The Ideal 18 is a Canadian
trailerable 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 ...
that was designed by
Bruce Kirby as a
one design racer and first built in 1989.
[Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition'', pages 88-89. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994. ]
Production
The design was built by
Ontario Yachts
Ontario Yachts is a Canadian boat builder at one time based in Oakville, Ontario, then Hamilton, Ontario and more recently in Burlington, Ontario. The company specializes in the manufacture and repair of fiberglass sailboats.
The company was f ...
in
Burlington, Ontario
Burlington is a city in the Regional Municipality of Halton at the northwestern end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. Along with Milton to the north, it forms the western end of the Greater Toronto Area and is also part of the Hamilton met ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and also by
Shumway Marine in
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, where production continues. By 1994, 60 boats had been completed and by 2020, 325 boats had been built.
Design
The Ideal 18 is a recreational
keelboat
A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open wat ...
, built predominantly of
fibreglass
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 ...
. It 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 with
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 has ...
spars and swept spreaders. The hull has a
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 walk-through
reverse transom
A transom is the vertical reinforcement which strengthens the stern of a boat. This flat termination of the stern is typically above the waterline.
The term was used as far back as Middle English in the 1300s, having come from Latin ''transvers ...
, an internally mounted spade-type
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 wooden
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 fixed fin
keel
The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...
. It displaces and carries of fibreglass-encased lead ballast. It has built-in flotation for safety.
The boat has a draft of with the standard keel. The design has a hinged mast for ease of ground transport.
For sailing the design is equipped with a
roller furling
Roller furling is a method of furling (i.e. reefing) a yacht's staysail by rolling the sail around a stay. Roller furling is typically used for foresails such as jibs or genoas.
A mainsail may also be furled by a similar system, whereby the sai ...
jib
A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its tack is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bows, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast. Jibs and spinnakers are the two main types of headsail ...
. The seating is on benches moulded into the cockpit sides. The boat has no
winch
A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable").
In its simplest form, it consists of a spool (or drum) attache ...
es and does not require them. The boat is a displacement, non-
planing, design.
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 ...
racing average handicap of 99.6 and is normally raced with a crew of two
sailor
A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship.
The profession of the s ...
s, although the cockpit can accommodate four adults.
Operational history
In a 1994 review, Richard Sherwood described the Ideal 18 as, "a strong little keelboat designed for club racing, with rigid rules, such as only one set of sails a year, and no hiking. The jib barely overlaps, is a decksweeper, is self-tacking, and has roller furling. (The roller furling gear is set below deck level.)"
See also
*
List of sailing boat types
The following is a partial list of sailboat types and sailing classes, including keelboats, dinghies and multihull ( catamarans and trimarans).
Olympic classes
World Sailing Classes
Historically known as the IYRU (International Yacht Racing ...
References
External links
*
{{Trailer sailers and Trailer yachts worldwide
Keelboats
Trailer sailers
1980s sailboat type designs
Sailing yachts
Sailboat type designs by Bruce Kirby
Sailboat types built by Ontario Yachts
Sailboat types built by Shumway Marine