With over 200 boats sold in North America, the Farr designed First 36.7 has become the fastest growing One-Design Class in North America. A graceful balance between quality, performance and value it is no wonder so many sailors proudly sail her and smile. Whether you race One-Design events, beer can races or just enjoy cruising fast the First 36.7 is the boat for you.
Class website:
http://www.beneteaufirst367.org/
Bytes
The Severn Sailing Byte Fleet is looking for Byte sailors to race and Bytes available for sail. Bytes are welcome to race or participate in a clinic on May 19 (demo with the CII rig), May 26 (race), June 30 (race), 8-5 (clinic and race), and 8-25 (race).
Please contact Rosemary Foltis at 410-263-1941 or Briget Barr at 410-263-2132 if you want to sail or sell a Byte.
Specifications:
Length: 12 ft
Beam: 4 ft 3 inches
Sail Area: 58 sq ft
Weight: 100 lbs.
Construction: glass reinforced polyester/foam sandwich
Class website:
http://www.byteclass.org/
THE SHARK – from “A Touch of Class” by Judy Kingsley (#606 Windrift)
published in Canadian Yachting, June 1994:
Windrift
Judy Kingsley’s “Windrift” off Coboug in 1981
When George Hinterholler designed the Shark in 1959, he was looking for a boat that would “go like hell when the wind blew.” Growing up sailing in Austria’s Salzkammergut region, Hinterholler was used to light displacement finkeelers; fast, responsive and exciting.
The few sailboats he found on Lake Ontario when he immigrated to Canada in 1952 had heavy displacement hulls. They were ponderous and had a bad habit of hoppy-horsing in the rough Lake Ontario chop.
The young boat builder/designer was bored by their performance. Announcing that he could build a boat that would sail circles around the rest, he retired to the shed behind his Niagara-on-the-Lake home and built Teeter Totter, a hard-chined 22-foot sloop made of plywood. It was the forunner of the Shark. And when the wind blew, it did go like hell. Its designer loved it and so did his friends.
There was an immediate demand for the nimble little boat 35 years ago, so that winter Hinterholler increased the length to 24 feet and began building plywood Sharks in his shed. Hull number 5 was for a customer by the name of Bill O’Reilly who demanded that his boat be built of a substance relatively new to boat building; fiberglass. He even offered to teach Hinterholler how to use it. With fiberglass it took 18 man-hours to produce a hull instead of the 128 hours devoted to a wooden hull, and fiberglass was virtually maintenance free. That made his boat the affordable yacht and Hinterholler and Shark were on their way to International success.
Since then, more than 2500 Sharks have taken their place in the fleet, both on the North American continent and in Europe. It rapidly became the biggest one-design keelboat fleet on the Great Lakes and today their are active groups on the east and west coasts and in the Montreal and Ottawa areas. About 500 Sharks sail the large lakes of Austria, Switzerland and Germany and the waters off the Swedish archipelago.
There have been changes since Hinterholler first designed it, but they have been cosmetic. The sleek hull, straight stem, and long flat run at the stern, fin keel and spade rudder made it a racer that climbs easily over its bow-wave to achieve speeds in excess of 10 knots. The six-foot beam and doghouse accommodate a V-berth, two quarterberths with sink, stove and coldbox, making it a pocket cruiser with sitting headroom. It draws less than four feet, making it an ideal boat to tuck into anchorages denied deeper draught boats.
The Shark’s prompt success was due in no small part to its early racing record. In 1960, Hinterholler crewed for George Steffan, later President of Mirage Yachts, in the Freeman Cup. They cleaned up with three 1sts using brisk 18-knot winds to put a leg them and their nearest competitor in the race. In the 1963 Freeman Cup the Shark did it again. For small boats, the course was from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Rochester NY, 80 nautical miles along the south shore of Lake Ontario. There were no spinnakers and no genoas on Sharks in those days and the race was sailed with main and working jib only.
“We thought our biggest competition would be the “Thunderbirds,” Hinterholler said “but after the first surf, we knew that there would be no contest. We barreled down the course in seven hours and 44 minutes.”
In 1963, using a spinnaker on a close reach across Lake Ontario, Sid Dakin, one of the first to own a Shark, sailed the blockhouse Bay race from Toronto to Olcott, NY, with an adrenaline pumping average speed of 10.2 knots, beating the 56-footer Innisfree on a boat-for-boat basis. That sort of speed boggled the minds of sailors unaccustomed to semi-displacement hulls.
Racing boats come and racing boats go, but the shark remains. With its flexible rig and planing abilities, it is as up to date as anything on the market today. And, with its low-aspect, 7/8ths rig and heavy keel, it has a sea-kindliness and seaworthiness to match its speed.
Hinterholler admits that the Shark’s scantlings are better suited to a tank, but the proof of his wisdom in overbuilding the boat has been in its longevity. Virtually each of the 2,500 Sharks built in the last 35 years is still sailing and many of the first hulls off the line are still winning their share of races.
The Shark is seem sailing happily in all major Canadian cruising waters, but some owners have taken them much further afield. In 1972, Clive O’Connor, his wife, two year old baby and their guitar sailed their Shark from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Melbourne, Australia. They arrived in good form, still speaking to each other and their Shark, at last report, was still being used for research on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Randal Peart sailed his Shark from Windsor and then crossed over to England, cruised the French canals, and then sailed BACK across and cruised the Caribbean for a year. He’s still alive and well and eccentric. If you’d like to correspond with him, he’d be happy to hear from you at: [email protected]
(Editor’s Note: The text of the above paragraph has been changed from the original, to reflect new information from Randal’s wife, Patricia, received on Sept 11, 2000)
On his return, he reported no structural damage and no bulkheads adrift, but he did ask for a new set of gudgeons to replace his worn ones.
More recently, Bob Lush added a foot to the stern of his Shark to bring it up to a minimum 25-foot size for the OSTAR single-handed transatlantic race. His biggest problem crossing the Atlantic was getting stuck in the doldrums and listening to empty sails slap for too many mind-destroying days.
The Shark is a forgiving boat which makes it appealing to novices, but with 14 separate lines to tweak, it is as technical as any sailor could wish. An active class association defined the Shark’s measurements and specifications as early as 1966 and in 1984, the association adopted a more formal measurement form patterned after a number of international one-design classes. The fact that all Sharks, both new and old have been built to these specifications has kept the racing fleet viable and maintained the market value of the boat.
The association is active at the international, national and regional levels giving Shark owners who are not part of a local fleet a point of contact and an active racing program. In addition to regular club races, there are regional, provincial and national Shark Class regattas. The highlight of each year is the Shark World Championship, a seven race series held for two consecutive years in North America and, in the third year, in Europe.
Host for the 1994 Shark Worlds, won by Don Ruddy in #268 Dartos, was the Niagara-on-the-Lake Sailing Club, the club Hinterholler helped found. Fifty-six Sharks competed in the 1994 event The World Championship in 1995, won by John Clark/Don Ruddy was held in Freidrickshaven on Lake Constance. Several Canadian Shark sailors competed in this event.
(Editors note: The host for the World Championship in 1996, won by Jeff Mitchell in #336 Frankly Scarlet, was the Kingston Yacht Club and in 1997, won by Don Ruddy in #268 Dartos, was the Buffalo Canoe Club. In 1998 the Championship, again won by Don Ruddy, was sailed June 6 – 12, at the Yachtclub Breitenbrunn, Neusiedlersee, Burgenland, Austria. The 1999 Championship was sailed at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto, Canada and won by Sid Dakin in #1456 “Duck Soup”and the 2000 Championships at Parry Sound on Georgian Bay, in Ontario, was won by Don Ruddy in “Dartos
“. The 2001 Championship also won by Don Ruddy, was held at Yacht-Club Kreuzlingen in Switzerland and the 2002 Worlds is scheduled for Toronto,Ontario at the Mimico Cruising Club)
Class website
http://shark24.org/
Objectives Of The Kirby 25 Class Rules
To maintain the K-25 as a one-design class with the object of providing fair competition between equal boats as well as providing a boat suitable for handicap racing and cruising.
To protect the owner’s investment and keep the cost of ownership as low as possible.
To maintain the high performance characteristics of the K-25 by permitting improvements to be adopted by the procedure for changing Class Rules as specified in the Class Constitution.
To have clear and precise rules which will be essentially self-controlling.
Class website:
http://www.kirby25.com/
On Deck and Below
The C&C 27 has all the C&C hallmarks: a springy sheer, attractive bow profile and a well integrated cabin trunk. Thank you, George Cuthbertson, for the gracious lines of the C&C 27. The C&C 27 also enjoys a generous beam, reasonably high topsides, short overhangs, and a wide transom. Her keel is vintage C&C, with a sharply swept back leading edge. The Mark I and II have the scimitar-shaped rudder, which is long in the chord and shallow in depth. The Mark III and IV have a high-aspect-ratio rudder, with constant chord length, and greater depth.
On Deck
The foredeck is spacious, with the mast set well back. The raised coach roof comes up at a low angle from the high, cambered deck. Sloping side decks are of reasonable width, running out at the cockpit coamings, and the cockpit is big enough to handle a post-race victory party. The overall feeling from the deck is of a comfortable, well proportioned sailing yacht.
Below Decks
As you descend through the main companionway, you’d swear she’s a much bigger yacht. The 27 has all the creature comforts. The galley is both to port and starboard. This layout makes for plenty of counter space. The stainless sink and stove are to starboard, and a large icebox is to port under the counter. Lockers, drawers, shelves and storage space abound. The roomy main saloon offers standing headroom. To port the dinette seats four, and at night the table drops down to form a large single berth. A six-foot-plus single settee berth is to starboard. The head is forward and to port, with a large, open hanging locker opposite. A full length door separates the head from the saloon. The spacious V-berth will comfortably sleep two adults, and there is a folding door to close this area off from the head.
Performance Characteristics
The C&C 27 has always been a performer. Thirty-plus years after the first boats were built, 27’s continue to race (and cruise) on all the Great Lakes, and they enjoy any condition the lakes can provide. In the PHRF racing circuit, the C&C 27 has been a competitor for many years. Any 27 which is well sailed can be a club champion, and many are. Several clubs on western Lake Ontario actually have enough 27’s to have their own one-design fleet for club racing (see Links).
Between races, the 27 is a very comfortable and trustworthy cruiser. The Marks I and II are very stable boats, able to carry maximum sail area in stronger winds. George Cuthbertson originally designed the Mark I for ocean sailing. By comparison, the Mark III and IV move smartly in lighter airs, which the Great Lakes are afflicted with in July and August, when many other boats this size simply do not have enough rig to sail acceptably. All the 27’s reach very well. They easily keep up with the fleet from port to port, and usually lead the cruising sailboats under 30 feet.
Commercial Notes
The C&C 27, a Canadian classic, represents a low-cost alternative for those wishing to buy a moderately-sized, high-performance racer-cruiser. They are an excellent example of how long a properly built fibreglass boat can last, with a proven reputation as strong, well-designed and well built boats. The fact that these boats continue to race successfully at both club and interclub levels, is testimony to their heritage.
The C&C 27 is also one of the reasons many yacht manufacturers have gone out of business. With nearly 1,000 hulls produced, most have shown no serious signs of aging. There are neglected 27’s (a condition that often shows up as delamination of the deck, but any potential purchase should be inspected by a competent surveyor), but most of the hulls are in a well maintained state, and have no foreseeable retirement.
New sailboats of similar size cost approximately $60,000 to $80,000, and depreciate rapidly in the first year. Currently (in the late 90’s), it is possible to buy a well-kept C&C 27, 12 to 25 years old, for about a third of the replacement cost. As many new owners on a budget will agree, a well equipped 27 can be acquired for under $20,000, ready to race and/or cruise. Later model 27’s in pristine condition list for $25,000 plus.
Despite the variations in the four different C&C 27 versions, all boats race together without handicapping. To equalize these variations, the Association has developed maximum permitted sail measurements for each of the four different rigs (see below). It has been “generalized” that the Marks I and II place higher in heavy air races, and that lighter winds bring out the best in the Marks III and IV. These generalizations are usually put to the test each season by the performance of certain skippers. To clarify the differences in the four different versions, and the adjustments made to equalize their performances, the following tables can be used.
Class Overview
The C&C 27 has always been an affordable one-design racer/cruiser. To keep things both friendly and affordable, the 27 Association has adopted the following sail material regulations.
The flexibility in genoa materials keeps the boats competitive for club racing, and has not been a problem within the Association. Frankly speaking, there are no millionaires lining up to buy a C&C 27 championship, and many 27’s sail competitively with well seasoned canvas.
Class association website:
http://www.cc27association.com/
Skiff style sailing downwind – no capsizing. Young or old, big or small – jump straight into a high performance boat and have the time of your life. K6 sailors are passionate about their boats!
Great one-design regattas. Class start at Cowes Week. And the option to race on handicap with the dinghies or keelboats at clubs and regattas all over the place. Another RS winner.
Winner
“Sailboat of the Year”
British Nautical Awards 2002
Hull
Keel & rudder
Rig
Launching
Crew
| Designer | Paul Handley | |
| Length | 5.8m | 19′ |
| Beam | 1.82m | 6′ |
| Sailing weight | 280kg | 616lb |
| Sail area main / jib | 19.7sq m | 210sq ft |
| Sail area spinnaker | 26sq m | 310sq ft |
| Hull construction | Epoxy GRP foam sandwich | |
| Spars | Carbon composite | |
| Sails | Mylar semi battened mainsail and jib. Twin patch radial cut spinnaker. | |
| Foils | Keel – GRP vertical lift with encapsulated lead bulb. Rudder – lifting GRP. | |
Class website:
http://www.rssailing.com/index.asp?fleet=RS%20K6
The Windmill Fleet brings families together from across the country to enjoy the thrill of friendly rivalry on the water and camaraderie ashore.
Frank & Dan each looking for a lane
The Windmill is a 15 1/2 foot, 2-person racing dinghy designed by boat-builder Clark Mills in 1953. True to his objective, Mills designed a boat that is high performance, yet can be inexpensively constructed by amateur builders. Today, both wooden and fiberglass Windmills remain equally competitive. With its narrow, hard-chined planing hull, the Windmill is a born racer. Yet being a non-trapeze, non-spinnaker boat makes the Windmill accessible to a wide range of sailing skills.
Length Overall 15′ 6″
Beam 4′ 9″
Hull weight 198 lbs
Sail Area 119 sq. ft.
Spinnaker n/a
Crew 2
Mast Height 20′ 3″
Portsmouth Ratings:
Level 89.7 Light air 92.3 Medium 91.4 Heavy 86.4
Class website:
http://windmillclass.myfleet.org/
While new boats released onto the adult sailing market have changed the face of dinghy sailing, there have been no new boats for younger sailors for some time. With the O’pen Bic, children and teenagers alike now have a true glide machine for real excitement on the water. The O’pen Bic is THE link between the Optimist generation and the new generation of sailing dinghies.
An energized dinghy:
A fast, planing hull for a dynamic sailing experience. more information
A totally open, self-draining stern that makes even capsizing fun! more information
A modern design that looks like the boat of today’s champions. more information
A shaped daggerboard and rudderblade, and high quality mooring equipment, for performance and ease of trimming. more information
A high performance rig package for power, speed and control. more information
Class Website:
http://class.openbic.com/
The Raven is a 24 foot centerboard sloop, a pioneer in planing hulls. Launched in 1948, the first ones were molded plywood, the later ones were manufactured in fiberglass. The Raven has been described as the “muscle car” of sailboats and she can still hold her own against new hotshots. Besides being a performance racing boat, her large cockpit is comfortable for relaxed daysailing and was designed to be family friendly.
Length Overall 24’3″
Length Waterline 21’7″
Beam 7′
Hull Draft 7″
Draft (board down) 5’4″
Weight 1170 lbs.
Sail Area: 300 square feet
Jib: Yes
Spinnaker: Symetrical, 200 square feet
Trapeze: 3
Total Crew: 3-4
Hull Speed: 6.59 knots
In sailing, the A-Scow is a large sailing scow It is 38 feet long and with reported top speeds of over 25 kts. With its rules of design, also known as scantlings, first being written in 1901, the A-Scow has a significant history. With a large sail area and little keel ballast, the five to seven crew members must work in unison on the A-Scow to keep the boat sailing fast and upright. The boat is mainly sailed in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Number of crew: 5-8
LOA 11.58 m 38 ft
Beam 2.44 m 8 ft
Hull weight (with fittings) 839 kg 1850 lb
Sail Area of total of Jib 13.94 m² 150 ft²
Sail Area of total of Main 32.52 m² 350 ft²
Sail Area of total of Spinnaker 111.48 m² 1200 ft
Class website:
http://dnn.ascow.org/
The one-design C Scow class created by Johnson Boatworks of White Bear Lake, Minnesota began sailing in 1905. Original, the boat and masts were made of wood and the gaffe-rigged mainsails were made of cotton. Through the years, hull shapes and materials have changed, but the critical formula remains the same: One hull, one large sail, two bilge-boards, and one helluva ride!
Until 1981, a total crew weight of 475 lbs during racing was strictly enforced. Today, there are no such restrictions, but the magic number for total crew weight remains around 500 lbs in the heaviest of winds, and less weight in lighter conditions.
Length: 20 feet (6.10 meters)
Beam: 7 feet (2.13 meters)
C Scow
Main Sail Area: 216 square feet
Crew: 2-3
Class Site: http://www.cscow.org/
The E-Scow is the younger sister of the A-Scow. Its rigging is similar, as well, and their hull shapes are almost identical. The boat is competitively sailed in Minnesota and Wisconsin and recently in many more states around the country, including Michigan, New York, New Jersey, South Carolina and Colorado. Only recently has E-Scow class spread to Europe. There are boats at least in Switzerland, France and Finland. Unlike the A-Scow, the E-Scow has a symmetrical spinnaker. The National Class E Scow Association (NCESA) tested an asymmetrical spinnaker option as a potential change to the design scantlings for two years. The asymmetrical spinnaker was voted down by the class in 2006, but it seems that new vote is around the corner with slightly modified rig and more restricted spinnaker shape.
Class Site: http://www.e-scow.org/
