One Design Classes

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• 11 Metre

  The 11 Metre is an inshore racer and daysailer developed by Ron Holland and Rolf Gyhlenius in 1990, during testing in Florida of keel, rudder, and sail combinations. With simplicity and affordability as the initial goals, this...

• 1D35

  The 1D35 is a strict one-design class featuring a lightweight, planing hull. Designed by the design team of Bruce Nelson and Bruce Marek, the 1D35 is raced with different spinnakers for different settings: a large conventional...

• 2.4 Meter

  The 2.4 Meter (2.4mR) is a one-fifth scale model of the 12-meter former America's Cup boats. The 2.4mR has many variants and is sometimes referred to as the Mini 12 class, which appeared after the 1980 America's Cup; this class...

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  29er

  29ers downwind at the Gorge. Photo courtesy Pacific Fog. The 29er was created by the Australian designer Julian Bethwaite, partly as a youth training boat for his popular 49er and partly with an eye towards becoming...

• 49er

  The 49er is a doublehanded skiff designed in 1994 by Australian Julian Bethwaite. It has been an Olympic class since the Sydney Olympics of 2000. The first international regatta was held in 1997, not long after the Olympic choice...

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• A Class Catamaran

  The international A-Class Catamaran is a singlehanded boat that is uni-rigged and allows a trapeze. The class was developed in the 1960s as part of a move by the International Yacht Racing Union (now the ISAF) to classify four...

• A Scow

  The A Scow is the largest and fastest of the scow family of sailboats. Mainly sailed in Minnesota and Wisconsin, it requires a crew of five to seven. As the oldest one-design sailing fleet in North America, it is has a long history...

• Albacore

  Developed in 1954 from a design by Uffa Fox (see also Day Sailer), the Albacore is raced in Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, New York, Florida, New Jersey, and Eastern Canada. (Outside of North America, the Albacore is...

• Antrim 27

  Named after its designer, Jim Antrim, the Antrim 27 is a sportboat whose large asymmetric spinnaker swings on a patented articulated bowsprit. This 60-degree swivel range allows flexible downwind angling. The yacht's bulb keel...

• Atlantic

  The Atlantic class was formed in 1929 for racing on Long Island Sound. Designed by W. Starling Burgess in the late 1920s and actively raced in the thirties and forties, the Atlantic in its first generation numbered 100 boats,...

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• Beneteau First 36.7

  Farr Yacht Design created the hull of the Beneteau First 36.7. There are over 400 of these boats worldwide, built at the French builder Beneteau's American facility, which opened in 1986 in Marion, SC. Boats in Beneteau's "First"...

• Blue Jay

  Designed by Drake Sparkman in 1947 and intiated as a class in 1954, the Blue Jay is a sloop-rigged sailboat primarily sailed on the East Coast, from Florida to Maine. Over 7,200 boats exist. Models are still being built in wood...

• Bongo

  Designed by sailboat and kayak innovator Paul Cronin, the Bongo is a recent design that can be sailed by two but is intended for singlehanded use. At 15 feet in length (4.6m), but with only a 3-foot waterline beam (91cm), the...

• Buccaneer 18

  The Buccaneer 18, a doublehanded racer and day sailer, was designed in 1966 by Rod Macalpine-Downy and Dick Gibbs. It premiered at a 1967 regatta sponsored by Yachting Magazine, where it took second place, after a Thistle....

• Bullseye

  The Bullseye dates back to a 1914 design by Nat Herreshoff. Production in fiberglass begain in 1949 and included the addition of a cuddy cabin, plus a more modern rig and sailplan with a symmetric spinnaker. This version,...

• Butterfly

  The Butterfly was designed in Illinois by John Barnett, in 1961, as a smaller offshoot of the C Scow. Barnett reduced the length of the hull from 20 to 12 feet and replaced the C Scow's double rudders and lee boards with a...

• Byte

  The Byte, designed by Ian Bruce, is a high-performance singlehanded dinghy. At 12 feet (3.7m) long, it flies only a small mainsail whose users appreciate its simplicity. The narrowness of the four-foot-three (1.3m) hull makes...

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• C Scow

  At 20 feet, the C-Scow is one of the smaller scows racing. It is cat-rigged but nevertheless is sailed with two or three people for weight stability and to operate its two bilgeboards and one rudder. The C-Scow began with a box...

• C-Lark

  The C-Lark 14, designed in 1964 by Don Clark, is engineered for high performance and durability. Her agility and response will satisfy the needs of sailing enthusiasts who demand an easy-handling day sailor that will withstand the rigors of hard use with little maintenance.

• Cal 20

  The California 20, or Cal 20 commonly, continues to be a fun one-design boat on the West Coast and Hawaii. Seven fleets enjoy this 20 foot, 2000 pound keelboat. Most of the 1945 hulls were produced in the 60's and offered a unchanging,...

• Cape Cod Frosty

  The Cape Cod Frosty is a very small boat, just six foot four in length overall. It was designed by Tom Leach in Massachusetts in 1984 and appeared in its first championship regatta the following year. Despite its diminutive size,...

• Capri 14.2

  This boat for families or couples was designed at Catalina Yachts in 1983 as a more modern version of the builder's Omega 14, with the addition of a cuddy, a foredeck, and a slightly longer hull. The Capri 14.2 wasn't intended...

• Catalina 22

  The Catalina 22 was the first and longest-running model in the highly successful Catalina Yachts series of keelboats. It can be made with either a swing, fin, or wing keel. First introduced in 1969, in a Mark I run that numbered...

• CFJ

  The Club Flying Junior, built by Vanguard and Performance Catamaran, is a popular choice on the college circuit and in club racing. This lightweight 260 pound dinghy offers the challenge of 3 sails (main, jib and spinnaker) with...

• Club 420

  The Club 420 offers consistent performance for more that 100 high school and college programs. The boat is comfortable and bouyant, making it safe and challenging for new sailors ready for working on a double-handed boat. The...

• Comet

  The comet is a two-person dinghy designed by C. Lowndes Johnson in the 1930s for racing on the Chesapeake Bay. It was conceived as a smaller version of the Star, but one well-suited to the shallow Chesapeake Bay and easier...

• Coronado 15

  Designed by Frank Butler, the founder of Catalina Yachts, in the late 1960s, the Coronado 15 is used in both adult and collegiate racing around the U.S. The most active fleets are on the West Coast, including British Columbia,...

• Corsair 28

  Production on the boat that would be renamed the Corsair 28 started in 1997, when Corsair Trimarans updated its popular 11-year-old F-27 boat. The resulting 28-foot boat, first called the Corsair F-28 but changed in 2001 to just...

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• Day Sailer

  The Day Sailer was designed by Uffa Fox and George O'Day in 1958 and was one of the first generation of boats to go directly into fiberglass production, with an aluminum mast and boom. The pun in its name acknowledges the Day...

• Dragon

  The Dragon was designed in 1929 by the Norwegian Johan Anker, a two-time Olympic sailing gold medalist. The boat became an Olympic class itself in 1948, holding its position there until 1972. It is one of the few Olympic boats...

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• E Scow

  Raced with three or four people, the E Scow has a hull shape nearly identical to the larger A Scow. Like other scows, the boat is raced primarily on lakes in the upper midwest U.S., but there are E Scow fleets as far away as...

• El Toro

  Unusually small at eight feet for a racing class, the El Toro is easy to sail and to build, with over 11,000 boats worldwide. Designed around 1940 at Northern California's Richmond Yacht Club, it was intended both as a training...

• Ensign

  Originally built by Pearson Yachts as the Electra Day Sailer, this fiberglass sloop debuted in 1962. Carl Alberg soon refurbished his original 1959 design, adding a larger cockpit and small cuddy to the renamed boat. Strict class...

• Etchells

  The Etchells was designed in 1966 by "Skip" Etchells, a builder and trophy-winning sailor of the Star class. Known as the E22 until 1990, the Etchells was designed in response to a search by the International Yacht...

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  Europe Dinghy

  The Europe is a small singlehanded dinghy designed by Alois Roland in Belgium in 1960. Derived out of the developmental Moth class, the Europe became a strict one-design class of its own, suitable for light-to-midweight sailors...

• Express 27

  Designed by Carl Schumacher and built by Terry Alsberg, the Express 27 was a product of the Ultra Light Displacement Boat (ULDB) scene around Santa Cruz, California. It was modeled on the Moore 24, but is three feet longer...

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• Farr 40

  Designed by Farr Yacht Design in 1996 (see also Beneteau First 36.7, Mega Byte, and Mumm 30), the Farr 40 was originally intended for the International Measurement System (IMS) circuit. However, the boat quickly became...

• Finn

  Designed in 1949 by Rickard Sarby of Sweden for the 1952 Olympics, held in Helsinki, Finland, the Finn has been raced in every Olympics since. The class crystallized when the first world championship race for Finns was held in...

• Fireball

  Designed in 1962 by Peter Milne, the International Fireball is a class that is characterized by the responsive, eminently tunable gear that accompanies its strictly one-design hull and sail plans. It combines an unusual scow...

• Flying Dutchman

  Designed in the 1950s by Conrad Gulcher and Uus van Essen, the Flying Dutchman was a class with many fleets worldwide by the 1960s. It is a 19 foot 10 in. (6m) dinghy sailed doublehanded with a single trapeze for the crew and...

• Flying Scot

  Designed in 1957 by Gordon "Sandy" Douglass, the Flying Scot was inducted into the American Sailboat Hall of Fame in 1998, the first centerboard dinghy to be so honored. This extremely popular 19-foot dinghy with...

• Flying Tiger 10 M

  Bob Perry designed the Flying Tiger 10m using a unique process. He used internet forums to present design ideas and hear responses and ideas from real racers and potential customers. To keep the boat economical it needed to fit...

• Force 5

  Similar to a Laser, the Force 5 is a 14-foot (4.3m) singlehanded dinghy that is still built in the U.S. It was designed in 1972 by Fred Scott and Jack Evans. Falling out of production with the ascendance of the Laser, the Force...

• Formula 18

  The Formula 18 (F18) is a sport catamaran that was launched in 1993 and has since spawned racing fleets worldwide. By the year 2000, world championships drew as many as 150 boats, and qualifying races now limit the number of...

• Frers 33

  The Frers 33 was designed by the Argentinian group German Frers, which has seen more than 1,000 yacht designs produced. A racer/cruiser with a molded fiberglass hull and deck, the Frers 33 carries a 4,000-pound lead-alloy keel....

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• Geary 18 Flattie

  The Geary 18 was designed in 1928 by the precocious and prolific Ted Geary for a contest hosted by the Seattle Yacht Club. After building his first original boat at 14, Geary designed competitive racers of all sizes and cruisers...

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• Harbor 20

  Schock blended the classic beauty of a traditional daysailer with state-of-the-art marine technology. While the Harbor 20 presents a graceful shearline counter, its thoroughly modern underbody and rig make for a fast and easily-handled...

• Highlander

  The Highlander was designed in 1951 by Gordon "Sandy" Douglass, who had already designed the Thistle. Douglass would go on to develop a smaller and more popular version of the Highlander, the Flying Scot). The...

• Hobie

  Hobart "Hobie" Alter gave his nickname to both the company he founded and to the line of Hobie catamarans he designed. There are several distinct Hobie Cats, but their origins all date to 1967, when Alter invented...

• Holder 20

  The Holder 20 was built from 1980 to 1987. Its community is fractured by a conflict between its one-design class association, founded in 1992, and the older open-class association. The open class argues that the boat is too variable...

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• Inland 20

  Windward Boats created the Inland 20 (I20) class in 1998 as a design update of the Melges M20 scow designed by Buddy Melges. Windward Boats still manufactures the I20, which is popular with many former M20 sailors. It has many...

• Interlake

  A U.S. regional class, this 18-foot dinghy was commissioned by the Sandusky Sailing Club in 1933 for sailing on Lake Erie and Sandusky Bay. Raced by two or three people, it was designed by Francis Sweisguth, who had also designed...

• International 10m2 Canoe

  Sailing canoes were developed in the late 1860s and 1870s in England and spread quickly to North America. Uffa Fox helped standardize the International 10m2 Canoe in the 1930s; the first sliding seat for this singlehanded craft...

• International 110

  Designed by naval architect Charles Raymond "Ray" Hunt, the 24-foot (7.3m) 110 was first built in 1939 in Marblehead, Massachusetts. It has a long, narrow, canoe-shaped hull, hard-chined and flat-bottomed, with a bulb keel. When...

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  International 14

  Blast reaching at the 2008 US Nationals. Photo courtesy Pacific Fog. The International 14 (I14) is a lightweight doublehanded double-trapeze dinghy that today is characterized by its unusually large sail area. Originating...

• International 210

  The International 210 was designed in the late 1940s by C. Raymond Hunt, who had won the Sears Cup while still in his teens. He created the 210 as a larger version of his International 110. The International 210 measures almost...

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  International 420

  The International 420 is a doublehanded class that is used as a training boat for the Olympic class International 470. With an overall length of 420 centimeters (13 ft. 9 in.), the 420 is a single-trapeze dinghy that planes...

• International 470

  Designed by the French Andre Cornu as a boat that sailors of different weights and ages could use, this centerboard boat became an international class in 1969. It has been an Olympic doublehanded men's and women's class since...

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  International 505

  At the 2008 505 North American Championships. Photo courtesy Pacific Fog. The International 505, which is 505 centimeters in length (16 ft. 6 in.), is a two-person dinghy designed in the 1950s by John Westell. The high-performance...

• International One Design

  The International One Design was designed in 1936 by the Norwegian Bjarne Aas, whom Cornelius Shields had commissioned when, seeing a previous boat that Aas had designed, Shields envisioned a new version of it as a one-design...

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  J/105

  The J/105 is an offshore keelboat designed in 1990 by Rod Johnstone (see also J/24, J/30, JY15) for shorthanded racing. Often raced with four or five people but capable of sailing singlehanded, this 34.5-foot boat features...

• J/109

  One of the newest one-design keelboats, the J/109 is a 35-foot racer-cruiser that features a retractable carbon fiber sprit and a lot of sail, including an asymmetric spinnaker. The boat was launched in 2001 as the first J/Boat...

• J/120

  This 40-foot (12.2m) keelboat takes only two people to sail, including use of an asymmetrical spinnaker on a carbon-fiber sprit. It is a racer/cruiser whose design favors simplicity and independence over the rig modifications...

• J/22

  The J/22 keelboat is raced as a one-design class with active fleets in North America, Europe, and South Africa. There are nine Canadian fleets and, in the U.S., 20 fleets concentrated in the northeast and midwest regions. The...

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  J/24

  With 5,200 hulls built, the J/24 is the world's most popular one-design keelboat. It was designed by Rod Johnstone in 1976 as a prototype vessel in his garage and initiated the J/Boat project. (See also J/30, J/105, JY15.)...

• J/30

  Produced by Rhode Island's J/Boats, the J/30 is an enlarged follow-up to the J/24, both boats designed by Rod Johnstone. The J/30 appeared in 1979, two years after the J/24 had initiated the family's building business. With...

• J/35

  The J/35 was introduced in 1983 and built until 1992. There are still over 100 of these successful offshore keelboats being raced in North American one-design regattas, with active fleets on the East, West, and Gulf Coasts and...

• J/80

  The J series of boats began in 1976 with Rod Johnstone's design for the J/24. Since 1977, the line has been in production by the J/Boats company, which was started by Rod and his brother Bob Johnstone. The J/80, just over 26...

• Jet 14

  The Jet 14 is raced primarily in the eastern and midwest U.S., with fleets in New Jersey, Ohio, Maryland, and upstate New York. Howard Siddons designed the Jet 14 in 1955 as a doublehanded dinghy capable of planing, with the...

• JY15

  This two-person centerboard dinghy, used in college sailing, was designed by Rod Johnstone in 1989. Johnstone, of J/Boats, also designed the J/24, J/30, and J/105. The JY15's one-piece aluminum mast flies a main, jib, and...

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• Laser

  The most popular racing dinghy in the world for both youth and adults, the 14-foot (4.2m) Laser was designed by Bruce Kirby and put into production in the early 1970s. A singlehanded boat, the Laser became an Olympic class...

• Laser 4.7

  All boats in the Laser series are part of the same one-design class. They share the same hull design and are cat-rigged. The most popular racing dinghy in the world for both youth and adults, the 13-foot-10-inch Laser was...

• Laser Radial

  All boats in the Laser series are part of the same one-design class. They share the same hull design and are cat-rigged. The 13-foot-10-inch original Laser, the most popular racing dinghy in the world for both youth and adults,...

• Laser SB3

  The 20-foot Laser SB3 is an open keelboat, raced with three or four people. The SB3 achieves high speeds because of its large sail area, but the boat is still very stable, and the class forbids hiking. The bulb keel retracts...

• Lido 14

  The Lido 14 was designed by Barney Lehman and Bill Schock in the late 1950s, in Newport Beach, CA, and has stayed in production ever since. The dinghy is sailed doublehanded, with main and jib. The boat provides for highly tactical...

• Lightning

  The Lightning was designed by Sparkman and Stephens in 1958 in upstate New York, and there are now 15,000 Lightnings racing in 500 fleets around the world. This centerboard sloop has a hull that is hard-chined for stability,...

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• Mariner 19

  The Mariner is a 19 foot laminated fibergrlass sloop first manufactured by George O'Day in 1963 , and currently produced by Stuart Marine. Over 4,000 boats have been constructed. The US Mariner Class Association was founded in 1966 to keep the boat safe, encourage its use as a family boat, and maintain the Mariner as an economical one design class...

• Martin 16

  The Martin 16 is an unsinkable sportboat designed for accessibility by sailors with mobility impairments. All controls are accessible from an ergonomic helm seat, including a joystick control for the rudder. Typically raced with...

• Martin 242

  Designed by Canadian Don Martin and premiered in 1981, the Martin 242 is still being built by Dencho Marine in California. Over 350 have been built; they are raced by large fleets on the west coast of Canada and the U.S. The roller-furling...

• MC Scow

  The MC Scow is a 16-foot cat-rigged dinghy that is usually raced singlehanded but can be doublehanded under favorable weather and weight conditions. Based on a design dating back to the 1950s by Henry Melges, Sr., the MC Scow...

• Mega Byte

  There are six North American Megabyte fleets: Inter-West, US Eastern, Northern California, South-East, Mid-South, and Vancouver, BC. Called "the gentleman's Finn," the Megabyte can be sailed single- or doublehanded. This dinghy...

• Melges 17

  For more information, read the Melges 17 Wikipedia article.

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  Melges 24

  The Melges 24 is a popular keelboat that planes easily and is usually raced with a crew of four or five. The boat went into production in 1993 and features a large asymmetric spinnaker on a retractable sprit, a retractable keel...

• Melges 32

  Designed by Reichel/Pugh, the Melges 32 was first built in 2005. Its mast, rudder, sprit, and keel fin are carbon fiber, and it has an asymmetric spinnaker. Its tall mast can be rigged with a gin pole. With its almost-flat...

• Mobjack

  The Mobjack is a doublehanded dinghy that was developed by a sailor and gunsmith, Roger Moorman, at Virginia's Fishing Bay Yacht Club in 1954. Moorman roughly based the Mobjack's hull on the hull of the Thistle but built it...

• Moore 24

  The Moore 24 was designed in 1968 for the Midget Ocean Racing Association (MORA) to use in the 1972 Transpacific Yacht Race (TransPac). Its initial designer, Santa Cruz surfer and sailor George Olson, was also responsible for...

• Mumm 30

  Designed by Farr Yacht Design, the Mumm 30 is a one-design that emphasizes straightforward simplicity without sacrificing speed. (For other boats by this design team, see the Beneteau First 36.7, Farr 40, and Mega Byte.)...

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• Nacra 20

  With the lightest catamaran hulls relative to their volume of any boat available, Performance Catamarans' Nacra 20 is a recent, high-tech design, relying on computer generation for some of its design elements. Its asymmetric spinnaker,...

• Nacra F17

  The Nacra F17 was designed for single handed speed. It was first developed in 2000 as the Inter 17. The main and spinnaker make both upwind and downwind exciting. Designers at Performance Catamarans Inc., continued to listen to...

• Naples Sabot

  Roy McCullough and R. A. Violette first designed the Naples Sabot in 1932 altering ideas from the Balboa Dinghy and later the MacGregor Yacht Corporation Sabot plans found in Rudder Magazine. The official plans drafted in 1946...

• Narrasketuck

  Wilbur Ketcham designed the Narrasketuck to accommodate the shallow Great South Bay on Long Island. It was designed in 1930.

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• Olson 25

  The Olson 25 was designed in 1984 by George Olson, Santa Cruz surfer and sailor, who was also responsible for the Santa Cruz 27, the Moore 24, and the Olson 30. The Olson 25 remains especially popular in its home state, with...

• Olson 30

  The Olson 30 is an ultralight keelboat designed in the late 1970s by George Olson (see also Olson 25 and Moore 24). Like other ultralights, the Olson 30 planes easily in a breeze. While usually raced with a crew of six, the...

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  Optimist Dinghy

  The Optimist is the most popular learn to sail boat with 150,000 currently racing in 100 different countries. It was designed and built in the late 1940's but became strict one-design class in 1992. Now, 30 builders in 23 countries...

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• Rebel

  Made of glass-reinforced plastic and introduced by Ray Greene in 1948, the Rebel emerged from the post-WWII search for non-wood industrial materials. A 16-foot sloop weighing 700 pounds, it was the first fiberglass sailboat ever...

• Rhodes 19

  The Rhodes 19 was designed by Philip Rhodes after World War II, when an airplane producer sought a new purpose for its molded-plywood construction facilities. The boat, which is raced with a minimum of three people, began to...

• RS K6

  RS K6 was designed in 2002 to be responsive and easy to use like a dinghy, and self righting and stable like a keelboat. Paul Handley achieved this with a narrow lightweight hull built in the UK by Rondar Raceboats and has sold...

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• S2 7.9

  This 7.9-meter (26 ft.) stiff-masted sloop with fractional rigging was designed by Scott Graham and Eric Schlageter. Production at S2 Yachts began in 1981, and the initial run lasted five years. Subsequent production occurred...

• San Juan 21

  The San Juan 21 is a two-to-three-person keelboat with a retractable keel. Like the San Juan 24, the SJ21 was a product of the Clark Boat Company in Washington State. More than 2,600 boats were produced from 1969 to 1985, some...

• San Juan 24

  The San Juan 24 was designed by Bruce Kirby (designer of the Laser, the International 14, and the Sonar) and built by the Clark Boat Company in Washington State. More than 1,000 were made between 1972 and 1981, and there...

• Santana 20

  The Santana 20, designed by Shad Turner in 1977, was one of the first high-performance keelboats produced; its genesis occasioned the first use of the term "sportboat." With close to 1,000 boats sold, the Santana 20 is still...

• Santana 22

  Said to have begun as a sketch on the back of a cocktail napkin in California in the early 1960s, the Santana 22 was the first boat by prolific designer Gary Mull. A first run of 747 boats in fiber-reinforced plastic appeared...

• Shields

  Modeled after the International One Design and named after Cornelius Shields, who commissioned designer Olin Stephens in 1963, the Shields is a 30-foot narrow-beamed keelboat with a classic look. Sailing is well-balanced and...

• Snipe

  The Snipe was designed by William Crosby in 1931 and has evolved into a highly successful two-person dinghy with a worldwide following. A 15.5-foot hard-chined boat, the Snipe is raced as a strict one-design class with no spinnaker....

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  Soling

  Designed in 1964 by Norwegian Jan Linge, the Soling first started racing in Norway in 1965. This design became the three-man keelboat class for the Olympics from 1972 until 2000. With its large sail area, the boat requires...

• Sonar

  The Sonar was designed by Bruce Kirby (designer of the Laser) in 1979, at the request of Kirby's own yacht club, the Noroton Yacht Club in Darien, CT. Designed in response to sailor surveys, the Sonar has an unusually roomy...

• Star

  The International Star is a 22-foot keelboat that is raced by two people. Sloop-rigged, with a whisker pole, it is characterized by its large mainsail and requires hiking. The Star was designed in 1911 by Francis Sweisguth (see...

• Sunfish

  This singlehanded racer was originally produced by the Alcort company in the fifties and became popular for racing beginning in the sixties. The Sunfish class was established in 1969. The boat's hull measures close to 14 feet...

• Sweet Sixteen

  Developed by Advance Sailboat Corporation who had already produced several successful dinghies including the Flying Dutchman and the Windmill.

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• Tanzer 16

  The Tanzer 16's primary use is daysailing. In fact, one version of this boat was built with a cuddy cabin. The aluminum rudder and 20 pound aluminum centerboard provide the durability desired for cruising and a spreaderless, non-tapered...

• Tartan 10

  The Tartan 10, or T-10, designed by Sparkman & Stephens in 1978, was the first of what would become a whole new category of offshore yachts suitable for both cruising and one-design racing. Approximately 400 hulls were built....

• Tasar

  The Tasar is a light, rigid two-person dinghy designed by Australian Frank Bethwaite, whose son, Julian Bethwaite, is the designer of the 49er and 29er. It is based loosely on the 12-foot Cherub, another boat of Australian...

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  Thistle

  The Thistle, designed in the 1940s by Gordon "Sandy" Douglass (see also Highlander and Flying Scot), is a seventeen foot dinghy that is popular throughout the U.S. A crew of two or three sails the Thistle with...

• Thunderbird

  The Thunderbird is a 24-foot keelboat native to the Pacific Northwest. Ben Seaborn, a naval architect in Seattle, created it in 1958 in response to a competition sponsored by a plywood company in Tacoma, Washington, for a high-performance...

• Tornado

  The Tornado was designed in 1967 by Rodney March of England, in hopes that it would be chosen as the catamaran for the Olympics. It attained March's goal in 1976 and has been raced in the Olympics ever since. The class permitted...

• Town Class

  Marcus and Percival Lowell designed and built the first Town Class as an affordable family daysailer. Originally the wood hulls weighed about 650 pounds. The newer fiberglass hulls weigh 800 pounds. Two people handle the main...

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• Ultimate 20

  The Ultimate 20 is a high-performance keelboat with a fully retractable keel and an extremely large asymmetric spinnaker set on a sprit. It has a wide, 8.5-foot beam, and in the interest of affordability, carbon fiber is used...

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• Vanguard 15

  The Vanguard 15 is a lightweight doublehanded dinghy that is raced predominantly in the United States. Less than two decades old, it was created in the Northwest by Bob Ames, but fleets have also established themselves in Florida,...

• Viper 640

  Designed by Brian Bennett, the Viper 640 was named Sailing World's 1997 winning Boat of the Year overall, as well as in the magazine's Performance One-Design category. Ballasted by its (lifting) 220-pound (100kg) bulb keel, the...

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• Wavelength 24

  The Wavelength 24 was designed by Paul Lindenberg primarily for MORC racing, but is raced in one-design fleets on the U.S. West Coast. This keelboat is still in production at Lindenburg Yachts, Lindenberg's Florida company, which...

• Wayfarer

  The original Wayfarer was designed in 1957 by Ian Proctor, a prolific English designer whose boats and technical innovations were particularly lauded in Britain. Besides his designs for dinghies and cruising yachts, Proctor...

• Wianno Senior

  Gaff-rigged, with main and jib, the Wianno Senior is a 25-foot sloop. Horace Manley Crosby designed the Wianno Senior in 1914 at the request of sailors at the Wianno Yacht Club on Cape Cod, who wanted a boat particularly suited...

• Windmill

  The Windmill is a two-person dinghy designed in 1953 by Clark Mills, who also designed the popular youth training boat the Optimist Pram. The Windmill's lightweight displacement hull, which planes in 10 knots of wind, was innovative...

• Wylie Wabbit

  A 1982 creation of Bay Area designer Tom Wylie, the Wylie Wabbit is remarkable in being a keelboat with a trapeze. For the sake of speed, it is also unusually narrow, given that it sleeps three people, with a five-and-a-half-foot...

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• Yflyer

  The Y-Flyer evolved from a boat built by scow sailor Alvin Youngquist in 1938. Although the Y-Flyer is similar in appearance to a scow itself, its hard-chined hull is only slightly less flat. Reverend John Quinton refined Youngquist's...

• Yngling

  Designed in Norway in 1967 by Jan Linge (see also Soling), who wanted to create a keelboat for his son, the Yngling is named after the word for "youngster" in Norwegian. The Yngling was adopted as an ISAF class in 1979 and...