The Dart 15 is a one-design
glassfibre
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...
sailing
catamaran
A Formula 16 beachable catamaran
Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States
A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-stab ...
, principally sailed in the UK. It is designed to be sailed by one or two people and has a furling jib and trapeze. It can be raced with or without the jib and trapeze, and there are national championships held in both categories. Between 2005 and 2022 the class was known as the Sprint 15.
Weight
Hull 33 kg per hull; Trolley 6 kg; Road base 100 kg; Trailing weight 174.5 kg; Mast 10.5 kg.
RYA handicap ratings
* 926
[{{cite web , url=https://assetbank-eu-west-1.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/rya-assets_87113cb4549df15cff38e2cd071931c5/f1a/PN_List_2022_3_1_.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3D%22f1a%2FPN_List_2022_3_1_.pdf%22%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%27f1a%252FPN%255FList%255F2022%255F3%255F1%255F%252Epdf&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20230103T103159Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=900&X-Amz-Credential=AKIATJ7XNAYVAWNFIK7R%2F20230103%2Feu-west-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=aa0dc9ee0b5d23ef75adb7d649a0c54f3242bfce31893f3910fe401183c5b7c2 , title=Portsmouth Number List 2022, publisher=Royal Yachting Association , accessdate=3 January 2023] - Sailed "Unarig" (one person with just the main)
* 904
- Sailed "Sport" (one person with main, jib & trapeze)
History
The Dart 15 was designed in 1979 by Rodney March, who was also responsible for the design of the Olympic
Tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
class catamaran. Originally built by Panthercraft Ltd of
Penryn in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
as the "Spark", the boat was then sold through The Laser Centre in Banbury, UK and was renamed the Dart 15. Production was transferred in 2005 to Collins Fibreglass of South Africa, who also manufacture the Dart 18 catamaran. In 2005 the name of the boat was changed from Dart 15 to Sprint 15. On January 1, 2023, the class's name reverted to Dart 15. At present just over 2,000 Dart 15 boats have been sold, and there is an active class association and racing schedule. The Dart 15 is in the top 2 most popular racing catamaran fleets each year in the UK (by national championship entries).
A Dart 15 was sailed single-handedly clockwise around the British mainland in the Summer of 2019.
See also
*
List of multihulls Types
* catamaran = two symmetric hulls
* proa = two asymmetric hulls, reverse-shunting (interchangeable bow/stern)
* trimaran = three hulls
* quadrimaran = four hulls
* pentamaran = five hulls
Pre-modern Austronesian
* ʻalia
* Amatasi
* B ...
References
Catamarans