Solent Dragon Fleet

Sailing an International Dragon in the Solent as part of the Solent fleet provides fantastic challenges for the enthusiastic day boat racer.

We race from the end of April to end of September every Saturday and Sunday with courses set by the highly experienced race officers of the Combined Cowes Yacht Clubs (CCYC).   Cowes is the spiritual home of keel boat racing and the Dragon Fleet has been an established part of the Cowes scene from the 1940s.  The roster of fleet championship winners is a who’s who of South Coast sailors. We race alongside Etchells, Darings, Xboats and sports boats taking advantage of the 36 square miles of protected open water that is the Solent.  For competitive sailors Dragons provide a compelling combination: An extremely challenging and competitive international one design fleet, the aesthetic pleasure of sailing a simply beautiful yacht, and a hugely social group of co-sailors.

Our season is divided into four series.  Each series offers a combination of round-the-cans courses and short sharp windward lewards in the Red Funnel Races.

• “Round the cans” courses – negotiate the complex combination of tides and winds, making use of the 70+ bouys in the Solent,
• Windward lewards provide championship style racing using areas of the Solent with the most favourable conditions for each race.