Scowling Dragon, sailing under A3 with two crew on deck
The Class 40 racing yacht Scowling Dragon, designed by Owen Clarke Design, turned heads in the 2025 Marblehead Halifax Race with a competitive third-place finish on elapsed time. Engineered with a signature scow bow and optimized for offshore conditions, this racing yacht showcased why it's among the fastest platforms inoffshore sailing on the east coast of the USA. With a hull tailored to modern ocean racing and the latest refinements in Class 40 design, the boat drew attention from fellow competitors and spectators alike.
First and second place Judel Vrolik and Riechel Pugh 66's at the finish in Halifax.
Owner/skipper Mike Hennessy navigated Scowling Dragon through the mixed conditions keeping pace with far larger fully crewed achts like the JV 66 Temptation/Oakcliff and Reichel/Pugh 66 Boudicca. Crew, Chris Skinner commented: “Full send for the first 20hrs as we got offshore. Reaching sails and A3 . Breeze built to high 20s and we had 4hrs on an a5 by which time we were leading the fleet overall. To finish, a 15knt vmg run down the coast of Nova Scotia to finish, which was the only reason the 66’s caught us." Scowling Dragon crossed the finish just 30 minutes behind Boudicca and 47 minutes behind Temptation/Oakcliff.
Scowling Dragon being prepared earlier in the season for the Bermuda 1-2
After docking at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, the crew began post-race debriefs and performance reviews as part of their ongoing offshore campaign. Owen Clarke Design will study telemetry and sail data to further tune the boat’s racing profile. With proven performance in this demanding near ocean race and her recent victory in the Bermuda 1-2, also in testing conditions, Scowling Dragon has proven her reliability and speed this year and is working up to her first encounter in Europe with the ultra-competitive Class 40 fleet there.
