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Displaying items by tag: Gravesend

#Safety - Two recent crushing accidents in the UK and Australia have restated the need for vigilance at the waterside even when boats are moored.

Yachting & Boating World reported last month on a port worker at Denton Wharf in Gravesend who was rendered critically ill after being crushed against a pier by a 40-tonne barge.

Thirty-six-year-old Michael Russell, a 20-year veteran of the wharf, was mooring the boat when the accident occurred. His wife Natalie said he "was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Elsewhere, Australia's 9 News reports that the body of a man in his late 20s or early 30s was recovered from the water in Sydney Harbour after falling overboard from a luxury yacht and being crushed against a mooring pillar.

Both incidents should serve as a reminder all those on or near boats moored at port or dockside to maintain the same safety standards they would while on the water.

Published in Water Safety

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.