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 Enterprise is a Bermuda rigged sailing dinghy with a double-chined hull and distinctive blue sails. Normally crewed by two, and sometimes carrying a third crew member, it may also be sailed single-handed.
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. Bruce Kirby designed the Laser in 1970 with an emphasis on simplicity and performance.
A Streaker is a type of sailing dinghy designed in 1975 by Jack Holt. It is a light one-person boat with a uni-rig stayed sail plan. It is sailed mainly in Britain and the Philippines, and over 1800 have been built. At first all boats were built of plywood, but since 1998 fibreglass, and fibreglass variants have been used, and now over half of new boats are of fibreglass or composite construction.
The National 12 is a two-person, two-sail, twelve-foot long sailing dinghy. They are sailed extensively in the UK. The class was started in 1936 by the Royal Yachting Association as an alternative to the more expensive International 14s.
The Wayfarer is a wooden or fibreglass hulled fractional Bermuda rigged sailing dinghy of great versatility; used for short 'day boat' trips, longer cruises and for racing. Over 11,000 have been produced as of 2016.
The 470 (Four-Seventy) is a double-handed monohull planing dinghy with a centreboard, Bermuda rig, and centre sheeting. Equipped with a spinnaker, trapeze and a large sail-area-to-weight ratio, it is designed to plane easily, and good teamwork is necessary to sail it well. The name comes from the boat's length of 470 centimetres.
The Optimist is a small, single-handed sailing dinghy intended for use by young people up to the age of 15.
The International 420 Dinghy is a sailing dinghy popular for racing and teaching. The hull is fiberglass with internal buoyancy tanks. The 420 has a bermuda rig, spinnaker and trapeze. It has a large sail-area-to-weight ratio, and is designed to plane easily. The 420 is an International class recognised by World Sailing. The name refers to the boat's length of 420 centimetres.
The Cadet is a class of sailing dinghy designed to be sailed by two children up to the age of 17. It is a one-design class, originally designed by Jack Holt in 1947. Cadets are sailed worldwide in more than 40 countries.
The Fireball is a British sailing dinghy that was designed by Peter Milne as a one-design racer and first built in 1962.
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 Sabre Dinghy is a class single-handed sailboat that is 12'4" or 3.76 m long. The boat was designed in 1974 by Rex Fettell, who also designed the Minnow. As of 2017 over 2,000 sail numbers have been issued.
The International 14 is a British racing sailboat, crewed by two sailors. The class was established in 1928.
The Merlin Rocket is a 14 foot (4.3 m) dinghy sailed in the United Kingdom. It is an active class, now with over 3800 boats built.
The Cherub is a 12 feet long, high performance, two-person, planing dinghy first designed in 1951 in New Zealand by John Spencer. The class is a development class, allowing for significant variation in design between different boats within the rule framework. The minimum hull weight was originally 110 lbs.
The Pacer class of sailing dinghy, formerly known as the Puffin Pacer, was designed in the United Kingdom by Jack Holt. It was commissioned by Puffin Paints and Glues to be designed as sailing dinghy for use by families, so needing to be larger than their earlier Puffin dinghy. It has since become a popular learning and racing dinghy in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, India and the UK. The name was changed in the UK early 1970s, although Australia continued to use the name until 1989, when they followed the UK in dropping the "puffin" and chose the wedge-tailed shearwater as the boat's symbol.
The Miracle is a small dinghy sailboat popularized in the United Kingdom, and designed by Jack Holt — one of the last for the well-known designer.
The Dart 18 is a one-design 18-foot (5.5 m) long glassfibre sailing catamaran. It is designed to be sailed by two people and can achieve speeds of up to 20 knots. This is reflected in its Portsmouth Yardstick of 805 and D-PN of 76.3
