Lightning (dinghy)
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The Lightning is an American sailing dinghy that was designed by Olin Stephens of Sparkman & Stephens, as a one-design racer and first built in 1938.[1][2][3]
An accepted World Sailing class, the boat is one of the most popular one-design sailing classes in the United States and is also raced in several other countries.[1][3]
The design was developed into a smaller boat, as a trainer for the Lightning, the Blue Jay in 1947.[4]
Production
The design has been built by a large number of manufacturers in the United States and also in Canada. There have been 15,550 boats completed and it remains in production by the Allen Boat Company.[1][5][6]
In the past it has been built in the US by the Clark Boat Company, Lippincott Boat Works, Nickels Boat Works, Jack A. Helms Co., Lockley Newport Boats, Skaneateles Boat & Canoe, Mobjack Manufacturing, Siddons & Sindle, Lofland Sail-craft, the Eichenlaub Boat Co, Saybrook Yacht Yard, and WindRider LLC. It was also built in Canada by J.J. Taylor and Sons Ltd.[1]
Boats have been delivered complete, sold as kits for amateur construction and also amateur-built from plans.[3]
Design
The Lightning is a recreational sailboat, initially built with wooden plank construction and, since the early 1960s, of fiberglass with wood trim. It has a fractional sloop rig with wooden or aluminum spars. The rig employs a backstay, anchored off center, so as to not impede the tiller. If equipped with a wooden mast it has a jumper stay from the mast head to the spreaders. The hull has a foredeck, with a V-shaped coaming, a raked stem, an angled transom, a transom-hung rudder controlled by a tiller and a retractable centerboard. It displaces Template:Convert and carries a class-prescribed maximum of Template:Convert in centerboard weight.[1][3]
The boat has a draft of Template:Convert with the centerboard extended and Template:Convert with it retracted, allowing beaching or ground transportation on a trailer.[1]
For sailing the design is equipped with a Template:Convert spinnaker. Mainsail and jib windows are optional for improved visibility and safety.[3]
The design has a Portsmouth Yardstick racing average handicap of 88.4[3] and is normally raced with a crew of three sailors, although it can accommodate six adults.[7][8]
Operational history
The boat has an active class club that regulates the design and organizes races, the International Lightning Class Association.[9] By 1994 there were more than 460 racing fleets in Canada, Europe, South America and the United States.[3]
In a 1994 review Richard Sherwood noted that the design has good freeboard and stability.[3]
Racing
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See also
Related development
References
External links
Template:Lockley Newport Boats Template:Clark Boat Company Template:Classes of World Sailing Script error: No such module "Navbox".
- ↑ a b c d e f Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Sherwood, Richard M.: A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition, pages 102-103. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994. Template:ISBN
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- ↑ Lightning Class Association, Yearbook 1941
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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- Pages with script errors
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- Dinghies
- 1930s sailboat type designs
- Lightning (dinghy)
- Classes of World Sailing
- Sailboat type designs by Olin Stephens
- Sailboat types built by Allen Boat Company
- Sailboat types built by Clark Boat Company
- Sailboat types built by Lockley Newport Boats
- Sailboat types built by Siddons & Sindle
- Sailboat types built by WindRider LLC
- Sailboat types built by Mobjack Manufacturing
- Sailboat types built by Nickels Boat Works
- Sailboat types built by Skaneateles Boat & Canoe Co.
- Sailboat types built by Lippincott Boat Works
- Sailboat types built by Jack A. Helms Co.
- Sailboat types built by J.J. Taylor and Sons
- Sailboat types built by Lofland Sail-craft
- Sailboat types built by Eichenlaub Boat Co.