Late October brought a Russian invasion of Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex as Dragon sailors from the Pirogovo Dragon Yacht Club in Moscow joined the Burnham Dragon fleet for an exciting weekend of team racing and socialising.

Now in its third year this is one of several special British Dragon Association events specifically aimed at building international friendships.  The venue for this Anglo-Russian event alternates between Burnham and Moscow and this year it was the turn of the Royal Corinthian Yachrt Club Burnham to play host to 12 guest from Russia.

In fact there should have been 15 Russian guests, but three were unable to obtain visas in time and had to stay behind.  In order to keep the teams at five boats per side Burnham fleet member Tim Tavinor and his crew volunteered to become honorary Russians for the weekend.