Le Dragon de Maud
| Built in 1989 in Nice, in the south of France by Pasqui shipyard, 'le Dragon de Maud' is one of the too rare cruising boat designed by Bouvet/Petit. These architects are more known for their success in designing racing boats such as 'Ecureuil d'Aquitaine' and 'Lada Poch', two winners of the tough round-the-world single-handed non-stop 'Vendée Globe Challenge'. Bouvet/Petit designed also the polar sailing boat 'Antartica' which visited several times the iced continent. These architects have also been working on one of the French projects for the America's Cup. |  Hull of the boat |
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| le Dragon de Maud is a perfect demonstration of the innovatively minded architects. The 42 foot hull, made from wood-epoxy, 20 mm of red cedar and mahogany combines rigidity and lightness. Indeed, the whole boat is exceptionally light: less than six tons, including 2.5 tons of lead as ballast embedded in the bilge for the stability since this boat has no keel but a centreboard. The draft therefore is minimum and the wet surface can be reduce significantly under running wind conditions. In this regard, the double rudder the boat is equipped with helps notably by keeping her well in her track. It reduces also the draft and, being fixed with 10º angle on each side of the axis of the boat, there is always a rudder working perfectly well when the boat is heeling. The rigging of this sloop is fractioned and priority has been given to the main sail, fully battened, which powers the boat with its 52 square metres! Indeed, a huge sail for this size boat. To help in the manoeuvres, a lazy-jack has been posted. The jib is self-tacking. The boat features many other originalities. An open cockpit which can be used as a diving platform and has been calculated to be a sleeping area when it is too hot to sleep inside. In the boat, the sitting area, designed to seat eight opens onto a large window on the cockpit with a magnificent view on the sea. |
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 Side plan |
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| Built without any partition inside, one has a real feeling of space while moving in the boat, a feeling enhanced by the shape of the foam-epoxy roof which allows even a tall sailor to stand up almost every where necessary in the boat. The weight balance has been carefully studied. For that, the engine has been fixed closed to the centre of gravity of the boat and the windlass and its chain stored more that two metres from the bow, in the bilge. A boat, elegant, beautifully crafted, easy to sail and fast which is currently sailing in South East Asia. |
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 Technical specifications |
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