The Rhodes Bantam is a strict one-design class sailboat designed by

Philip Rhodes Philip Leonard Rhodes (1895–1974) was an Americans, American naval architect known for his diverse yacht designs. Life Rhodes designed a wide variety of vessels from 7' dinghies to 123' motor-sailors, from hydrofoil racers to America's Cup win ...

in 1945. The first boat was launched in 1945 in Skaneateles. More than 1500 have been built. It can be used for day sailing and will comfortably hold 2 adults and 2 children. It is also used for racing, usually with a crew of two. Originally it was built of wood and could be purchased either complete, or as a kit. In the 1960s, when

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 ...

gained popularity as a hull material, it became possible to buy either a fiberglass hull kit or a finished boat. The Bantam may be classified as a centreboard

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 ...

. In addition to the

mainsail A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast of a sailing vessel. * On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast. * On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. The sail's foot ...

, it typically has a genoa jib and

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 ...

. It uses a

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 ...

for stability. It has a hard

chine A chine () is a steep-sided coastal gorge where a river flows to the sea through, typically, soft eroding cliffs of sandstone or clays. The word is still in use in central Southern England—notably in East Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and the Isl ...

line which permits planing when on a beam reach or when sailing downwind with spinnaker. The class was very popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Active fleets existed in the

Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and transitional ...

Region (e.g. Cuyuga Lake,

Skaneateles Lake Skaneateles Lake ( , ) is one of the Finger Lakes in central New York in the United States. The name ''Skaneateles'' means ''long lake'' in one of the local Iroquoian languages. The lake is sometimes referred to as "The Roof Garden of the Lakes" ...

), Pennsylvania, Ohio, the Midwest and even Florida. The Rhodes Bantam Class Association sponsored a yearly regatta which rotated through the home ports of various fleets.

References

External links

Rhodes Bantam photographs

Rhodes Bantam photographs
{{Sailing dinghies and skiffs Dinghies Sailboat type designs by Philip Rhodes