Royal Yacht Bluebottle to feature at 2020 Edinburgh Cup

The British Dragon Association (BDA) has announced that this year’s Edinburgh Cup fleet will include the famous International Dragon, Bluebottle.

Built by Camper and Nicholson in 1948, Bluebottle was presented to HM the Queen and HRH Prince Philip as a wedding present from the Island Sailing Club of Cowes, Isle of Wight. She is the only British Dragon to have won an Olympic medal, picking up a bronze at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games.

The keelboat spent 40 years as a sail-training vessel at the Britannia Royal Naval College, and more recently was residing on the pontoon at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, in Falmouth.

Image credit: British Dragon Association/ David Heritage

Now at the age of 72, Bluebottle is undergoing a full restoration by David Heritage Racing Yachts on the Isle of Wight in preparation to be sailed and raced in Edinburgh this coming summer.

Hosted by the Royal Forth Yacht Club (RFYC) from 30 June to 3 July 2020, Dragon sailors from across the country and further afield will head to Edinburgh to compete for the National Championship title.

The Edinburgh Cup has been the British Open National Championship since 1949 when it was presented by the Duke of Edinburgh to the British Dragon class. In 2020 the annual event returns to its eponymous home on the Firth of Forth, where it was last held in 1997.

Bluebottle is part of the Royal Collection made up of 13 historic royal residencies and over 1 million objects including thousands of images, ceramics, books, jewellery, art and other vessels. She joins the Royal Yacht Britannia, the Flying Fifteen Cowslip and the ocean yacht racing winner, Bloodhound.