Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Conversions

Harland & Wolff Group's Belfast shipyard has joined Cruise Britain to enable it to connect and grow a world-class Centre of Excellence for Cruise in Belfast.

The Belfast shipyard is designed to expertly handle the world’s largest cruise ships within its drydocks and Northern Ireland is home to the leading interior outfitting contractors for major cruise ship conversions.

Cruise Britain is a joint initiative between British cruise ports and service providers such as ground handlers and port agents.

The organisation is focussed on raising the profile of Britain as a world-class cruise destination. Our membership-based organisation includes the network of British ports plus the service providers that combine to provide a seamless visitor experience.

Chair of Cruise Britain, Ian McQuade remarked: “We’re delighted to welcome new members to the Cruise Britain family as the association goes from strength to strength”

Published in Shipyards

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 keel-boat that could be used 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 is the most popular material, but both 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 areas of construction to avoid sacrificing value for a fractional increase in speed.

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 process of development has produced one of the most flexible and controllable rigs of any racing boat.