Prior to the advent of GRP Dragons, Kelvin Savell of San Diego CA was the largest Dragon builder in North America. Whereas most builders had made one or two, Kelvin had built 10 wooden Dragons by the end of the 1960s, including several very sucessful ones. USA219, Aphrodite was built in 1964 for Lowell North who won the Bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. She was bought by Bob Mosbacher who won Gold at the 1969 Worlds in Palma. US244, Caprice was built for Buddy Friedrichs in 1968 and then sold to Don Cohan who won Bronze at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
When GRP Dragons were approved by the IDA/IYRU in the early 70s, Kelvin is said to have taken a mold of one of his wooden Dragons, USA240, Tatsu so he could start building Dragons in the new material. Kelvin wanted to retain the looks of a wooden Dragon, so he hoped to build these Dragons with wooden cuddies and coamings. He requested confirmation that this was ok from the IDA/IYRU and in January 1973 the Chief Measurer for the IYRU confirmed that, while wooden decks were not allowed, a wooden “cabin top” would be allowed. Savell assumed this meant a wooden cuddy and coaming to join it to the deck and he proceeded to build two GRP Dragons in 1973, USA256, Loki and USA257 War Eagle. He also built a third hull that was intended to be USA258. In December 1973, Savell sent details on his proposal for attaching the cuddy and coaming to the deck to make sure the IYRU approved, since this was something new for a GRP Dragon. The IYRU did not respond until late March 1974 and it was a bit of a bombshell. They clarified that the cabin top could be wooden but not the sides or the coamings. They apologized for being so slow in responding and inquired as to how many Dragons had been constructed so far. Savell responded that three had been built and asked for acceptance of his design or dispensation for the three Dragons that had been built. Finally on April 30th, the IYRU agreed to grandfather in all three Dragons. By this point, Savell had decided to sell the molds to Marty Godsil of Seattle, who planned to carry on building GRP Dragons. Marty purchased the third Dragon hull, along with the molds and drove from Seattle to San Diego to pick up the “Savell Dragon factory”. Ironically wooden cuddies and coamings, as well as wooden decks are now allowed and command a price premium on new GRP Dragons.
The Savell Dragons had a number of innovations to reduce the cost, including a sandwich hull and deck construction and an integrated liner, which were the subject for further discussion with the IDA and IYRU with respect the the boats that Marty Godsil and O.E. Schuppe built. As with any new design spec there was some room for interpretation. The IDA did not have a Technical Committee at that time and relied on the IYRU and existing builders for technical advice.
| Country | United States |
| Locations | San Diego |
| Years in Operation | 1963-1968 |
| Boats Built | USA 210 219 220 232 237 238 239(CAN128) 240(CAN116) 244 245 246 256 257 |