SAILING:LAST WEEK's Brewin Dolphin Dragon Gold Cup, one of the sailing world's oldest and best-known trophies, was in a sense a collective celebration of pure yacht racing.
Yet, behind the scenes, a venerable class is seeking to assert its role in a modern sport of kites, foils, multihulls and multimedia.
There was minimal technology at play last week aside from GPS positioning of the race marks and the regular Twitter feed live from the course. Class rules for the event obliged the event organisers at Kinsale Yacht Club to stage races at least 1.5 miles offshore with leg lengths of at least two nautical miles and races of more than two hours.
That’s a gruelling cocktail, especially when fresh and gusty winds delivered the first full series of six testing races in three editions of the Gold Cup due to light airs at previous venues. A further twist is that no race discard is permitted, leading to further pressure on the top boats not to have a bad race – but all did, at least once, before Germany’s Tommy Mueller emerged victorious by winning the final. A by-product of the non-discard format was a quiet week for the international jury in attendance, and the week was free of the more common-place whiff of protest room cordite and dissent.
But despite the appeal of not just the Gold Cup format but also the classic former Olympic class, against the more cutting edge appeal of modern “crash and burn” sailing, is it possible to stay relevant?
It’s widely recognised that following a major event, a tail-off in numbers occurs as participants decide that their own programme or goal has been reached or they simply opt to move on.
“We’re very aware of this as it’s happened before,” says Tim Pearson, national secretary of the Irish Dragon Association. “It’s not something that we can afford to be complacent about.”
From a peak of 50 active boats nationally, numbers have fallen to about 35, though Pearson estimates that these are more regular participants. Maintaining numbers at club and local level is as big a challenge as the travelling boats at the elite end of the class.
Subtle developments recently have started to work already. In Ireland, a travelling league this year comprising the regional events and championships has brought common purpose to the national fleet.
Simon Brien, an Irish class champion who has had success in building the class in Belfast Lough, points to a Welsh solution for tackling the high costs of campaigning a Dragon by imposing a spending cap of about €15,000 on second-hand boats to kick-start interest. When eventually, the class builds its numbers in an area, the cap can be reviewed. The Irish class has also started staging an annual competition for younger sailors using existing boats to introduce them to the Dragon.
