Stuart Coltart Puts The New Bouyancy System To The Test

16 June 2009

The Dragon celebrates her 80th anniversary this year and, hats off to the technical committees over the years for their continual review of the class rules, keeping the class both modern and thriving. One of their more radical rule changes in recent years was an increase the mandatory built in buoyancy. After months of review and planning it is always good to know when something works in situ and not just on the drawing board. Petticrows were delighted to receive the following e-mail from Stuart Coltart after a blustery weekend of sailing on the Medway relaying his experience in his new 2009 Dragon....

"We had a serious broach on Saturday and were knocked flat for some seconds in a violent backing squall. The boat took a considerable amount of water but I am pleased to say that when she righted herself, she was buoyant, water was constrained in the centre of the boat and when Catriona went forward to get the spinnaker down, the boat remained stable both laterally and longitudinally due to the buoyant ends. Water was out of the boat in 3 mins with some pumping from us. We never felt in any serious danger but am quite sure that it would have been much less pleasant in an older boat."

...After spending a lot of time and effort to conform to the new class rules it is nice to have positive feedback from the fleet on the water.

 

Fiona Brown
Press Officer
Fiona.Brown@fionabrown.com