The 29er is a two-person high performance sailing skiff designed by

Julian Bethwaite Julian Bethwaite (born 14 July 1957) is an Australian, Sydney-based skiff sailor and sailboat designer. He wrote one chapter of his father Frank's book, ''Higher Performance Sailing''. Skiff sailing Bethwaite started sailing 18ft skiffs in ...

and first produced in 1998. Derived from the Olympic class 49er class, it is raced in the

ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships The ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships was first held in Sweden in 1971 and it has been held every year since. It is one of the key events of the federation to help promote top-level youth participation. Editions Equipment Gender Guide ...

. The 29er is able to reach high speeds fairly quickly by having a sleek and

hydrodynamic In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids—liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including ''aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) and ...

hull and will often exceed the wind speed when planing both up and

downwind Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...

Background

The 29er class is targeted at youth, especially those training to sail the larger Olympic 49er. The

Youth Sailing World Championships The ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships was first held in Sweden in 1971 and it has been held every year since. It is one of the key events of the federation to help promote top-level youth participation. Editions Equipment Gender Guide ...

has adopted it to replace the

Laser 2 The Laser 2, or Laser II, is a sailboat that was designed by New Zealander Frank Bethwaite and Canadian Ian Bruce as a one-design racer and first built in 1978. Production The design was built by Bruce's company, Performance Sailcraft, in ...

- which was designed by Julian Bethwaite's father

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

. The 29er has two sailors, one on

trapeze A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or flying, an ...

. The rig features a fractional

asymmetrical spinnaker An asymmetrical spinnaker is a sail used when sailing downwind. Also known as an "asym", "aspin", or "A-sail" it can be described as a cross between a genoa jib and a spinnaker. It is asymmetric like a genoa, but, the asymmetrical spinnaker is not ...

; 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. The class has shown large popularity in Oceania with over 700 registered boats out of the 7000 registered worldwide

Events

World Championship

Youth Sailing World Championships

The 29er has been used as equipment in the

Open

Boys

Girls

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 International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

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 main being 4.29sqm and the jib 2.13sqm, the spinnaker is similarly downsized. 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

External links

''International Links''
29er.org ISAF 29er Microsite
''Builders''
Ovington BoatsBethwaite Design
''National Class Associations''
29er Class Association of New Zealand

German 29er AssociationBritish 29er AssociationNorth American Class PageDanish 29er AssociationSwiss 29er Association 29er Class OrganisationSwedish 9er AssociationPolish 9er Association
{{Authority control Classes of World Sailing Dinghies Two-person sailboats 1990s sailboat type designs Sailboat type designs by Julian Bethwaite