Y flyer

Y Flyer

Class symbol
Development
Designer Alvin Youngquist
Location Toledo Ohio USA
Year 1938
Boat
Crew 2
Draft 1.219 m (4 ft 0 in)
Trapeze None
Hull
Type Monohull
Construction Wood; Fiberglass
Hull weight 226.7 kg (500 lb)
LOA 5.486 m (18 ft 0 in)
Beam 1.767 m (5 ft 9.6 in)
Hull Appendages
Keel/Board Type 4 feet - retractable rear-swing centerboard
Rig
Rig Type Marconi
Sails
Spinnaker area 51.15 m2 (550.6 sq ft)
Upwind Sail Area 14.9 m2 (160 sq ft)
Misc
PHRF 86.5 Portsmouth

The Y Flyer is an 18 foot (5.5m) sloop-rigged racing dinghy designed to be sailed by 2 people. Although the boat looks and performs like a scow, the bottom of the hull is not quite flat, but split along the centerline into two flat chines. Y-flyers are built of either wood or fiberglass. The Y Flyer was designed in 1938 by Alvin Youngquist, a Naval Architect working in Toledo Ohio, who wished to build a two-person performance dinghy as a training boat for the larger A-Scow. He published the design in Rudder magazine with instructions for how to build it at home using marine plywood. Many Y Flyers are built by their owners following the class rules and design which remain little changed since 1938. Several commercial boat builders have also built Y-Flyers, including Turner Marine, who are the only builder commercially offering the design today.

The Y Flyer is an active one-design class with fleets, sailing clubs and regattas primarily in the US Southeast, US Upper Midwest and Eastern Canada. The class is designated by a "Y" on the mainsail. Approximately 3000 Y-Flyers have been registered to the class associations.

The Y Flyer class requires boats to weigh at least 500 pounds fully rigged, without crew or sails, and to carry class-approved upwind sails measuring 161 sq ft (14.9 m2). The Canadian Y-Flyer class allows for a spinnaker to be used downwind. The American Y-Flyer class rules forbid the use of spinnakers. When racing against non-class sailboats, the Y-Flyer uses a Portsmouth Yardstick rating of 86.5. The boat sailing characteristics are similar to other fast planing performance boats, but the Y Flyer is notable for having a bluntly squared-off fore-deck and using a whisker pole nearly half the length of the boat when setting the jib for running downwind.

The American Y-Flyer class has 19 active one-design fleets and supports a travelling regatta series including Midwinter Races and multi-regatta Mid-Western Cup and Helmsman Cup Awards. The class is noted for maintaining rules which minimize the advantages of high-tech, high-cost features. This focus allows sailors with a modest budget to remain highly competitive. Each year many older boats, with low sail numbers, place well in races at the club and regatta level.

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