49er (dinghy)

Class symbol
Development
Boat
Crew2 (double trapeze)
Draft1,447 mm (4 ft 9 in)
Hull
Hull weight94 kg (207 lb)
LOA4,876 mm (16 ft)
Beamwithout wings:
1,752 mm (5 ft 9 in)
with wings:
2,743 mm (9 ft 0 in)
Sails
Spinnaker area37.16 m2 (400 sq ft)
Upwind sail area19.97 m2 (215 sq ft)
Racing
D-PN68.2[1]
RYA PN710[2]
Current Olympic equipment

The 49er and 49er FX is a two-handed skiff-type high-performance sailing dinghy. 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 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 (the son of Frank Bethwaite) and developed by a consortium consisting of Bethwaites, Performance Sailcraft Japan, Peter Johnston, and Ovington boats.[3] The boat has been an Olympic class since it was selected by the International Sailing Federation 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 to be the women's high performance double-hander at the Rio Summer Olympics of 2016.

  1. ^ "Centerboard Classes". US Sailing. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  2. ^ "Portsmouth Number List 2017". Royal Yachting Association. Archived from the original on 23 March 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).