Dinghy Design; Big Guy Singlehander Update

A reader response to my first post about a hiking singlehander for a very big guy pointed out my lack of knowledge in regards to the Phantom dinghy, which, at second look, is an eminently sensible choice for a big guys singlehander.

1. The Phantom can be home built, in fact was originally designed to be homebuilt. Plans are available though a quick search doesn't turn up an address to get them (strangely, even the class website doesn't seem to have an address).
2. The ideal helm weight for the Phantom is about 210 lbs (95 kg) with reader "Rudderman" commenting,

   "I am also 6ft5 and over 18 stone and have absolutely no problems sailing a home built wooden Phantom which I took to runner up position in the UK Nationals. As I recall there are a couple of Phants being built in the US from plans provided by the Designer's daughter"

3. Longer at 4.42 meters, wider at 1.64 meters, the same hull weight as a Laser, and over 105 sq. feet (9.75 meters) of sail area, the Phantom must be a very lively sail. 
4. Class website is linked here .
5. Joe over at the blog "Horses Mouth" did a fantastic post on the Phantom which can be viewed over here .

Some pics I stole from the class website showing the developed ply hull shape (the hull looks very similar to the Classic Moth Shelly design) .............





A good video of a Phantom sailor blasting back and forth, forth and back, hitting over 14 knots - great fun.

How the English do it in the Winter

In the northern latitudes of the United States, when winter comes the dinghy sailor either;

1. Packs it in until spring.
2. For those really up north, pulls out the ice boat for some hard water racing.
3. Makes a trip to, hopefully, warm and sunny Florida or California for the class midwinters.
4. For New England or the Mid-Atlantic dinghy enthusiasts, buy a Laser or Sunfish, a comfy drysuit, warm sailing gloves and boots, and frostbite.

The English, on the other hand, with their smorgasbord of dinghies, run very large handicap events throughout the winter. When it comes to a variety of dinghy classes, no one can trump the English.

From one of the most prolific dinghy sailing videographers on YouTube, Englishman Shockwave40 , with over 120 videos, we view various singlehander classes racing at the Brass Monkey Handicap at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club . He captures a diversity of designs, both old and new.

1. We start with the Laser Vortex, a small catamaran designed by Jo Richards, with solid deck, an assymetric spinnaker and trapeze. 
   
2. Next is the Internatonal Contender, designed by Ben Lexcen; the first of the trapeze singlehander classes. Wood hulls are still very popular in this class. 
   
3. The Musto skiff appears next. The latest generation in singlehanded design with trapeze, racks, and assymetric spinnaker.
   
4. Next up, a conventional hiking dinghy, the Phantom dinghy is one of many English singlehander designs that occupy the same slice of the sailing market (12' -14' hiking singlehander) now dominated by the Laser. The Phantom was designed by Paul Wright and Brian Taylor in 1971.
   
5. OK dinghy follows. The OK dinghy was designed by Knud Olsen of Denmark in 1958. It was initially the build it yourself trainer for the Olympic Finn. The Laser killed the OK dinghy in North America but the OK Dinghy still remains a very popular international class. See this OK Website for some great photos.
   
6. With the OK, rounding on the inside, is the Topper scow, designed by Ian Proctor in 1969. It was one of the first Injected Thermoplastic designs. When it was first introduced, the Topper was raced by both adults and juniors. Today the Topper is primarily the mid junior singlehander for England, the next step from the Optimist.
   
7. Finally, we have the ubiquitous Laser, the one class you could truly say that you will find at least one at almost any sailing club, anywhere in the world.
   

Header Photo: Sabre Dinghy and the Return of the Retro Singlehanders

The previous header photo is of Aussie Matt Kiely sailing the Australian singlehander Sabre class dinghy. The photo was lifted from the South Gippsland Y.C.Facebook page.

Probably the major trend in dinghy racing over the last 30 or so years has been the growth of singlehanded racing at the expense of doublehanded or triplehanded classes. And the trend since the millenium has been the explosive comeback of  what I call the retro hiking singlehanders; those other singlehanded classes designed before, or around the date of the introduction of the Laser (1969). For the most part, these classes are not international (excepting the OK Dinghy and Europe Dinghy); they are popular country-by-country or region, and they attract fleets of thirty, forty or more boats at major championships. They have a builder or two turning out modern hulls, some have carbon masts, many have aluminum. They seem to fill a need in the marketplace that the Laser does not.

I have compiled a list of retro singlehanders. I have excluded the Olympic Finn - 1949 (which has a huge Masters scene) and singlehanders with hiking assists (trapeze, sliding seat). Feel free to add your thoughts about this list in the comments section. (Before the Sunfish sailors jump all over me for excluding the Sunfish from the list - let me state the Sunfish has maintained high levels of popularity in parts of North America and parts of South America for many, many years - I don't see a comeback in popularity - they just maintained it.):

• Solo (U.K.) - 1956 - aluminum mast, stayed rig, full battens
• OK Dinghy (Den.) - 1957 - carbon mast, unstayed rig, short battens
• Streaker (U,K.) - 1975 - aluminum mast, stayed rig, short battens
• Phantom (U.K.) - 1971 - carbon mast, stayed rig, short battens
• Lightning 368 (U.K.) - 1977 - carbon mast, unstayed rig, short battens
• Sabre (Aus.) - 1974 - aluminum mast, stayed rig, full battens
• Impulse (Aus.) -1975 - aluminum mast, stayed rig, full battens
• O-Jolle (Ger.) - 1933 - aluminum mast, stayed rig, short battens
• Larken-Klasse (Ned.,Ger.) - 1920's - wood mast, stayed rig, full battens 
• Europe Dinghy (Moth) - 1960 - carbon mast, unstayed rig, short battens
• Zephyr (NZ) - 1956 - aluminum mast, stayed, full battens

Despite the recent introduction of the "modern" RS Aero, or Devoti D-Zero, with lightweight hulls, mylar sails (correction - the Aero has dacron sails), carbon rigs, it seems the singlehanded market is marching in the other direction. (I must admit the North American market is an anomaly here with not a lot of singlehanded classes under the Laser - still king by a long-shot-, and the Sunfish - a solid runner-up, The other singlehanded classes in North America - like my Classic Moth - are mustering small numbers...Oops! I forgot about the MC scow, now very popular in the U.S.)

Dinghy Design; A Singlehander for a Really Big Guy

I got this in the inbox about a week or so ago.........

"I got in contact with Bill about the Classic Moth he built based on your station molds. I too am looking to build my own sailing boat, with looking to start on a smaller project first (~200 hours), and fell in love with the Classic Moth design, especially the curved tanks in the cockpit.

I'm 6'5" and around 260 pounds (118 kg) so not sure if the boat would sail ok with me in it! Do you have any suggestions on an appropriate design and where I may be able to get the plans from?"

C

And my reply.............

"Your size will make it hard to make it work in a Classic Moth. You need a design with some displacement and nothing like some extra length to give you that.

There's no stock design in a 14 to 15' length, easy to build, that immediately comes to mind. One of Chesapeake's Light Craft's multi-use sailboats/rowing dinghies might do the trick.

I probably could draw something up that would fit, but boat design is a hobby and I have no time for it right now. I would think that something like the US1 sailboat class (no longer built) that was a singlehander based on the Windmill hull would fit you nicely."

R

An interesting design problem as "C" is looking for a racy singlehander, easy to build and a design that would float a guy the supersize of an American football player.

There are singlehander classes that have been designed for the larger sailor; the Finn Olympic dinghy, Bruce Farr's MegaByte, and from England, the Phantom dinghy and the SuperNova. But all these classes are production glass hulls and still not big enough to fit Mr. "C".

The US1 mentioned in my reply was an American class, built by Advance Sailboats. The Internet says 450 were built out of fiberglass and a quick Google shows one or two for sale even as I write this post. Advance took the simple V-chine, easy to build Windmill hull, cut some freeboard off the hull, added some rolled tanks and a large (90 sq. ft) main. Since the Windmill was sized to carry two adults (at say 300 lbs combined), it would be safe to say that the US1 could probably handle one at 260 lbs. And, since the Windmill class was designed for homebuilding in ply, an enterprising boat builder could replicate the US1 concept in plywood.

The US1 class is no longer active. The best webpage on the US1 that I came across was an ad selling a US1 ...even had a movie.

A picture of the US1 I stole from the ad......



What the US1 doesn't completely solve for a big guy is lateral stability. When you weigh 260 lbs (118kg) small dinghies have a tendency to lean radically into the skipper, particularly when the wind eases up. A big scow, say the MC scow, with less of a tendency to roll around might be a more pleasant sail for Mr. "C".

Here's a picture of the slightly larger C-scow........



In Internet browsing for this post, I also discovered a California builder who is supplying part build Windmill hulls .

British Moth - At Speed #2

Great video of a British Moth (our U.K. compatriots in sail insignia's - we both sport the Circle M) blasting along on a reach, getting passed by the larger Phantom dinghy (who almost bought it at the jibe mark) but also going by an overturned Laser. This shows that even a pre WWII hull shape can get up and go.

Great fun!

Some other Earwigoagin British Moth posts can be found here, including the original post "British Moth - At Speed"