Recollections of the RHKYC Dragon Class 1978-1982

Above: A painting of the malodorous Dragon and L moorings in Oct 1980; Below: Etching commissioned by RSYS to mark the Interport 1983, sail numbers are correct and show the boats actually used for the match

WORDS: DUNCAN MUELLER

How this Article Came About

This entirely unexpected chain of events started last summer, when a friend visited me to sort out some issues with my desktop PC. He noticed a half model labelled “Dragon D14-Myth of Bowland-RHKYC” on my study wall. He told me that he knew someone who may be interested in this. Within a few days I’d received a very friendly email from Josephine Cheng, RHKYC Dragon Class Secretary. She has encouraged me to share some of my memories of life in the Hong Kong Dragon fleet. At this distance in time, some of those memories are a bit hazy, not to say inaccurate, but she has given me the excuse to revisit some of my photo albums from the period and indulge in a bit of nostalgia.

Josephine has also provided me with some of the articles written on the history of the Dragon Class in Hong Kong, and I learned a lot from them. As I have very little hard data about our time in the Dragon Class, I cannot contribute to a true record of the history of the class. The best that can be done, in response to Josephine’s request, is to try and give an impression of what it was like to sail in the lower orders of the Dragon fleet over this period.

Sue and I came to live in Hong Kong –strictly for a 12 month experiment – early in 1977. After we had found somewhere to live, the next thing we did was to apply to join the Club. Our sailing started on the lowest rung of the sailing ladder, in the “L” class. By the end of that year, we were offered Paul Molyneux’s half share in D 14, Myth of Bolwland. This boat was, like all the rest of the fleet at the time, wooden hulled but with aluminium spars. I do not know which set of boats D14 originated in, but from my recollection of the build, the batch built in 1948 seems most likely.

The Activities

At the risk of making broad generalisations, the class appealed to two groups of people. There was a mix of long-term residents and itinerants, whose time in Hong Kong was governed by relatively shortterm employment contracts. What was on offer in Dragons was a full programme of keenly contested one design racing, with a very friendly post-race social group. The sailing programme was based on Saturday afternoon harbour racing, with three series of six races each, in a season and an “off shore” race, which took the fleet outside the harbour, about once per month. In addition, there were special events, such as the Opening and Closing Regattas and Christmas Cup, which culminated in a Sunday morning race from the Club line, round Shek O Rock, finishing at the very rural anchorage at Junk Island for a raft-up with mince pies and brandy. Probably not location you would choose to anchor now.

It is hardly necessary to list the well-known disadvantages of harbour sailing, but the advantages were also significant. The access to Kellett Island was very easy for most participants. A lot of people worked at least alternate Saturday mornings, so the dash to the “White Tower” for lunch and/or a beer really did mark the start of the weekend. After a couple of hours of intense racing round the cans and a return to the main bar, the tensions of the week became a distant memory. Dragons were big enough to (mostly) keep the crew out of the dubious harbour water and powerful enough to push through the notorious harbour chop, except in the lightest of wind. A fleet, of about a dozen starters, was big enough to provide completion for a wide range of competence, and being a one design, it was easy to monitor your own progress in acquiring the necessary skills.

The Boats

It has to be admitted that most of the boats in the fleet were past their best. Years of exposure of the wooden decks to fresh rainwater resulted in an ongoing battle with rot in the deck timbers. The wooden construction meant that there was no question of dry sailing, so the boats had to sit in the typhoon shelter, accumulating a very undesirable scum along the waterline. Given the age of the boats the investment needed to join the fleet was relatively modest, and boats changed hands easily as owners arrived and departed. By the late ‘70s the overnighting on Dragons was a thing of the past, but there were still enough attractive sheltered bays within day sailing range, so summer day cruising was very much on the agenda.

Interports

These team racing events were in their infancy at the time we were lucky enough to take part. We were fortunate to join in several visits and assist with hosting the very sociable return visits. These events certainly helped to strengthen Hong Kong ’s position with yacht clubs of the Pacific Rim. Our initial involvement was the January 1979 event in Manila. The exchange was already established by then, so I am not sure when or how the series started. The arrangement was that team races were sailed entirely with boats from the hosts’ fleet. This worked well for the Dragon sailors who had at their disposal boats very similar to their own. This was not true for the less fortunate Hong Kong team from the Flying Fifteens, who in Manilla, raced in One-Tens, a very narrow lightweight American one design keel boat, equipped with a trapeze. The hospitality was generous and the climate so much better than Hong Kong in January. Somehow we found ourselves staying in the MacArthur suite in the Manilla Hotel, which really put the icing on the proverbial cake.

Our second Interport visit was to the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron in 1983. The Squadron facilities are in a spectacular prime location just NE of the Harbour Bridge, and opposite the Opera House. The racing had been arranged on week days and the Australians found it was a rare treat to sail with few other yachts out, in complete a contrast to the hectic Saturday and Sunday racing that they were accustomed to, with fleets from dozens of different clubs criss-crossing the entire harbour. The RSYS is a very long-established club (it even gets a mention in Joshua Slocum’s account of his circumnavigation 189598), but I can well remember Pat Loseby’s face as she was told that while ladies were allowed to pass through the main bar, on no

1980s – A few seconds after the start of a Class Championship race in Junk Bay – courtesy Jon

My recollection is that when the RSYS paid a return visit to HKYC a couple of years later, the Royal Vancouver YC was invited at the same time and we had a three-way match. By that time Sue and I had moved on from Dragons to a class that made weekend cruising practicable, in addition to being raced as a one design. But we were welcomed back into the Dragon fold to help entertain the people who had been such generous hosts in Sydney. Both sets of visitors enjoyed their stay in Hong Kong so much that they were very keen to establish regular exchanges and I understand that a programme of Interport events is still flourishing.

Our subsequent reciprocal visit to Vancouver reinforced the friendships already made and underlined the enormous difference between a normal touristic visit and being in a city as guests of the most affable hosts.

The People

At the time we were involved, Pat Loseby was the thread of continuity that ran through the Dragons. Her enthusiasm, love of sailing in these beautiful boats and her preparedness to argue the best interests of the class in any Committee that dared to question the matter, must have gone a long way to keeping the fleet active through periods when Dragons were becoming a little old fashioned and there were many potentially more exciting options available.

The people with the closest eye on the long-term development of the class were probably Lowell Chang and Nick Burns. Nick was perhaps the dominant sailor at that time and the one most likely to appear at the top of the leader board. Meanwhile Lowell had not left his engineering Lowell invested both time and treasure in making the progression into modern Dragon sailing possible and deserves much credit for that achievement. It is worth recording that his crew included Adrian Mnew, who happened to be the Government Naval Architect at the time, and who may well have had some technical input to the optimisation of the hull design, within the class rules.

When we joined the class, Carl Maunder had just purchased D7 from Bill Hancock, this was probably the best prepared and maintained boat in the fleet, and there was some concern that Carl would soon make the boat dominant again, and it was not long before he became a force to be reckoned with. Another very competitive crew was Chris and Jannine Rasborn, representing Sweden. Graham and Caroline Aldrich were also long-term members of the fleet, with a reputation for doing the unexpected, and sometimes getting some advantage from it. But by the early 80’s Graham had become proprietor of the Yacht Chandlery in Central and Aberdeen, so had to work most weekends, which seriously interfered with his sailing.

More, who like us had a relatively short period of involvement, were Ken and Lynne Prangnell, Joop and Joan Weddepohl, and Terry and Julie Clarke. There are certainly others who deserve a mention but I can only plead lack of records and failing memory.

Conclusion

We feel very fortunate to have been involved in the RHKYC Dragon Class, albeit for a short time. We shared very good times, on and off the water and even learned a bit about sailing. Certainly, we made some long lasting friendships and reinforced a lifelong love of the sport.