A century of one design · 1929-2029
The International Dragon Class
Drawn by Johan Anker in 1929, and still one of the most elegant keelboats afloat: around 1,400 registered in 28 countries.
The International Dragon, or simply “The Dragon”, was designed by Johan Anker in 1929 as an entry for a competition run by the Royal Yacht Club of Gothenburg to find a small keelboat for simple weekend cruising among the islands and fjords of the Scandinavian seaboard. The original design had two berths and was ideally suited for cruising in his home waters of Norway. The boat quickly attracted owners, and within ten years it had spread all over Europe.
The Dragon’s long keel and elegant metre-boat lines remain unchanged, but today Dragons are constructed using the latest technology to make the boat durable and easy to maintain. GRP (glass-reinforced polymer) is the most popular material, but new and old wooden boats regularly win major competitions while looking as beautiful as any craft afloat. Exotic materials are banned throughout the boat, and strict rules are applied to all construction areas to ensure a level playing field.
The key to the Dragon’s enduring appeal lies in the careful development of its rig. Its well-balanced sail plan makes boat handling easy for lightweights, while a controlled development process has produced one of the most flexible and controllable rigs of any racing boat. Around 1,400 Dragons are registered worldwide in 28 countries, and the busy regatta schedule is a testament to the boat’s enduring popularity.
The Class regularly attracts 70-80 boats at the World Championship, held every odd year. The European Championships are held every even year. The Gold Cup, which can only be held in certain specified European countries, is unique in that all six races count without discard. It is held annually and has attracted over 100 entries, usually starting in one fleet.
The Dragon Class at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
Mostly taken from “Eastern Waters Eastern Winds, a history of the RHKYC”, published November 1993 by the RHKYC.
Two ‘A’ Class yachts off the RHKYC’s premises at North Point on 10th April, 1933.
Opening Regatta 1932/33
Just two years after being designed by Johan Anker, the Dragon class was announced in Hong Kong. At the AGM on 4 November 1931, members were told a very reasonable fee would be charged for building each boat. The Opening Regatta for the 1932/33 season took place under perfect weather. Eight new Anker Class yachts, built by the Hongkong & Whampoa Dock Company, made their debut over a five-mile course. Joss, helmed by Mr Karsten Larssen, finished first. By season’s end, 11 ‘A’ boats were active in Hong Kong.
The Dragon D6, owned by Captain Krogh-Moe, sailing in the harbour circa 1950 off Tantallon Terrace and the Hong Kong Whampoa Dockyard.
Revival of Racing after WWII
By 1939 the racing fleet consisted of 18 ‘A’ Class boats, but none survived the Second World War. After the war the return of the Dragon Class generated excitement at the Club. The new Dragons featured a modern rig and sail plan capable of carrying genoas, built by the Hongkong & Whampoa Dock Company. Six Dragons were built, with a seventh donated to the Club. By the 1948/49 season, ten Dragons were ready for an active racing programme.
Lowell Chang in his Dragon KH 10 on his way to victory in the first Round The Island Race which was held in November 1983.
Chang Dragons and the World Championship 1987
In early 1987, Lowell Chang and Nick Burns took part in the World Championships in Geelong, Australia. Excitement surged when one of two fibreglass Chang Dragons, built by Lowell in Hong Kong, claimed the World title, helmed by Valdemar Bandolowski of Denmark. The first fibreglass Dragon in Hong Kong, D18, was launched in early 1986. “I was incredibly proud that we in Hong Kong managed to create a precisely spec’d Class boat that won the World Championship on its first attempt,” Lowell Chang remarked later.
Shiva D41 during China Coast Race Week in Port Shelter, 24 October 1998. Photo: Fragrant Harbour
What is at stake
The Championship Trophies
Five trophies recognise achievement across the Dragon World Championship and the Asia Pacific Dragon Championship. The Royal Hellenic Cup is awarded to the overall winner, the David Atkinson Corinthian Trophy honours the leading all-amateur crew, and the Masters Trophy recognises the highest-placed team meeting its age criteria. At the Asia Pacific Championship, the McLeod Cup honours the overall winner and the Gordon Ingate Corinthian Trophy recognises the leading amateur crew.
Explore the stories behind the silverware and the sailors whose names mark its history.
World Championship
The Royal Hellenic Cup
The Royal Hellenic Cup connects the Dragon World Championship with the class’s Olympic past. Also known as the Epathlon Vassileos, it was presented by King Constantine of Greece in memory of his father, King Paul. Constantine had won Olympic gold in the Dragon in 1960, five years before the first world championship.
That inaugural contest, held at Sandhamn in Sweden in 1965, went to Denmark’s Ole Berntsen aboard White Lady. Having won Olympic gold the previous year, Berntsen became the first sailor to add the Dragon world title to that distinction.
The names that followed reveal the depth and longevity of competition in the class. Poul-Richard Høj-Jensen’s victories in 1989 and 2009 were separated by twenty years. Jesper Bank won in 1993 and 1997, either side of Australia’s Nick Rogers, who took the title at Fremantle in 1995.
More recently, Klaus Diederichs won in 2013 and 2022. Andy Beadsworth, a member of Diederichs’s winning crew in 2013, went on to helm Provezza Dragon to victory in 2017, 2019 and 2025. Across more than sixty years, the cup’s history records both the arrival of new champions and the staying power of established ones.
The David Atkinson Corinthian Trophy
At the trophy’s first championship in Melbourne in 2011, Frank Berg and his crew won the Corinthian division and finished third overall. It was an early demonstration that the amateur title need not be a competition apart from the leading boats.
Presented by the David Atkinson Trust in August 2010, the trophy commemorates a Melbourne sailor and longstanding supporter of the Dragon class. It is awarded to the winning helm in the World Championship’s Corinthian division, in which every crew member must hold World Sailing Group 1 status.
At Weymouth in 2013, Poul-Richard Høj-Jensen won with Hamish Mackay and Andrew Norden. Already twice a Dragon world champion, Høj-Jensen had also won Olympic gold in 1976 and 1980 in the Soling, which succeeded the Dragon at the Games after 1972. His record spans both classes and several decades of competition.
In 2019, former world champion Nick Rogers won the Corinthian and Masters trophies at Fremantle, sailing Karabos IX with Leigh Behrens and Simon Burrows. Results such as these give the Atkinson trophy its competitive weight: amateur status does not preclude a place among the class’s most accomplished sailors.
The World Championship Masters Trophy
Experience has a defined place at the Dragon World Championship. To qualify for the Masters Trophy, every crew member must be at least 50 years old, and their combined ages must exceed 165 years on the first scheduled day of racing. Both amateur and professional sailors are eligible.
Presented by Thomas and Nicky Wilton in 2014, the trophy was first contested at the 2015 World Championship in La Rochelle. Its subsequent winners underline the strength of competition within the division.
Stephan Link, Frank Butzmann and Michael Lipp won aboard Desert Holly at Cascais in 2017. Two years later, Nick Rogers, Leigh Behrens and Simon Burrows took both the Masters and Corinthian titles at Fremantle. In 2023, Klaus Diederichs, Jamie Lea and Diego Negri won aboard Fever, following their overall world championship victory the previous year.
The distinction is not simply one of age. These results show how judgement, boat handling and established crew partnerships can sustain success through decades of Dragon racing.
The Asia Pacific Championship
The McLeod Cup
The McLeod Cup brings nearly sixty years of Dragon history to the Asia Pacific Championship. Presented to the Dragon Class in 1967 by Helen McLeod in memory of her husband, Don, it was originally awarded to the leading Canadian Dragon after three races of the North American Championship.
In 2026, the Royal Canadian Yacht Club and the Canadian Dragon Association presented the cup to the International Dragon Class to recognise the overall winner of the Asia Pacific Dragon Championship. Its new role preserves the trophy’s Canadian heritage while extending its place in international Dragon racing.
Awarded to the winning helm, the perpetual trophy will be kept at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club between championships, with each winner’s name engraved after the event.
From its origins as a family memorial to its new role in Asia Pacific competition, the McLeod Cup reflects the friendships and traditions that connect Dragon sailors across generations and continents.
The Gordon Ingate Corinthian Trophy
The Gordon Ingate Asia Pacific Dragon Championship Corinthian Trophy honours one of Australia’s most accomplished sailors and his lifelong commitment to the Dragon Class. Presented in 2026 by the Australian International Dragon Class, it commemorates a competitor who continued racing Dragons in Australia and overseas until the age of 96.
Affectionately known as “Wingnut”, Gordon competed in the Olympic Games, America’s Cup and Admiral’s Cup. In the Dragon Class, he won the Prince Philip Cup four times, with victories extending well into his nineties. His enthusiasm, determination and distinctive personality made him a familiar and much-loved figure throughout the international sailing community.
The perpetual trophy is awarded to the winning helm in the Corinthian division of the Asia Pacific Dragon Championship, with eligibility determined by World Sailing’s Group 1 categorisation. It recognises the skill, preparation and commitment of the amateur sailors who remain central to the class.
Kept at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club between championships and engraved after each event, the trophy links Gordon’s legacy with the continuing achievements of Corinthian Dragon sailors.