2027 Hong Kong Dragon World Championship

Opening Regatta 1932 Just two years after being designed by Johan Anker, the Dragon class was announced in Hong Kong. At the AGM on 4 November 1931, members were told a very reasonable fee would be charged for building each boat. The Opening Regatta for the 1932/33 season took place under perfect weather. Eight new Anker Class yachts, built by the Hongkong & Whampoa Dock Company, made their debut over a five-mile course. Joss, helmed by Mr Karsten Larssen, finished first. By season’s end, 11 ‘A’ boats were active in Hong Kong. Revival of Racing after WWII By 1939 the racing fleet consisted of 18 ‘A’ Class boats, but none survived the Second World War. After the war the return of the Dragon Class generated excitement at the Club. The new Dragons featured a modern rig and sail plan capable of carrying genoas, built by the Hongkong & Whampoa Dock Company. Six Dragons were built at £5,000 each, with a seventh donated to the Club. By the 1948/49 season, ten Dragons were ready for an active racing programme. Chang Dragons and the World Championship 1987 In early 1987, Lowell Chang and Nick Burns took part in the World Championships in Geelong, Australia. Excitement surged when one of two fibreglass Chang Dragons, built by Lowell in Hong Kong, claimed the World title, helmed by Valdemar Bandolowski of Denmark. The first fibreglass Dragon in Hong Kong, D18, was launched in early 1986. “I was incredibly proud that we in Hong Kong managed to create a precisely spec’d Class boat that won the World Championship on its first attempt,” Lowell Chang remarked later.