The El Toro is an American pram

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminolo ...

that was designed by Charles McGregor as a

sail training From its modern interpretations to its antecedents when maritime nations would send young naval officer candidates to sea (e.g., see Outward Bound), sail training provides an unconventional and effective way of building many useful skills on and ...

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed by a larger vessel for use as a tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they differ from sailing dinghies, which ...

and

yacht tender A yacht tender is a vessel used for servicing and providing support and entertainment to a private or charter yacht. They include utilitarian craft, powered by oar or outboard motor, and high-speed luxury craft, supporting superyachts, powered b ...

, first built in 1939. It is now often sailed as a singlehanded one-design racer. The boat is a development of McGregor's

Sabot Sabot may refer to: * Sabot (firearms), disposable supportive device used in gunpowder ammunitions to fit/patch around a sub-caliber projectile * Sabot (shoe), a type of wooden shoe People * Dick Sabot (1944–2005), American economist and busi ...

design, the plans for which were published in ''The Rudder'' magazine in 1939. The design has been widely adapted and other derivations include the

Naples Sabot The Naples Sabot is an sailing dinghy. The Naples Sabot was designed by Roy McCullough and R.A. Violette and the first two were built in Violette's garage during WW II, although official designs were not made available until 1946. The Naples Sab ...

US Sabot The US Sabot is an American pram sailboat that was designed by Charles McGregor as a one-design racer and first built in 1939. The design is a development of McGregor's Sabot, based upon the plans published in ''The Rudder'' magazine in 1 ...

, Wind'ard Sabot and the Australian

Holdfast Trainer The Holdfast Trainer is a South Australian sailing dinghy designed in 1948 for junior sailors under the required age of 16. Based on the Sabot, the class features a hard-chine wooden or fiberglass hull with a flat (or "pram") bow and a daggerbo ...

Production

The design was built by

Moore Sailboats Moore may refer to: People * Moore (surname) ** List of people with surname Moore * Moore Crosthwaite (1907–1989), a British diplomat and ambassador * Moore Disney (1765–1846), a senior officer in the British Army * Moore Powell (died c. 15 ...

and

W. D. Schock Corp The W. D. Schock Corporation (usually styled W. D. Schock Corp) is an American boat builder originally based in Newport Beach, California, later in Corona, California and currently located in Santa Ana, California. The company was founded by Wi ...

in the United States, but it is now out of production. More than 11.000 boats were produced.

Design

The El Toro is a recreational

sailing dinghy Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats by using five essential controls: * the sails * the foils (i.e. the daggerboard or centreboard and rudder and sometimes lifting foils as found on the Moth) * the trim (forward/rear angle o ...

, with the early versions build of plywood and later ones of

fiberglass 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 clo ...

, with wood trim. Spars may be made from wood,

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

. It has a

cat rig A catboat (alternate spelling: cat boat) is a sailboat with a single sail on a single mast set well forward in the bow of a very beamy and (usually) shallow draft hull. Typically they are gaff rigged, though Bermuda rig is also used. Most are ...

, a squared stem, a nearly plumb transom, a transom-hung

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

controlled by a

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...

and a retractable daggerboard. Ready to sail it displaces , with the hull alone weighing . The boat has a draft of with the daggerboard extended and with it retracted, allowing operation in shallow water or beaching. It can also be transported on a trailer or automobile roof. The design has a

hull speed Hull speed or displacement speed is the speed at which the wavelength of a vessel's bow wave is equal to the waterline length of the vessel. As boat speed increases from rest, the wavelength of the bow wave increases, and usually its crest-to-t ...

of .

Operational history

The boat is mostly sailed on the American west coast and is supported by an active class club that organizes racing events, the ''El Toro International Yacht Racing Association''. The class has competed in the annual BullShip Race in

Sausalito, California Sausalito ( Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's ...

, since 1954. The start line is at the Horizons Restaurant dock and the course runs to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, past

Alcatraz Island Alcatraz Island () is a small island in San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military pri ...

and the Golden Gate Bridge, finishing at the end of the breakwater at the

Golden Gate Yacht Club The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) is a San Francisco, California, U.S. based yacht club founded in 1939. History In 1939 the first members built a clubhouse on a barge in the San Francisco Marina. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake severely ...

and St. Francis Yacht Club. Due to the distance, currents and other challenges for these small boats the race is referred to as ''The El Toro TransPac'', a comparison to the

Transpacific Yacht Race The Transpacific Yacht Race (Transpac) is a biennial offshore yacht race held in odd-numbered years starting off the Pt. Fermin buoy in San Pedro, California and ending off Diamond Head in Hawaii, a distance of around . In even-numbered years the P ...

. In a 2015 reviewer T. Sitzmann in ''Sail 1 Design'' wrote of the El Toro, that they "are satisfactory tenders and sprightly racers. Junior sailing programs at yacht clubs and municipal sailing classes have developed many fine young El Toro captains. High quality racing programs have kept the interest of these young sailors. Often sailors 'move up' to larger yachts and are frequently recognized as champions. Many return to the lively tactical sailing situations provided by El Toro racing."

References

External links

* {{Sailing dinghies and skiffs Dinghies 1930s sailboat type designs One-design sailing classes Sailboat type designs by Charles McGregor Sailboat types built by Moore Sailboats Sailboat types built by W. D. Schock Corp

Production

Design

Operational history

See also

References

External links