The Flying Dutchman is a Dutch planing

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 of ...

that was designed by

Uus Van Essen Tennessine is a Synthetic element, synthetic chemical element with the Chemical symbol, symbol Ts and atomic number 117. It is the second-heaviest known element and the penultimate element of the Period 7 element, 7th period of the periodic ta ...

and Conrad Gülcher as a high performance, one design racer and first built in 1951. The boat was an Olympic sailing class from 1960 until 1992.

Production

The boat was built in the past by

Sunbeam Yachts A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of particle-scattered su ...

, Alpa Yachts,

Mader Bootswerft Mader may refer to: * ''Mader'', the German name for Modrava, a village in the Czech Republic * Mäder Mäder is a municipality in the district of Feldkirch in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label= Vorarlbergisch, V ...

MacKay Boats Mackay may refer to: *Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives Mackay may also refer to: Places Australia * Mackay Region, a local government area ** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region *** Mackay Airpor ...

, Plastrend/Composite Technologies, Lanaverre, Lockley Newport Boats, Advance Sailboat Corp., Binks Yacht Contructions, Chantier Naval Costantini and

Mobjack Manufacturing Mobjack may refer to: *'' SS Mobjack'', a coastal steamship owned by the Old Dominion Steamship Company. *USS ''Mobjack'' (AVP-27), laid down as a United States Navy seaplane tender in 1942 but converted while under construction into motor torpedo ...

, starting in 1951. More than 10,000 have been built. In 2022 Mader Bootswerft were still producing the design.

Design

2008 Cannonball Regatta - Flying Dutchman

The Flying Dutchman is a racing

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 terminology ...

, initially built of wood, with many modern boats made from

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 cloth ...

sandwich construction with a plastic deck. Cold-molded

plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...

is still used and some sailers prefer that material. The boat has a fractional

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

rig, a spooned

raked stem The stem is the most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself. It is often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively. Description The stem is the curved edge stretching from the keel below, up to ...

, a plumb

transom Transom may refer to: * Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar * Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet * Operation Tran ...

, 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 aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

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 retractible

centerboard A centreboard or centerboard (US) is a retractable hull appendage which pivots out of a slot in the hull of a sailboat, known as a ''centreboard trunk'' (UK) or ''centerboard case'' (US). The retractability allows the centreboard to be raised t ...

. Modern boats may have plastic rudders and centerboards. It displaces . The boat has many adjustable settings available while sailing, including the

genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

halyard In sailing, a halyard or halliard is a line (rope) that is used to hoist a ladder, sail, flag or yard. The term ''halyard'' comes from the phrase "to haul yards". Halyards, like most other parts of the running rigging, were classically made of n ...

shroud Shroud usually refers to an item, such as a cloth, that covers or protects some other object. The term is most often used in reference to ''burial sheets'', mound shroud, grave clothes, winding-cloths or winding-sheets, such as the famous Shr ...

tension and the mast rake. The crew can use a

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 ...

to balance the boat. For sailing downwind the design may be equipped with a symmetrical

spinnaker A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a reach (wind at 90° to the course) to downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinnakers are constructed of lightweight fabric, usually n ...

of and in fact was the first design equipped with a spinnaker bow chute. The design has a

Portsmouth Yardstick The Portsmouth Yardstick (PY) or Portsmouth handicap scheme is a term used for a number of related systems of empirical handicapping used primarily in small sailboat racing. The handicap is applied to the time taken to sail any course, and the han ...

D-PN of 82.6 and a RYA PN of 879.

Operational history

The boat is supported by an active class club that organizes racing events, the ''International Flying Dutchman Class Organization''. The Flying Dutchman was an Olympic sailing class in double-handed dinghies from 1960 until 1992. Due to its complexity, the design's cost has been a barrier to its wider acceptance. A ''Classic Sailboats'' review noted that "the 'fastest double-handed dinghy in the world' made its Olympic debut in Naples in 1960. It was based on the new go-fast concept of a trapezing crew and a large spinnaker. The ideal crewman should be tall, heavy, nimble and smart – not a simple recipe to follow. The FD has a long waterline and normally planes on the beat. But the large genoa jib makes tacking slow. Pure boatspeed is thus the key ingredient for success." The United States Sailing Association describes the boat as "one of the most exhilarating dinghies you will ever be in."

Racing

Boats on display

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United ...

Greenwich, England Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

References

External links