dragon Gold Cup , accessed January 11, 2017
  7. ↑ International Dragon Association: The Dragon European Championship , accessed January 11, 2017
  8. ↑ International Dragon Association: The Dragon World Championship , accessed January 11, 2017
  9. ↑ ISAF Sailing Hall of Fame - Background ( Memento of the original from July 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) Retrieved March 23, 2009  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sailing.org
  10. ^ International Dragon Association

Web links

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