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Displaying items by tag: J24 European Championships

#j24 – For the first time in decades, the European J/24 sailors are making a migration north into Scandinavia to sail the J/24 European Championship. The event takes place from the 9th to 15th of August and will be hosted by ASSS Sailing Club in Angelholm, south-west of Sweden. It follows a 42–boat Euro championships at Howth Yacht Club in Dublin last year. Thirty-seven teams are participating from seven countries (Denmark, England, Germany, Italy, Monaco, Sweden and USA) in 2014 but unfortunately there are no Irish entries this year.

The single largest contingent participating are the twenty-five German boats, mostly from the northern parts of the country. Many of their top sailors who've participated in past Europeans and Worlds are in attendance, as well as a number of their top women teams.

In addition to the five teams from Sweden, top America sailor Mike Ingham will be racing, as will Dennis Frederiksen from YC Monaco.

Top five in Monday's Tuneup Race

1. Front Runner, Per-Hakenn Persson, SWE
2. Vitesse, Manfred Konig, GER
3. Paget, Dennis Frederiksen, MON
4. El Nino, Mike Schmolling, GER
5. Flying Colours, William Pollock, GBR

Racing starts Tuesday and continues through Friday. More information here

Published in J24

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.