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Australia's newest Dragon yacht launched in Hobart

by Peter Campbell on 21 Feb 2010
Owner Mike Wilkinson (left) and builder Zane Ridgeway with the new Dragon at the RYCT Andrea Francolini Photography http://www.afrancolini.com/
Australia's newest International Dragon class yacht Xanthos hit the water on the River Derwent christened by 90-year-old former Dragon sailor Edis Boyes.

On a hot and sunny morning in Hobart, Boyes sprinkled champagne over the bow of the new fibreglass boat, owned by Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania member Mike Wilkinson and built at Margate by Zane Ridgeway.

Boyes was among the first Hobart yachtsmen to skipper a Dragon when the one-time Olympic class was first introduced to the Derwent in 1954, going on to win several prestigious events.

Veteran Hobart yachtsman Edis Boyes, 90, with Mike Wilkinson, owner of the new International Dragon class yacht Xanthos, launched at the RYCT © Andrea Francolini Photography http://www.afrancolini.com/
Veteran Hobart yachtsman Edis Boyes, 90, with Mike Wilkinson, owner of the new International Dragon class yacht Xanthos, launched at the RYCT © Andrea Francolini Photography http://www.afrancolini.com/

However, it was just a 'toe in the water' today for Xanthos, with the innovative new Dragon being returned to a cradle on the hard-stand until her first race next weekend.

The Ridgeway boat has created widespread interest among Dragon owners in Australia and overseas as it is the first boat designed with the now allowable built-in buoyancy. It also has a simpler cockpit layout, including an Etchells-style sail-trim console, designed by Ridgeway with input from former Dragon world champion Nick Rogers.

This is a second boat new to the Hobart fleet this summer, with Ian Crisp's imported Petticrow-built boat, Linnear, launched a week ago. Linnear today had her first win, beating champion boat Karabos IX, skippered by Nick Rogers in one of two races for the Derwent Sailing Squadron Pennant.

The revival of interest in the classic one-design class is due to the World championships being sailed in Melbourne next year and the Prince Philip Cup returning to the Derwent in 2012. Several Tasmanian boats are expected to
contest a Pre-Worlds regatta on Port Phillip bay this coming Easter.

Xanthos has a complete Harkan fit-out, an imported Petticrow mast, with her mainsail an Ullman sail from Sydney, but the genoa and spinnaker from the Doyle loft in Hobart.

Owner Mike Wilkinson previously raced an Etchells in Hobart but in recent seasons has crewed extensively on the local Dragon fleet.

The new Dragon Xanthos being lowered into the River Derwent at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania © Andrea Francolini Photography http://www.afrancolini.com/
The new Dragon Xanthos being lowered into the River Derwent at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania © Andrea Francolini Photography http://www.afrancolini.com/

Excess CatamaransV-DRY-XX-Yachts X4.3

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