The Dart 16 is a
one-design
One-design racing is a racing method which may be adopted in sports using complex equipment, whereby all vehicles have identical or very similar designs or models, avoiding the need for a Handicapping, handicap system.
Motorsport
One-make racing ...
4.80 m long sailing
catamaran
A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...
. It is designed to be sailed by two people. It races off a
Portsmouth Yardstick of 863.
History
The Dart 16 Race was first built in 1997.
Design
The Dart 16 is a modern beach catamaran that is fast, affordable, and seaworthy.
Like most Dart catamarans except for the Dart 20 EXP it lacks the main
boom,
as well as
daggerboards,
spreaders, and complicated trimming mechanisms.
The lower part of the hulls have skegs typical for a beach catamaran. The most noticeable difference
to the popular
Dart 18 and
Sprint 15 catamarans is that the hulls are made out of
Tecrothene, a thermo plastic. This material is very impact- and scratch-resistant, but somewhat
heavier and harder to repair than
fiberglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...
.
The kick-up rudders are similar to the
Hobie 16.
The
rigging
Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support and control a sailing ship or sail boat's masts and sails. ''Standing rigging'' is the fixed rigging that supports masts including shrouds and stays. ''Running rigg ...
consists of a rotating aero-dynamically shaped aluminum mast
held by a forestay and two shroud wires.
There is a
trapeze for the crew.
The mainsail does not have a boom. It is fully battened and is controlled by a main sheet with a 6:1 mechanical advantage. The main sheet system has ball-bearing block system with a ratchet and jamming cleat.
The option of a
gennaker
A gennaker is a sail that was developed before the 1980s. Used when sailing downwind, it is a cross between a genoa and a spinnaker. It is not symmetric like a true spinnaker but is asymmetric like a genoa, but the gennaker is not attached to ...
sail is available.
See also
*
List of multihulls Types
* catamaran = two symmetric hulls
* proa = two asymmetric hulls, reverse-shunting (interchangeable Bow (ship), bow/stern)
* trimaran = three hulls
* quadrimaran = four hulls
* pentamaran = five hulls
Pre-modern Austronesian people, Austrone ...
References
External links
Dart 16at Performance Sailcraft Europe Ltd
UKIDA Dart 16 Association
{{Sailing dinghies and skiffs
Catamarans
Dinghies
Sailboat types built by LaserPerformance