Ivan Coryn of Hood One Design explains how genoa design and trim affect helm balance and speed to windward: too much power in the genoa relative to the main gives lee helm, too much in the main gives weather helm. He shows the stress map of a crosscut genoa and describes the five main controls – sheet tension, Barbour haulers, athwartships tracks, halyard tension and runners. As a guide, set the Barbour hauler so the seams on the lower two-thirds of the sail run parallel with the side of the boat and those in the upper third twist off 5–10 degrees, and expect to play the runner fine tune over about 2 cm upwind. […]
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A checklist for racing a Dragon in heavy weather, in three parts. Preparation: check shackles, runners and blocks, clear the bilges, and carry a good towline as well as the anchor warp, plus lifejackets. Settings: set the boat up to be easy and fast, treat heavy weather helm as a sign of being overpowered, and de-power by flattening the main with the mast ram, raising the genoa barber and opening the main leech with the backstay. Techniques: ease the main before tacking and use the waves upwind; downwind, run slightly by the lee, gybe at maximum speed with the kicker eased, and flatten the spinnaker to stop rolling. […]
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Graham Bailey offers five rig changes that help a light crew make up a 45 kg weight deficit by making the rig more forgiving. Rake the spreaders aft by 10 or 20 mm at the tip, move cap and lower shrouds to the forward deck holes, fix the jumpers at about 4 or 5 on the Loos gauge, and ease the mast ram once maximum runner is on and you are still over-powered. For a race that will be very windy all day, set the forestay one hole higher for more rake – but test it first, as you may run out of runner adjustment. […]
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Graham Bailey looks at what the tiller tells a Dragon helmsman sailing upwind, starting from how to hold it: with the minimum grip that keeps control and the maximum feel. Waves make the tiller load up and unload; in short Dragon-venue waves he prefers to hold a straight course, locking the tiller-arm elbow (or the extension against the coaming) rather than steering over each wave. He notes the boat is fastest upwind when weather helm is momentarily neutralised or ‘released’, and suggests applying a fraction more helm then releasing it as the waves arrive. […]
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A non-technical explanation of the aerodynamics behind genoa trim on a Dragon. Upwind, the genoa produces about twice the force per unit area of the mainsail, and the boat goes best with a light rudder pressure (rudder angle under 5 degrees) and 10–15 degrees of heel. The article explains how the slot between genoa and main controls the flow, why a slot that narrows too abruptly or too much backwinds the main, and how stagnation-line diagrams illustrate this. It then covers the three ways of changing genoa shape (luff tension via the halyard, forestay sag via runner and mainsheet, and clew position via sheet lead, barber hauler and sheet), with settings for flat water and for waves. […]
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A practical guide to spinnaker trimming on Dragon runs, with tips from Werner Fritz, Pedro Andrade and Tim Tavinor. It starts with marking lines before racing: marks 1–2 cm in front of the cleat on sheets, pole uphaul and downhaul and halyard, and two backstay marks for the mast, which may go up to 50 mm forward at deck level downwind. For medium winds (5–16 knots) it covers full hoist, a pole perpendicular to the wind with both clews level, the windward barber raised, the mast fully forward, and easing the guy as much as a metre or more. It also explains sailing deep by the lee, lowering the pole in light airs, tightening both barber haulers in heavy winds to stop rolling, and gybing in heavy air with the runners on. […]
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Jamie Lea, 2024 Gold Cup winner, double World Champion and North Sails expert, explains how to trim a Dragon for different conditions. In light wind and flat water he flattens both sails by easing the barber hauler and genoa halyard, tensioning the outhaul, possibly easing the ram, and keeping runners soft. In medium wind and chop he powers up with the barber hauler pulled on and in, more halyard tension (just enough to leave tiny wrinkles), maximum ram, the outhaul eased slightly and the top mainsail telltale flying about 80% of the time. He calls runner tension the single most effective adjustment, recommends an inclinometer to find the best heel angle, offers “if in doubt, ease it out” as a reset when slow, and stresses constant helm feedback to the trimmers. […]
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