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49er (dinghy)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 49er is a newer one-design class of small sailing dinghy. It is a double handed twin trapeze boat, meaning that it is sailed by a helm and a crew, the helm making many tactical decisions, as well as steering, and the crew doing most of the sail control. The design, by Julian Bethwaite, the son of Frank Bethwaite, (the designer of the popular Tasar and Laser 2 classes), is revolutionary. The boat is experiencing an increase in popularity due to its selection as an Olympic class starting with the Sydney Olympics of 2000.
The 49er has been an amazing feat of engineering. Based on the Aussie 18's and the International 14's, Julian Bethwaite made several changes to the evolution of high performance sailing. By replacing the spinnaker pole with an asymmetrical spinnaker system which comes straight out of the bow, it facilitates higher speeds and greater ease at flying it.
Another innovative feature is the gust response built into the rig. The deflection of the mast progressively from the top downwards due to the increase in the wind speed causes the sail to flatten, reducing the sail forces. This is an important part of the 49er design and is now used on many skiff designs.
The 49er's performance is impressive: In upwind+downwind short course racing on enclosed waters in moderate to fresh winds, the best sailed 49ers will comfortably keep up with the best sailed 18ft skiffs. The 49er is only 15'8" in water line length, and has only 70% of the power to weight of the 18ft skiff. It can achieve such high performance thanks mostly to its low drag design.
The 49er made its first olympic appearance at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and has continued to grow in popularity ever since.
With a Portsmouth yardstick Handicap of 68.8 the 49er is the fastest two person one-design monohull dinghy.
The 29er is a smaller, single trapeze trainer to the 49er. It has become popular in North America, Europe and Australia as a fast exciting youth boat.
- International 49er Class Association
- UK 49er Class Association
- 49er Class Sailing Race Results Website
| Sailing dinghies (ISAF International Classes) | |
|---|---|
| 14 Foot | 29er | 420 | 470 | 49er | 505 | Cadet | Contender | Enterprise | Europe | Finn | Fireball | Flying Dutchman | Flying Junior | Laser Standard | Laser 4.7 | Laser II | Lightning | Mirror | Moth | OK Dinghy | Optimist | Snipe | Splash | Sunfish | Topper | Vaurien | Zoom 8 | |