Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats by using five essential controls:
Dinghy racing is a competitive sport using dinghies, which are small boats which may be rowboats, have an outboard motor, or be sailing dinghies. Dinghy racing has affected aspects of the modern sailing dinghy, including hull design, sail materials and sailplan, and techniques such as planing and trapezing.
The Albacore is a 4.57 m (15 ft) two-person planing dinghy with fractional sloop rig, for competitive racing and lake and near-inshore day sailing. Hulls are made of either wood or fiberglass. The basic shape was developed in 1954 from an Uffa Fox design, the Swordfish. Recent boats retain the same classic dimensions, and use modern materials and modern control systems.
The Portsmouth Yardstick (PY) or Portsmouth handicap scheme is a term used for a number of related systems of empirical handicapping used primarily in small sailboat racing.
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 49er and 49er FX is a two-handed skiff-type high-performance sailing dinghy. The two crew work on different roles with the helm making many tactical decisions, as well as steering, and the crew doing most of the sail control. Both of the crew are equipped with their own trapeze and sailing is done while cantilevered over the water to the fullest extent to balance against the sails.
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.
One-design racing is a racing method which may be adopted in sports using complex equipment, whereby all vehicles have identical or very similar designs or models, avoiding the need for a handicap system.
The Laser Vortex is a high performance sailing dinghy designed by Jo Richards and awarded the "Sailboat of the Year" title on its introduction in 2000. It is a tunnel hulled single hander that has a trapeze and an optional asymmetrical spinnaker. It is manufactured by White Formula UK Ltd under licence from a consortium headed up by Jonathan Carter. Jo Richard remains the owner of the design. Laser Performance are no longer involved with the Vortex. In 2013 the decision was made to drop 'Laser' from the name, the boat is now known only as the Vortex.
The Fireball is a British sailing dinghy that was designed by Peter Milne as a one-design racer and first built in 1962.
The Laser 4000 is a racing dinghy designed by Phil Morrison crewed by two persons. Its one-design weight-equalised system enables physically differing sailors to compete on a level playing field. It is most popular in Europe, particularly the UK, France and Italy.
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 RS800 is a light-weight sailing dinghy designed by Phil Morrison and manufactured by RS Sailing. The boat is sailed by two people both on trapeze and has a main, jib and spinnaker. The RS800 has a Portsmouth Yardstick number of 799 and a D-PN of 77.0. There is a large racing circuit in the UK, and some European events each year.
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 Hornet dinghy is a 16-foot-high performance dinghy designed by Jack Holt in 1952.
The Norfolk Punt is a type of yacht, derived from the flat-bottomed gun punts that roamed the Broadland waters in the mid-to-late 19th century. However, at the turn of the 20th century, in order to get to and from the hunting grounds more quickly, the punters developed their highly unstable craft to carry a basic mast and sail for travelling with the wind. It is from these humble beginnings that one of the country's most exciting and powerful racing dinghy classes was born.
The sport of sailing involves a variety of competitive sailing formats that are sanctioned through various sailing federations and yacht clubs. Racing disciplines include matches within a fleet of sailing craft, between a pair thereof or among teams. Additionally, there are specialized competitions that include setting speed records. Racing formats include both closed courses and point-to-point contests; they may be in sheltered waters, coast-wise or on the open ocean. Most competitions are held within defined classes or ratings that either entail one type of sailing craft to ensure a contest primarily of skill or rating the sailing craft to create classifications or handicaps.
The Hobie 14 is an American catamaran sailing dinghy that was designed by Hobie Alter and first built in 1967.
The Hampton One-Design is an American sailing dinghy that was designed by Vincent Serio as a one-design racer and first built in 1934.
