ssc_marcomms posted on May 01, 2010 23:05
When it comes to differentiating the various classes of boats that are used in sailing, not many people are able to separate the Optimist from the Laser, or tell the difference between the 470 and the 420. So here is a simple guide to some of the most commonly encountered names.
Optimist
The Optimist is the largest junior class in the world with over 150 000 sailors from over 110 countries. Sailors can not only learn to sail, they can progress to the highest level world championship competitions. Singapore is currently one of the highest ranked nations in the world in this class, and there are thousands of young people training and racing each week in Singapore, in this affordable and easy to handle class.
The Byte, built in Batam, is a reasonably inexpensive single-person boat, exceptionally good for youth sailing, and is seen as an excellent transition class between the Optimist and the Laser. Fast and manoeuvrable, the Byte is one of the most popular classes in Singapore and our young sailors have claimed a few World titles over the previous six years. A new design known as the "CII", with a fully battened sail and carbon-fibre mast, has recently been developed. The Byte CII is selected as one of the two sailing equipment for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games.
Laser
The Laser is the most popular single-handed boat in the world for youth and adults, with over 200 000 sailors in over 130 countries worldwide. The Laser comes with three different sized sails to cater for different body sizes. The Laser Standard is an Olympic class for men and the Laser Radial an Olympic class for women. A more recent addition to the laser family is the Laser 4.7 which has the smallest rig and is a perfect transition boat for teenagers graduating from the Optimist. Singapore has a strong laser fleet and has won world titles in the Laser 4.7 (boys and girls) and Asian Games champions in the Laser and Laser 4.7.
420
The 420 is a double-handed boat with the crew member using a trapeze system to allow them to swing out from the side of the boat to keep it stable. It is a popular youth class worldwide (under-19) and the boat of choice for the ISAF Youth World Championships. Singapore has been traditionally strong in the class being current Asian Games champions in both boys and girls divisions and having been previous Gold, Silver and Bronze medallists at the ISAF Youth World Championships.
470
The 470 is the bigger brother of the 420 class. In Singapore the 470 fleet continues to grow with the ongoing graduation of the top class 420 sailors into the Olympic 470. Singapore sailors are now climbing the world rankings and training hard for the Olympic Games.
Hobie 16
The Hobie is a high-performance catamaran (two hulls) sailed by two people on trapeze. The slender boat is capable of very high speeds and is exhilarating to sail. Well suited to the Asian body type, SingaporeSailing is actively promoting the class at the open and youth level.
Keelboat
A keelboat is a yacht built with a permanent keel to keep it stable. Usually it takes several crew members to operate these larger boats and this kind of “team” sailing has been popular in Singapore at clubs such as Changi Sailing Club, Republic of Singapore Yacht Club, Raffles Marina and Singapore Armed Forces Yacht Club. The most prominent keelboat event in Singapore is the yearly Singapore Straits Regatta that attracts yachts from all over the Asia Pacific region. SingaporeSailing is now actively pushing the keelboat programme as a natural extension of dinghy sailing. A major shot in the arm for the keelboat programme was the gold medal attained at the 2006 Asian Games, by the young Singapore crew, all of whom had gone through the dinghy ranks.