The 49er and 49er FX is a two-handed skiff-type high-performance

sailing dinghy Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats - usually for fun, learning necessary sailing skills (often also within family), and competition. RYA lists Five essentials of sailing dinghies as: * The sails * The hydrofoil, foils (i.e. t ...

. The two crew work on different roles with the helm making many tactical decisions, as well as steering, and the crew doing most of the sail control. Both of the crew are equipped with their own

trapeze A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes, metal straps, or chains, from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or ...

and sailing is done while cantilevered over the water to the fullest extent to balance against the sails. The 49er was designed by

Julian Bethwaite Julian Bethwaite (born 14 July 1957) is an Australian, Sydney-based skiff sailor and sailboat designer. He wrote one chapter of his father Frank's book, ''Higher Performance Sailing''. Skiff sailing Bethwaite started sailing 18ft skiffs i ...

(the son of

Frank Bethwaite Francis Dewar Bethwaite (26 May 1920 – 12 May 2012) was a New Zealand naval architect, author and Olympic meteorologist. The boat has been an Olympic class since it was selected by the

International Sailing Federation International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

to be the men's high performance double handed dinghy Sydney Summer Games of 2000. Its derivative featuring a re-designed rig, the 49er FX, was selected by

World Sailing World Sailing is the international sports governing body for sailing (sport), sailing; it is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). History The creation of the International Yac ...

to be the women's high performance double-hander at the Rio Summer Olympics of 2016.

History

The 49er's name comes from its hull length of . It incorporates ideas developed in Julian Bethwaite's

18ft Skiff The 18 ft Skiff is considered the fastest class of sailing skiffs. The class has a long history beginning with races on Sydney Harbour, Australia in 1892 and later in New Zealand. The boat has changed significantly since the early days, brin ...

s, notably the Prime Computer series of boats, which were double handers. To handle a large and powerful sail area, the mast uses a square topped sail that causes the upper main to twist off and flatten, allowing a controllable sail with fast gust response and reducing the heeling moment. The use of solid wings, rather than tubes as on similar boats (

RS800 The RS800 is a light-weight sailing dinghy designed by Phil Morrison and manufactured by RS Sailing. The boat is sailed by two people both on trapeze and has a main, jib and spinnaker A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing ...

etc.), makes it easier for the crew to run across the deck from gunwale to gunwale during maneuvers. 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 740 the 49er is the fastest two person one-design monohull dinghy. In 2009 the boat received a new rig design, including a larger fully carbon mast (replacing the aluminum mast) and square top (roach) mainsail.

Construction

As a one design class, the 49er has two licensed suppliers, Mackay Boats in Oceania and Ovington in Europe.

Hull

The hull is made of Epoxy GRP and foam sandwich laminate with carbon fibre in high load areas. It includes two solid wings, also called racks, that clip into the side to increase righting moment of the trapezing crew. Its length was fixed at 4.99 metres because the ISAF brief for the high performance Olympic class dinghy called for a 5-metre boat, but Tokao Otani, a member of the development consortium, pointed out that there was a tariff in Japan for boats over 5 metres long. It has a fine entry to efficiently transition between the low speed displacement, and high speed planing modes. According to the International 49er class rules, the minimum hull weight including all permanent fittings can not be less than 94.0 kg. Weymouth Olympics Polish mens 49er

Spars

Southern Spars, part of the North Technology Group, is the licensed supplier of the 49er mast. It is a three piece male-moulded assembly made from 100% standard modulus carbon. It is 7.0 metres tall and capable of supporting a combined crew weight up to 165 kg from its dual trapeze. The mast is braced by three sets of shrouds that connect to a fitting on the side of the boat. The crew is able to adjust them by tightening or loosening them, depending on the wind speed and sea states. The boom is made from an

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

alloy extrusion.

Foils

The

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

and

daggerboard A daggerboard is a retractable centreboard used by various sailing craft. While other types of centreboard may pivot to retract, a daggerboard slides in a casing. The shape of the daggerboard converts the forward motion into a windward lift, co ...

are made from a composite of epoxy, carbon and glass, covered by a hard

gelcoat Gelcoat or gel coat is a material used to provide a high-quality finish on the visible surface of a fibre-reinforced composite. The most common gelcoats are thermosetting polymers based on epoxy or unsaturated polyester resin chemistry. Gelcoats a ...

surface. The head of each class legal foil carries the embossed 49er logo and the ICA label.

Sails

The 49er carries three sails: a mainsail, jib, and spinnaker. The main and jib combined are 20 square metres, fully battened and made of reinforced Mylar (film polyester). The main was redesigned in 2007 from a full, curved roach plan to having a square on top in order to provide more sail area and to control more shape adjustment. The spinnaker is 38 square metres in a tri-radial asymmetric shape.

Events

Olympics

Men's 49er

Women's 49er FX

World Championships

Men's 49er

Women's 49er FX

Related boats

The 49er FX was developed by Mackay Boats to be a women's Olympic class. It consists of a 49er hull, wings, and foils, with a scaled down rig designed to suit the weight of an elite female crew. The 29er is a smaller, single trapeze trainer to the 49er. It has become popular in North America, Europe and Australia as a fast youth boat. Recently the

29erXX The 29er XX is a high performance sailing skiff, it was designed to allow light crews, particularly female crews, to sail twin trapeze boats and as a training boat for the more powerful 49er (dinghy), 49er. The class gained International Sailing ...

, a twin trapeze version of the 29er, has been produced with a rig very similar to the 49er. The 59er dinghy was put into production in Australia and the UK in 2002. It is a non-trapeze, sailing dinghy, rigged with an

asymmetrical spinnaker An asymmetrical spinnaker is a sail used when sailing between about 90 and 165 degrees from the angle of the wind. Also known as an "asym", "aspin", "A-sail", or gennaker, it can be described as a cross between a genoa (jib) and a spinnaker. It is ...

. It is designed for a crew weight of .

References

External links

International 49er Class Association

UK 49er Class Association

ISAF 49er Microsite
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