{"id":45447,"date":"2026-11-08T01:05:37","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T17:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/?p=45447"},"modified":"2026-11-08T01:06:51","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T17:06:51","slug":"dragon-worlds-heads-to-asia-for-the-first-time-as-95-boats-enter-hong-kong-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/en\/dragon-worlds-heads-to-asia-for-the-first-time-as-95-boats-enter-hong-kong-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Dragon Worlds heads to Asia for the first time as 95 boats enter Hong Kong championship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style>.bmn-news{max-width:800px;margin:0 auto;color:#203946;font:18px\/1.85 -apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,\"Noto Sans TC\",\"PingFang TC\",Arial,sans-serif}.bmn-news p{font-size:18px;line-height:1.85;margin:0 0 18px;color:#203946}.bmn-news h2{font-size:26px;line-height:1.45;margin:40px 0 16px;color:#142e3b}.bmn-news a{color:#005e70;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px}.bmn-news figure{margin:28px 0}.bmn-news img{display:block;width:100%;height:auto}.bmn-news figcaption,.bmn-news .small{font-size:15px;line-height:1.65;color:#334155;margin-top:10px}.bmn-news .table-wrap{overflow-x:auto}.bmn-news table{border-collapse:collapse;width:100%;font-size:16px;line-height:1.6}.bmn-news caption{text-align:left;font-weight:700;font-size:20px;margin-bottom:12px}.bmn-news th,.bmn-news td{padding:12px;border-bottom:1px solid #ccd6db;text-align:left;vertical-align:top}.bmn-news thead{background:#e5edf0}.bmn-news tbody tr:nth-child(even){background:#f1f5f9}@media(max-width:600px){.bmn-news p{font-size:17px;line-height:1.8}.bmn-news h2{font-size:24px;margin:26px 0 12px}.bmn-news figure{margin:20px 0}.bmn-news table{font-size:15px;min-width:320px}.bmn-news th,.bmn-news td{padding:10px 8px}}<\/style><div class=\"bmn-news\"><p class=\"small\">Cover library photograph: Dragons HKG 59 and HKG 50. Photo: Takumi Images \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragonworld2027.com\/media\">championship media centre<\/a>.<\/p><p>Hong Kong will host the Dragon World Championship from 21 to 29 November 2026, the first time the event has been held in Asia. The organiser\u2019s figures as at 7 November list 95 boats entered from 21 nations, with the defending world champion, an Olympic gold medallist and local Hong Kong crews among the fleet. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragonworld2027.com\/media\">Source: championship fact sheet<\/a>.<\/p><p>The event is organised by the Sailing Federation of Hong Kong, China, with the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, International Dragon Association and Hong Kong Dragon Association as co-organisers. It follows the Asia Pacific Dragon Championship, which runs in Hong Kong from 17 to 21 November. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragonworld2027.com\/media\">Source: organisation and event details<\/a>.<\/p><h2>World champion and Olympic gold medallist join the home fleet<\/h2><p>The organiser\u2019s contender briefing lists British sailor Andy Beadsworth returning with Simon Fry and Enes \u00c7aylak aboard Provezza Dragon. The same crew won the Dragon world title at Vilamoura, Portugal, in 2025.<\/p><p>Xu Lijia, an Olympic sailing gold medallist at London 2012, is entered aboard Water Lily. Fellow entrant Graham Bailey leads the 2026 Dragon Ranking List cited by the organiser and campaigns Bluebottle, a wooden boat built in 1948. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragonworld2027.com\/media\/contenders\">Source: contender briefing, with information verified on 31 October<\/a>.<\/p><p>The organiser lists 14 boats racing under the Hong Kong flag. They include Tam Nguyen\u2019s Zephyr (HKG 55), K.K. Lee\u2019s Movement (HKG 54), Joseph Chu\u2019s Mei Fei (HKG 51) and Abraham van Olphen\u2019s Dragonfly (HKG 59). The home fleet will meet international opponents in familiar Hong Kong waters. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragonworld2027.com\/media\/contenders\">Source: Hong Kong fleet briefing<\/a>.<\/p><h2>A 1929 design with a continuing racing life<\/h2><p>The Dragon is a fixed-keel sailing boat approximately 8.9 metres long, designed by Norwegian yacht designer Johan Anker in 1929. Its one-design rules govern construction and equipment within shared specifications. Wooden and glass-fibre hulls both continue to race. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragonworld2027.com\/dragon-class\">Source: class introduction<\/a>.<\/p><figure><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/BMN-20261107-001-crew.jpg\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" alt=\"Three sailors in lifejackets hiking on the windward side of a heeled Dragon.\"><figcaption>A Dragon crew hiking through a gust (organiser\u2019s library photograph).<br>Photo: Takumi Images \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragonworld2027.com\/media\">championship media centre<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/BMN-20261107-001-spinnaker.jpg\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" alt=\"Dragon sailors working lines beneath a red spinnaker.\"><figcaption>A Dragon crew working under a red spinnaker (organiser\u2019s library photograph).<br>Photo: Takumi Images \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragonworld2027.com\/media\">championship media centre<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><p>Boats of the class were already racing in Hong Kong in the 1932\/33 season, with local competition continuing over the following decades. Hosting the Worlds brings the class\u2019s world title contest to Asia for the first time, in a city with longstanding Dragon sailing roots. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragonworld2027.com\/dragon-class\">Source: Hong Kong class history<\/a>.<\/p><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/BMN-20261107-001-archive1937.jpg\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" alt=\"Black-and-white archive photograph of two Dragons sailing in Hong Kong waters in 1937.\"><figcaption>Dragons racing in Hong Kong waters in 1937.<br>Photo: Bunny Browne \/ Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club Archive \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragonworld2027.com\/media\">championship media centre<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><h2>Clearwater Bay base, racing off the Ninepins<\/h2><p>The fleet will be based at the Clearwater Bay Golf &#038; Country Club marina, which provides measurement and launching facilities. Racing takes place offshore at the Ninepins. The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club\u2019s Kellett Island clubhouse hosts the opening ceremony and principal shore programme. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragonworld2027.com\/media\">Source: venue information<\/a>.<\/p><div class=\"table-wrap\"><table><caption>Event calendar (November 2026)<\/caption><thead><tr><th>Date<\/th><th>Programme<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><th scope=\"row\">17\u201321 November<\/th><td>Asia Pacific Dragon Championship; racing on 19\u201321 November<\/td><\/tr><tr><th scope=\"row\">21\u201329 November<\/th><td>Dragon World Championship; opening ceremony on 22 November, racing on 23\u201325 and 27\u201329 November<\/td><\/tr><tr><th scope=\"row\">26 November<\/th><td>Scheduled Worlds lay day; racing may be held if required and notified by the Race Committee<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><p class=\"small\">Source: official championship calendar, checked 7 November 2026. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragonworld2027.com\/#racing-calendar\">Calendar and updates<\/a><\/p><p>There is no shore viewing of the race area. Spectator boats are planned for 23 and 27 November, alongside online race-position tracking. Viewing and booking details are on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragonworld2027.com\/for-visitors\">official visitor page<\/a>.<\/p><p>The official title is the \u201c2027 Hong Kong Dragon World Championship\u201d. The organiser says this follows the convention of naming the event for the 2027 season it opens; the actual dates are in November 2026. Checked 7 November 2026. See the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragonworld2027.com\/for-competitors\">official notice boards<\/a> for notices and results.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hong Kong will host the Dragon World Championship on 21\u201329 November 2026, with 95 boats from 21 nations entered. Defending champion Andy Beadsworth, Olympic gold medallist Xu Lijia and local Hong Kong crews feature in the fleet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":45434,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-yacht-trends"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45447"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45448,"href":"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45447\/revisions\/45448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boatmarket.com.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}