In 1929 the Norwegian designer Johan Anker designed a weekend-sailingboat with two berthsand with which boat you also could participate in coastal races. He called this design Dragon. In 1936 the first Dragon was delivered to Holland. The class became very popular in Holland as well as in the rest of Europe and in 1948 the Dragon Class became Olympic, which status was held till 1972. The expected decline of the class did not occur, the class even grew with high speed, mainly thanks to the beautiful, elegant hullshape, which has not been changed significantly since 1929. Only the cabin has become more streamlined, because modern Dragons do not have berths anymore and are being built for racing.The rigging and sailplan have been changed, however, during the years. Since 1973 Dragons are also built of GRP and since 2000 a cold moulded version is on the market. In the Netherlands we still see a lot of old wooden Dragons, carefully restored, and in use as weekendsailer or for racing. Because not many things have changed in more than 70 years the uniformity in the class has been kept reasonably well, sothat older boats - if they have racing rigging - can participate in the various regattas organized in Holland (and the rest of the World).

In 2002 +/- 1650 Dragons are registered at the International Dragon Association. The greatest fleets can be found in Europe, with Germany on top. The Netherlands are on the fourth place with 118 dragons, behind England and Sweden. There are more Dragons in Holland, but they are nog registered at the national organizations. The Dragonclass is the greatest open one design open keelboat class in the world.