Pedersen & Thusen

Børge Pedersen and Poul Thuesen in their works in Kolding, Denmark. Photo provided by Tim Wilkes

If the Dragon is considered the Bugatti of the Sea, then those of Pedersen & Thuesen are the Veyrons among them. The shipyard was founded in 1949 by Børge Pedersen and Poul Thuesen in Kolding, Denmark and initially built sports rowing boats, cruising yachts and motorboats of noble quality. From 1952 to 1970, 97 Dragons were built, of which at least 60 are still preserved today. The list of victories achieved with Pedersen & Thuesen dragons is impressive. Even today, restored Pedersen & Thuesen Dragons are considered to be on a par with modern fiberglass Dragons. In 2014, Lars Hendricksen won the European Championship with a Pedersen & Thuesen built in 1960. Contrary to many rumours, however, this is not a historically tolerated speed advantage, but Günter Ahlers, chief surveyor of the IDA, puts it unequivocally: “If ever real Dragons have been built, then it is the yachts of Pedersen & Thuesen. In the eight Pedersen & Thuesen that I completely measured, all the survey points were exactly in the middle of the tolerances, just as Johan Anker designed the boat.” Unfortunately, the shipyard withdrew from Dragon construction in 1970 with the advent of GRP and continued to build mainly cruising yachts until 1983.