29er (dinghy)

29er

Class symbol
Boat
Crew	2 (single trapeze)
Hull
Hull weight	70 kg (150 lb)
LOA	4.40 m (14.4 ft)
Beam	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Rig
Mast Length	6.25 m (20.5 ft)
Sails
Spinnaker area	16.83 m^2 (181.2 sq ft)
Upwind Sail Area	13.19 m^2 (142.0 sq ft)
Misc
D-PN	84.5[1]
RYA PN	922[2]

The 29er is a two-person high performance sailing skiff designed by Julian Bethwaite and first produced in 1998. Derived from the Olympic class 49er class, it is raced in the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships.^[3] The 29er is able to reach high speeds fairly quickly by having a sleek and hydrodynamic hull and will often exceed the wind speed when planing both up and downwind.

Background

The 29er class is targeted at youth, especially those training to sail the larger Olympic 49er. The ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships has adopted it to replace the Laser 2 - which was designed by Julian Bethwaite's father Frank.

The 29er has two sailors, one on trapeze. The rig features a fractional asymmetric spinnaker; a self-tacking jib decreases the work load of the crew, making maneuvers more efficient and freeing the crew to take the mainsheet upwind and on two-sail reaches. The spinnaker rigging set-up challenges crews to be fit and coordinated, and maneuvers in the boat require athleticism due to its lack of inherent stability and the high speed with which the fully battened mainsail and jib power up.

The hull construction is of fibreglass-reinforced polyester in a foam sandwich layout. The fully battened mainsail and jib are made from a transparent Mylar laminate with orange or red Dacron trimming, while the spinnaker is manufactured from ripstop Nylon. The mast is in three parts - an aluminium bottom and middle section, with a polyester-fiberglass composite tip to increase mast bend and decrease both overall weight, and the capsizing moment a heavy mast tip can generate. Foils are aluminium or fibreglass.

Events

World Champions

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2000 Lake Garda	New Zealand Mike Bassett Mark Kennedy	Australia Evan McNicol John Winning	New Zealand Scott Kennedy Lindsay Kennedy
2001 Kingston	Great Britain John Pink Tom Weeks	Great Britain John Gimson Simon Marks	Australia Joseph Turner Charles Dorron
2002 Sydney	Australia John Winning Evan McNicol	Australia Nathan Outteridge Grant Rose	Australia Jonathan Bonnitcha Paul Bonnitcha
2003 Laredo	Great Britain David Evans Rick Peacock	Argentina Pepe Bettini Federico Villambrosa	Great Britain Thomas Smedley Stevie Wilson
2004 Lake Silvaplana	Great Britain Tristan Jaques Alain Sign	Finland Lauri Lehtinen Miikka Pennanen	Australia David O'Connor Scott Babbage
2005 San Francisco	Australia Jacqui Bonnitcha Euan McNicol	Australia David O'Connor Scott Babbage	United States John Heineken Matt Noble
2006 Weymouth	Finland Silja Lehtinen Scott Babbage	Great Britain Dylan Fletcher Rob Partridge	United States Cameron Biehl Matt Noble
2007 Buenos Aires	Argentina Matías Gainza Federico Villambrosa	Argentina Pepe Bettini Matías Keller	Argentina Ignacio Fernández Besada Tigris Martirosjan
2008 Melbourne	Australia Steve Thomas Jasper Warren	Australia Byron White William Ryan	Great Britain Max Richardson Alex Groves
2009 Lake Garda	Australia Steve Thomas Blair Tuke	Australia Lauren Jeffies Nathan Outteridge	Australia Haylee Outteridge Iain Jensen
2010 Freeport	France Kevin Fisher Glen Gouron	Argentina Pepe Bettini Fernando Gwozdz	Italy Lorenzo Franceschini Ricardo Camin
2011 Mar del Plata	Argentina María Belén Tavella Franco Greggi	Argentina Pepe Bettini Fernando Gwozdz	Argentina Francisco Cosentino Tomás Wagmáister
2012 Travemünde[4]	Spain Carlos Robles Florian Trittel	France Lucas Rual Kevin Fischer	Argentina Klaus Lange Mateo Majdalani
2013 Kalø Vig[5]	France Lucas Rual Emile Amoros	New Zealand Markus Somerville Jack Simpson	Spain Martí Llena Oriol Mahiques
2014 Kingston[6]	Australia Kurt Hansen Harry Morton	France Brice Yrieix Loic Ficher-Guillou	Germany Jasper Steffens Tom Lennart Brauckmann
2015 Pwllheli[7]	Australia Kyle O'Connell Tom Siganto	Argentina Ignacio Varisco Federico García	United States Christopher Williford Wade Waddell
2016 Medemblik[8]	Australia Tom Crockett Harry Morton	France Gwendal Nael Lilian Mercier	Great Britain Crispin Beaumont Tom Darling

ISAF Youth Sailing World Champions

The 29er has been used as equipment in the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships.

29er XX and XS

Bethwaite and Jen Glass have also designed the 29erXX, a twin trapeze derivative of the 29er. It uses the same hull with some minor changes such as an extended gunwale and a rudder gantry, with a larger rig that includes a square-top main and masthead asymmetric spinnaker. The class became an International Sailing Federation recognised class in its own right in 2010.

In late 2012 Bethwaite announced another new version, the 29erXS, aimed at younger and/or lighter sailors. The XS features a similar rig to the XX, but of smaller size fitted to a standard 29er hull and employing a single trapeze. The intention is that sailors can upgrade the rig when they are ready to move to full sized sails, and keep the hull, which will remain standard across all 29er variants.

References

1. "Centerboard Classes". US Sailing. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
2. "Portsmouth Number List 2012". Royal Yachting Association. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
3. "Bethwaite Design". Retrieved 30 October 2016.
4. "2012 29er World Championship Regatta".
5. "2013 29er Wold Championships" (PDF).
6. "2014 29er World Championships".
7. "2015 29er World Championships".
8. "2016 29er World Championships" (PDF).

External links

International Links

• 29er.org
• ISAF 29er Microsite

Builders

• Ovington Boats
• Bethwaite Design

National Class Associations

• 29er Class Association of New Zealand
• German 29er Association
• British 29er Association
• North American Class Page
• Danish 29er Association
• Swiss 29er Association
• (Dutch) 29er Class Organisation
• Swedish 9er Association
• Polish 9er Association