Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats by using five essential controls:
The Mirror is a type of popular sailing dinghy with more than 70,000 built.
The Topper is an 11 foot 43 kg (95 lb) sailing dinghy designed by Ian Proctor. The Topper was a one-design boat until 2023 when a new version was produced, and is sailed mostly around the British Isles. It was recognised as a World Sailing Class. The boat previously constructed from polypropylene, and now roto moulded, is popular as a racing boat or for sail training. The class association (ITCA) organise racing events, which range from small travellers to major championships. The RYA run squads alongside the events; in these squads young sailors who are given specialist race coaching. It is sailed widely among junior sailors in the UK and Ireland and there is a growing fleet in China.
The GP14 is a wooden or fibreglass hulled double-handed fractional Bermuda rigged sailing dinghy designed by Jack Holt in 1949.
The Laser is a class of single-handed, one-design sailing dinghies using a common hull design with three interchangeable rigs of different sail areas, appropriate to a given combination of wind strength and crew weight. Ian Bruce and Bruce Kirby designed the Laser in 1970 with an emphasis on simplicity and performance.
The Wayfarer is a wooden or fibreglass hulled fractional Bermuda rigged sailing dinghy of great versatility; it can be used for short 'day boat' trips, for longer cruises and for racing. Over 11,000 have been produced as of 2016.
Jack Holt, OBE was a prolific designer of sailing dinghies. His pioneering designs of dinghies using plywood did much to popularise the sport of sailing in the period immediately following World War II.
The Wanderer is a 14-foot Fibreglass hull Bermuda rigged sailing dinghy designed by Ian Proctor. One of the main objectives of the design was to produce a robust safe and versatile dinghy that could be used for knockabout day sailing and cruising as well as racing, but was light enough to be handled ashore.
The Bell Woodworking Seagull and Seamew are both small sloop-rigged marine ply sailing boats of the Trailer yacht type designed by Ian Proctor, who was also responsible for the design of many small sailing dinghies in seven different classes including the extremely popular Topper, and Wanderer.
Ian Douglas Ben Proctor was a British designer of boats, both sailing dinghies and cruisers. He had more than one hundred designs to his credit, from which an estimate of at least 65,000 boats were built. His pioneering aluminium mast designs also revolutionised the sport of sailing.
Phil Morrison is a British boat designer and racer rendered notable by the success of his many designs in many classes since 1967 as well as his own distinguished yacht racing career.
The CL 16, or CL16, is a Canadian sailing dinghy that was designed by Ian Proctor (1918-1992), Graham Dodd and George Blanchard, as a cruiser and daysailer, and first built in 1968.
The Bosun is a 14-foot GRP sailing dinghy originally created for the Royal Navy by designer Ian Proctor and built by Bossoms Boatyard in 1963. The design specification was for a robust dinghy, able to handle open seas, capable of carrying a crew of 3 to 4 people and be fast enough for a competent helm to enjoy sailing, whilst stable enough for a beginner to learn on.
The Marlin is a 14-foot 2/3 person sailing dinghy designed and built by Ian Proctor.
The Mirror 16 is a class of sailing dinghy which was sponsored by the Daily Mirror newspaper in 1963, and the design project was headed by Jack Holt. Its design was based upon the easy–to–construct stitch and glue principle introduced by Barry Bucknell for the Mirror 11 dinghy. The Mirror 16 was designed for the racing enthusiast and also the camping/potterer dinghy sailor. The concept was a relatively light dinghy with a large sail area that could easily be reefed. The mainsail was designed for slab reefing and the large genoa had roller reefing. The Mirror 16, like the Mirror 11, was produced with distinctive red sails. The Mirror 16 was faster than the Proctor-designed Wayfarer.
The Gull sailing dinghy was designed by Ian Proctor in 1956, originally as a frameless double-chine plywood boat. However, it has been through several incarnations: the wooden Mark I, GRP Mark III, GRP Gull Spirit and GRP Gull Calypso. Today it is popular with sailing schools, especially in the United Kingdom.
The Minisail is a 13-foot single-handed dinghy which was designed by Ian Proctor in 1959 and became popular in the 1960s. It was the predecessor to the Topper and was the first British production boat to popularise the idea of the "sailing surfboard". As the Topper gained popularity in the 1980s, the Minisail disappeared from the scene. However, on 28 August 2011, a group of enthusiasts restarted the Minisail Class Association, which now has a small but committed following mainly in north-west Europe. The class association website is Minisail.org
George Cockshott was born into a legal and sporting family in Southport, where he practised as a solicitor in the family firm of Bucks, Cockshott and Cockshott. His brother Francis was an Athletics Blue in each of his three years at Cambridge as well as working for a time in the family firm. George served as a justice of the peace and was also an active and gifted amateur yacht designer. His claim to fame comes through his design of the 'International' 12 Foot Dinghy. Although the international status of the class was revoked by the IYRU in 1964, it is still raced actively across the world. George retired to Hampshire in later years, dying there in 1953.
The Mistral 16 is a Canadian sailing dinghy that was designed as a daysailer and first built in 1980.
