Dragon Sailing Blog & Newsfeed

We have moved into our own new warehouse & office space.
Enjoy a  quick video walkthrough of the new home of the largest dedicated RC sailing dealer in the world!

With a lot of hard work and Joysway’s  amazing support, radio sailing has, over a very short space of time, gained two new classes positioned to facilitate the growth of the sport. But that won’t happen all by itself, what happens next is down you, the early adopters, the distributors and the core of enthusiasts that will come together to organise the classes on an international level. The boats are there, what you want to do with them is down to your own imagination.

I had a great time traveling to the DF65 Canadian Nationals in Vancouver last weekend. Got a chance to meet with the skippers burgeoning fleet of DF65s growing in the British Columbia area and support their National Championship Regatta.

It ended up being a 1 day event, but the weather was perfect with winds ranging from 5-15 kts, sunshine and about 60 degrees. One of the things I love about traveling and racing RC sailboats in competition is every venue is different and has its quirks
The Steveston venue is a nearly perfect sailing area, especially when the wind blows right down the pipe. It is located on a river so one of the fun challenges was dealing with about a 2-3 kt current from both the tide and the river, which basically ran right down the course, from windward to leeward ...(which you can see in the picture below.) 

Not an easy thing to do with a DF65 class boat  that weighs 1250 grams!
Sailing in this current  really forces you to hit the start line running and really make sure you have plenty in the bank when you round the windward mark and offset! The downwind runs were FAST though!
That speed wind also shows how well the DragonForce 65 sails in breeze and illustrates why it is the best selling sailboat in the world. For its size, cost and handling it is an amazing bang for the buck!

Coming to this  regatta was a last minute decision, and I had just completed a new boat and A+ Rig.  In addition I had brought a new A+ Rig for one of the local skippers, but ended up finishing it instead of finishing the new standard A rig I had for my own boat. This means I was stuck with A+ rig for the entire 1 day event. Kind of dicey when you travel that far to race!
I also did not have a lot of opportunity to sail the new A+ rig in competition very often, especially in higher wind bands so it was a great chance to see how it performed.

The first several races were in winds of about 6-8 kts, and most of the boats in the regatta had the A+ rig and were sailing very fast! I had a couple bad starts and finished off the pace, but the boat performed well. 

Just before lunch,  the wind started picking up to about 10-12  and for a race or 2 everyone in A+ started rounding up  going downwind and  had trouble tacking. I managed to do well, mostly because I have spent many years racing in Texas winds , at the top of whatever rig I had, and could handle my boat in those conditions. I advised that the skippers who had the A rigs change to them. I also tightened the foot of my sail to about 15mm on the jib & main, opened up my jib slot a bit more, and added a bit of twist into the main to bleed off air. 

Once this happened the skippers that were in A with the winds gusting up to 15 kts, could handle their tacks , and downwind runs with no problem, in fact it nearly got to B rig conditions a few times! I still managed to grind out top 5 finishes by sailing by the lee downwind, and cracking off my main and jib when going upwind so i didnt slide sideways  (again the current made this even more of a rollercoaster ride!)

If you are properly trimmed in a DF65 you can still tack when overpowered, but it will stall a bit more than normal once the tack is completed... yet another reason to gear down when the wind is heavy and keep your boat in control!

I was quite pleased overall with how the boat handled, but I would have definitely changed at about 10 kts given the opportunity. and sea conditions. 

Thanks to the Host Committee, especially Bob Lewis, Wilson Chong and the rest of the gang for hosting a really fun regatta at a beautiful venue! Also to Michael Steele for his support of the DF65 fleet in Eastern Canada!

Link to 200+ pictures from the event: https://flic.kr/s/aHsm54k3rX

BY popular demand , I have put together a step by step guide for "part building" the DF65 A+ Rig Kit!

Here is the file to download in PDF format!

Chuck's Quick & Dirty Guide to Building the A+ Rig Kit

The new tray design for the v6 DragonForce is fantastic. Far cleaner and no flex in the tray, also moulded  to accommodate the stock sail winch.

Joysway and the DF Design team have collaborated to design this tray so existing DF65 owners  can retrofit your older Version 3-5 Dragon Force for a better electronic arrangement and no more tray flex!

All you need are the parts kits:

• Part # 881501 DF65 V6 Servo Tray
• Part # 881542 DF65 V6 (retrofit) Switch Rod  (for v3-v5 Hulls) 

and 2 tools :

• 2.5 mm Hex wrench
• small phillips head screwdriver                          

Procedure:

1. Remove screws for Sail servo drum and rudder servo horn
2. Unplug servo leads and remove receiver  / Remove Servos from Tray, leaving the                            leaving the winch drum and rudder control arm  on the boat.
3. You can leave the drum  but wound   will need to break the old tray to remove it intact, and will have to squeeze it into the new tray                                                                        
4. Remove both Trays / ( save 4 of the tray screws) / 
5. Remove Switch Assembly from old tray
6. Install Sail winch, Rudder Servo, and old power Switch on the new tray, use the 4 saved screws to attach at the 4 corners, taking care to make sure that the rudder control arm and the winch line are not in between the bulkhead & tray
7. Finally Install your new switch arm retrofit arm through the rubber cap and weave it into the hole in the switch                                                                            
8. Reinstall your servo leads into the receiver  and make sure your settings and geometry for your rudder servo arm and winch line are at their correct settings!