The Melges 17 is an American
scow-hulled
sailing dinghy that was designed by
Reichel/Pugh
Reichel/Pugh is a yacht design company based in San Diego, California, United States. It is led by John Reichel and Jim Pugh.
Since the late 1990s, Reichel/Pugh-designed yachts have successfully competed in many major races, including the Ame ...
as a
one-design racer and first built in 2005.
Production
The design has built by
Melges Performance Sailboats in the United States since 2005 and remains in production.
Design
The design was conceived to provide a boat for youth sailors to move up to from the
Laser,
420
420 may refer to:
* 420 (number)
* 420 (cannabis culture), informal reference to cannabis use and celebrations on April 20
**California Senate Bill 420 or the Medical Marijuana Program Act
*AD 420, a year in the 5th century of the Julian calendar
* ...
and the
X Boat, as well as for adults couples to sail.
The Melges 17 is a racing
sailboat, with the hull built predominantly of
fiberglass. 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
carbon fiber spars; a scow hull; a transom-hung,
aluminum extrusion rudder controlled by a
tiller with an extension and twin retractable, aluminum extrusion
bilgeboards. It displaces and is normally sailed by two
sailors, with an optimal crew weight of .
The boat has a draft of with a bilgeboard extended. With both bilgeboards retracted it can be operated in shallow water,
beached or transported on a
boat trailer
A boat trailer is designed to launch, retrieve, carry and sometimes store boats.
Commercial boat trailers
Commercial hydraulic boat trailers are used by marinas, boat yards, boat haulers, boat dealers and boat builders. Generally this type ...
.
For sailing downwind the design may be equipped with an
asymmetrical spinnaker of , flown from a retractable
bowsprit.
Operational history
The boat was at one time supported by a class club that organized racing events, the ''Melges 17 Class Association''.
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 ...
Similar sailboats
*
M Scow
The M Scow, also called the M-Scow and the M-16 Scow, is a Canada, Canadian/United States, American sailing dinghy that was designed by Johnson Boat Works and Melges Boat Works as a one-design Sailing (sport), racer and first built in 1950.She ...
References
External links
*
{{Sailing dinghies and skiffs
Dinghies
2000s sailboat type designs
One-design sailing classes
Sailboat type designs by Reichel/Pugh
Sailboat types built by Melges Performance Sailboats