2013 Season
Regatta schedules are firming up for the 2013 season. The Royal Vancouver YC final schedule is out, with the first Dragon Regatta planned for April 14, 15. The RVYC is doing a major expansion to their dry dock storage and this should be done by then. With the extra space, there are a number of potential new Dragon owners looking for good boats, as Vancouver continues to expand it's Dragon fleet. For those farther east there are Dragon events at the Royal Canadian in Toronto and at Edgewater YC in Cleveland. All events are posted on the
NA Dragons Forum. If you happen to be visiting any of these cities, get in touch with the local fleet who are usually happy to take you out on race night. Fleet contacts as well as a Membership list (which has locations of all North American Members) is on the
website, so if you are nearby, get in touch!
Measurement Certificates
If you have a measurement certificate for your Dragon, let your National Authority know. If you race your Dragon, the Dragon Class Rules require you to have one. The Rules also require you to send a copy to your National Association when you buy a Dragon. The National Association is responsible for ensuring that all Dragons that race are indeed Dragons. The ADA and CDA have set up a DropBox Folder where we will keep Measurement Certificates for future reference. If you have any questions about Measurement,
contact us.
Advertising
There is an old saying in Advertising - "I know half my advertising dollars are wasted - I just don't know which half!" Over the years a number of Members have said "Why don't we advertise to get more people into the Class?" We recently asked Members for comments and they ranged from "Don't do it - it's a waste of money" through "Don't do it - we tried it before and it didn't work" to "Yes - get on with it!" I also asked other National Dragon Associations if they spend
money on advertising. While they use sponsorship and some put advertising on their websites, no one buys advertising. In addition to the question of whether advertising could be effective for us, is the question of where to advertise - print or online, local or national. My sense is that National advertising would not be effective (and it's very expensive), but local or online might be if it was tied to a particular event or promotion of a local fleet. So the question is still very much open - if you have any experience or opinions on this subject, let us know.
For the moment maybe the best advertising is getting boats on the water.
Merchandise
The ADA and CDA provide Members with a number of Dragon branded items at cost to help Members to promote the Class in North America. This spring we are doing another order of baseball caps with a Dragon logo on the front and the option to customize with your boat name and/or sail number on the back. We have also looked at sourcing waterproof sports bags, assuming enough members are interested. Dragon branded merchandise is a great way to promote the Class locally.
We also have a few copies of the Racing Rules of Sailing 2013-2016 (waterproof edition). These were provided to Members at a reduced price for renewing their Membership in January. The remainder are available at cost.
If you are interested in any of these items,
contact us.