Builders

Over 300 boatbuilders have tried their hand at the Dragon, principally in its earlier, wooden, days. Some only built one Dragon but several built 100s and many built dozens. The class owes a particular debt to Borge Børresen, who managed the construction transition from wood to GRP immaculately so that both constructions competed, and still do, on equal terms. Other builders who were particularly successful internationally with wooden boats include Anker & Jensen, Pedersen & Thuesen,  Abeking & Rasmussen, Bjarne Aas and Savell. Since the introduction of GRP construction Petticrows have taken the lead from Borresen as the major builder in the class, followed by others such as Doomernik and Vejle Yacht Services. During the 1980s Peter Wilson also built a number of GRP boats in the UK. The competition among  builders, sailmakers and sailors has meant that equipment has been continuously improved so that a modern Dragon is now one of the most sophisticated racing boats to be found.

Things to Explore

Mikko’s List – The Finnish dragon sailor Mikko Jaatinen obtained yacht registers from as many national class associations as possible and carefully entered the shipyards and boats. As he explained to us later, the winters in Finland are long and dark and such work is just the right thing to shorten the waiting time for the next season. The list may not be complete and correct, but we don’t want to withhold it from our readers. Dubious or unverifiable entries are marked with a “?”. So, there is still a wide field of activity for dragon researchers.

Dragon Builder	Location	Years Active	Number of Dragons Built
Abeking & Rasmussen	Lemwerder Bremen, Germany	1934-1971	148
Anker & Jensen	Vollen Asker, Norway	1930-1953	69
Bjarne Aas	Fredrikstad, Østfold, Norway	1939-1968	62
Børresen	Vejle, Denmark	1935-present	760
Brites	Lisbon (Santos), Portugal	1949-1963	19
Chang	Hong Kong	1985-1995	31
Godsil	Seattle WA, USA	1974-1978	12
Godsil/Miller	Seattle WA, USA	1980-1981	4
Pedersen & Thuesen	Bramdrupdam, Denmark	1952-1970	62
Petticrows UK	Burnham-on-Crouch, UK	1988-2021	800+
Petticrows POR	Cascais, Portugal	2021-present
Roland	Kristiansand, Norway	1937-1951	47
Kelvin Savell	San Diego CA, USA	1963-1968	13
Spocé Enterprises	Rochester NY, USA	1978-1981	9