The Different Types of Dinghies by V Kullar

The premier design dinghy that was ever created was named the Dublin Bay Water Wag and was designed by Thomas Middleton in the year 1887.

The fastest of the dinghies, the skiffs are very difficult to sail. Skiffs have hulls that are flat and narrow. They have large sail pans that are disproportionate and large. The hulls have asymmetrical spinnaker, blade jib and a completely batted main. Racks and trapeze are used by the sailors for rigging. The Olympic Boat 49er, The 18 Footers and the advanced International 14 are some popular examples of Skiffs.

Designed for Olympic Races, the High Performance Dinghies are very fast and powerful. The Flying Dutchman, the Fiveoffive, the Jet 14, the Osprey, the Javelin, the Fireball and the 470 are some very popular examples of high performance dinghies. These dinghies can plane easily and upwind. Trapeze and symmetrical spinnaker are used in these dinghies. Amongst the high performance dinghies the RS600 and the Contender are single handed boats. Both these boats have a trapeze but are devoid of a spinnaker. Both these boats exhibit similar performances.

If you want to buy dinghies for cruising with your family, or just for the sake of leisure boating, the cruising dinghies can be your option. They exhibit high stability even more than the high performance dinghies. The hulls in these dinghies are not much rounded and have a greater displacement. The sail area is proportionately small. The Wayfarer, the Mirror, the CL 16, the Laser stratos, the Drascombe, the Laser 16 are some of the very popular examples of cruising Dinghies. Sailing down the lake or river on these boats can be an exciting adventure.

Basically used as yatch tenders or shore boats, the Classic dinghies, are great to sail. As the name suggests, cruising on these dinghies are a classic experience altogether. A lot of Classic dinghies use wood as the material. The more popular dinghies of this kind have been found to use both wood and fiberglass as their building material. Minto, Trinka, Fatty Knees, Whitehall, Gig Harbor and Bauer are names of some famous Classic dinghies. The Catamarans are really fast dinghies. They have two hulls. The aspect ratio rigs of these boats are quite high. The mainsails of these boats are fully battened and the mast is of a rotating variety. Their rigs are hugely aerodynamic. A twin hulled Catamaran has greater speed than the conventional mono hulled ones.

The racing dinghies come in a wide range. The title of the world's largest fleet of dinghies was received by the Snipe International Class in the year 1936. They have maintained their position ever since. Some other popular classes include the International 14. They have modified their original design only with the addition of acquired racks and gennaker. The laser dinghies on the other hand are known to be extremely simple and portable. They exhibit high performance and are used widely to train for racing dinghies. Some examples of this single handed dinghy include the Laser, Laser 4.7 and the Laser Redial. The 420 and the Flying Junior are some of the dinghies used basically in school and college dinghy races.

The Sports Boats are large dinghies which can have many crew members. They have fixed keels. Examples of Sports Boats include the Melges 24 and the Laser SB3. While some dinghy classes are quite rigid about their sails and hull designs and have a fixed layout for them, there are also classes which are not so rigid about their definitions and measurements. This leads to the discovery of a lot of new construction and techniques.


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