Dragons in North America

Early Years

PictureJohn Foster Dulles Cup Toronto 1960s
The first Canadian Dragon was launched on English Bay in Vancouver in 1951. The fleet in Canada was given a boost by H.R.H. Prince Philip who presented the CYA with the Duke of Edinburgh Trophy, first won in 1953 by Spence Hanna of the RCYC in Toronto.  In 1954 H.R.H. Prince Philip brought his Dragon, Bluebottle (a wedding present from the Island Sailing Club of Cowes) to Canada where he raced it in Montreal, Hamilton and Toronto against local Dragon sailors from Canada and the US. 

In the US the first fleets were started in the early 50s in the North East, the South, the Pacific North West and California. Many were Norwegian or UK built. In 1950 Roland yacht yard of Norway shipped a Dragon to a trade fair in Houston. After the event it was taken to the Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans and it inspired a couple of local sailors to travel to the UK to buy two more Dragons in 1954. In 1951 Lars Lyngnes imported 10 Dragons from Norway to Seattle to start a fleet there. They started with sail number 10, assuming there were about 10 on the east coast. 

Olympic Years

PictureWilliwaw 68 Olympics winner
The Dragon class has long been one of the premier one design racing yachts in the world.  The selection of the Dragon as an Olympic class for the 1948 Games ensured that the design would spread worldwide.


The class grew quickly in North America, with Dragon fleets spread all across the country in every one of the major sailing centers. There were active fleets in the Pacific Northwest, southern and northern California, Long Island Sound, the northern Gulf Coast, and on the Great Lakes. Both US and Canadian sailors also traveled and raced internationally, a tradition that continues to this day.  At the height of it's popularity as a racing class in the United States, American sailors were among the best in the world, with Lowell North winning a Bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, and New Orleans native G.S. (Buddy) Friedrichs II winning Gold at the Olympics in Acapulco, Mexico. In the final Olympic Competition for the Dragon class, in Kiel, Germany in 1972, Don Cohan of Philadelphia took home the Olympic Bronze medal. 

Modern Era

Picture2008 Interport Royal Vancouver YC











In 1973 Borge Børresen got approval from the class to begin building in fibreglass (metal spars were introduced in 1970). During the 70s and early 80s fibreglass Dragons were build by Marty Godsil in the Pacific Northwest and O.E. Schuppe in Ontario, Canada. 

The class has active racing fleets in the Great Lakes and the Pacific Northwest. The Vancouver fleet has twelve Dragons at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and half a dozen Dragons in the area.  The Great Lakes region has Dragon Fleets in Toronto and Cleveland. And there are small clusters of Dragons in California, the Northeast, and along the Gulf Coast. 

For 60 years Dragons have been sailing our shores, and the same qualities of design and performance that attracted people to her then continue to do so now. The same beautiful lines drawn by Johan Anker in 1928 that grab your eye and hold it still appeal to our love of beauty, and her performance on the water.
Read more history about North American Dragon Trophies.