El Muro de Lamentos Box para las ideas del dragonero commun
Date: 26/01/1999
Auteur: Dhr. Patrick Delahaye, past president
El Muro de Lamentos Box para las ideas del dragonero commun
Zis series ov artikles iz specially designed to allow ze common dragoner to propose new ideez or changes, zat will better ze whole dragon klass.
Zere are subjects which are ferry difficult to solve and many hours we should spend, to discuss zem in our minds.
Once we haf convinced ourselves, zen it is easy for ze representatives to decide for us at ze IDA.
Zo El Muro de Lamentos iz ze reflexion of my and possibly your reflexions.
My first reflexion is zat, sailing a dragon must be a pleasure and zat sailing against another dragon is still a greater pleasure not necessarily, an obligation to win.
It is a challenge to beat the winds and the sea in the best possible way and zat gives a great joy.
It is a challenge for an amateur sailor, to leave his office or his factory or his palazzio or his strawberry field or simply his most stressing occupation, for a day on ze water and get a real dose of pleasure by sailing the most beautiful, fast moving keelboat around, on a river or on the next lake or on the sea.
Some days he wins or is well placed in the race, most of the time he is not, but the tremendous kick is always there.
There is no shame not to win, nor is there any honour in winning.
The truth is that by sailing in a seamanlike way, by the rules, one gets more out of it.
During the aperitif, one can then feel the admiration for his options and manoeuvres and fun and joy make it the best gatherings in the sailing world. (Beer helps too.)
It iz well known, zat dragoners haf ze best boats and ze best ambiance after-race too.
And so it should be and remain!!
Zat is why we haf ze IDA. To maintain ze uniqueness of ze monotype dragon and a ferocious technical committee zat can control and reject all ze temptations to change whatever ze builders would like to try to test.............(If I continue on zis subject I’ll haf to ask Nato for help...)
But we should also recommend to set-up, an ethical committee to survey, zat all dragoners do their best, never cheat and remain ze gentlemen of the sailing world, so zat big money, sponsorships, ze race for ze latest kevlar, ze pro’s and all zose tings zat spoil our pleasure of amateurs, will never be able to set foot on board nor gain acces to ze bar.
For a starter let us try to use a language corresponding to the beautiful lines of our dragon.
The Notice of race of the 1998 Europeans mentions courses as follows:
“...or 45°/45° triangles with sausage.”
How beautiful, how sentimental, how poetic, how it does give you the vision of open seas, bright, coloured spinnakers, towering in the air, suddenly vanishing in a whirling ballet of white sails and streamlined hulls scraping around a buoy and disappearing to the wind....
Sausage! Why not be more specific? Frankfurter oder Jaeger, oder Churizzo and inform if it is with mustard or Ketchup mit Brödchen und onions.
Imagine in ze next instructions zat they describe ze windward buoy as, balleke met shaté?
You understand now zat ze Ethical Committee ov ze IDA has its reason for existing!
Patrick D.
Admiral de todas las flotas
de la Clein Playa y de los tres Tornados
Gran Defensor del Ethicos de los Gentilhombres de la vela