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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.

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.

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 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 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.