49er (dinghy)

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Specifications Under Current Rules


49er
Number of crew 2 (Double Trapeze)
LOA 4876mm 16ft
Beam without/with wings 1752mm/2743mm 5ft 9in/9ft
Draft 1447mm 4ft 9in
Hull weight (with fittings) 74.25kg 210lbs
Sail Area of total of Main and Jib 215sq.ft
Sail Area Spinnaker 400sq.ft


Olympic Class

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.



[edit] Skiff Sailing

The 49er has been an amazing feat of engineering. Based on the Aussie 18'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 use of solid wings, rather than tubes as on similar boats (RS 800 etc), aids sailors new to the world of skiff racing whilst facilitating rapid movement across the 49er during maneuvers.

A 49er skiff in a race
A 49er skiff in a race

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. Recently the 29erXX, a twin trapeze version of the 29er, has been produced with a rig very similar to the 49er.

[edit] External links

[edit] Other International Sailing Dinghies


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
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Classes of sailing dinghy, scow, sharpie and skiff (worldwide)
29er skiff • 29erXX skiff  • 405 ("Four-oh-five") • 420 ("Four-twenty") • 470 ("Four-seventy") • 49er skiff • 505 ("Five-oh-five") • 3000 • Adventuress • Albacore • ASC • Astus 14.1 • Australian Sharpie • Banshee • Bermuda Fitted Dinghy • Blaze • Blue Jay • Bosun • British Moth • BP18 • Buccaneer 18 • Butterfly • Byte • C-Lark • Cadet • Cherokee • Cherub • Comet • Contender • Corsair • Coypu • Dabchick • Dart • Day Sailer • Drascombe • El Toro • Enterprise • Escape • Extra • Fatty Knees • Finn • Fireball • Firefly • Flying Ant • Flying Dutchman • Flying Eleven • Flying Junior • Flying Scot • Force 5 •  • GP14 • Graduate • Heron • Highlander • Hornet • Idle-along • IDRA14 • International Canoe • International Twelve • International 14 • 12ft Skiff • 16ft Skiff • 18ft Skiff • Jacksnipe • Javelin • Jersey Skiff • Jet 14 • Jollyboat • JY15 • Lark • Laser • Laser Radial • Laser 4.7 • Laser 2 • Laser 2000 • Laser 3000 • Laser 4000 • Laser 5000 • Laser Pico • Laser SB3 • Laser Stratos • Laser Vago • Laser Vortex • Laser Funboat • Lido 14 • Lightning • Manly Junior • Marlin • Merlin Rocket • Minto • Miracle • Mirror • Mirror 16 • Mistral • Moth • Musto Skiff • Mutineer 15 • National 12 • Norfolk Punt • NS14 • O'Day DaySailer • OK Dinghy • Optimist • Osprey • Otter • P Class • Pacer • Pegasus • Pelican • Pirate • Penguin • Phantom • Precision 15 • Puddle Duck Racer • RS200 • RS300 • RS400 • RS500 • RS600 • RS700 • RS800 • RS Feva • RS Vareo • RS Vision • RS K6 • Sabot • Sabre • Salcombe Yawl • Sea Bright • Scorpion • Scow (A, C, E, MC, M16, 17) • Snipe • Solo • Spiral • Starling • Streaker • Sunburst • Sunfish • Tadpole • Tasar • Thames A Class Rater • Thistle • Tinker Traveller • Tinker Star Traveller • Topper • Topper Topaz • Topper Topaz Taz • Topper Topaz Magno • Topper Topaz Omega • Topper Topaz Vibe • Topper Topaz Xenon • Turnabout • Turtle • Twinkles 10 & 12 • Vagabond • Vanguard 15 • Vaurien • Wanderer • Wayfarer • Windmill • Windy • X_boat_(dinghy) • Woodpussy • Y flyer • Zeddie • Zephyr • Zoom 8