The Tartan Ten, also called the Tartan 10, is an American

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

Sparkman & Stephens Sparkman & Stephens is a naval architecture and yacht brokerage firm with offices in Newport, Rhode Island and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA. The firm performs design and engineering of new and existing vessels for pleasure, commercial, and milita ...

as a one-design racer and first built in 1978.Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition'', pages 262-263. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994. The Tartan Ten design was developed into the LS-10 in the early 2000s.

Production

The design was built by Tartan Marine in the

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 ...

. The company produced 400 examples of the type between 1978 and 1988, but it is now out of production.

Design

The Tartan Ten is a recreational keelboat, built predominantly 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 cloth ...

, 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. It has a 7/8 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

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

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

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 ballast. The boat has a draft of with the standard keel fitted. The boat is fitted with a Farryman

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

for docking and maneuvering. The fuel tank holds and the fresh water tank has a capacity of . Being intended for racing, the design has a flush deck and very little interior space. There are six berths, including a bow "V"-berth, which has the

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

underneath and a privacy curtain. The

galley A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used ...

is located amidships and includes a manual pump sink and a portable ice box. The chart table doubles as a galley table. The halyards are all internally-mounted, as is the reefing system and the 4:1 outhaul. The mast can be shaped by the

shrouds 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 S ...

and 4:1 mechanical advantage backstay. There are two

jib sheet In sailing, a sheet is a line (rope, cable or chain) used to control the movable corner(s) ( clews) of a sail. Terminology In nautical usage the term "sheet" is applied to a line or chain attached to the lower corners of a sail for the purpos ...

winches in the cockpit and two halyard winches on the cabin top. The boom vang has a 4:1 mechanical advantage and can also be employed as a preventer, when attached to the rail. A

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 ...

track system was a factory option. Lacking any cabin windows, ventilation is provided by a large deck hatch on the foredeck, which is also used to pass sails below for storage. The design has a

PHRF Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) is a handicapping system used for yacht racing in North America. It allows dissimilar classes of sailboats to be raced against each other. The aim is to cancel out the inherent advantages and disadvantages ...

racing average handicap of 126.

Variants

;Tartan Ten :Initial model introduced in 1978. LS-10s (3727432535)

;LS-10 :Southern Caribbean (SOCA) Sailboats produced an updated version of the Tartan Ten from the early-2000s until mid-2010s called the LS-10. It was built using the original hull molds and designed to conform to the Tartan Ten class rules for one-design racing, but with improved comfort, functionality and layout.

Operational history

In a 1992 review Richard Sherwood noted, "while the Tartan Ten was not designed to any rule, she was designed primarily for racing. The flush deck leaves little room in the cabin; and while there are six berths, the general cabin appointments are for weekends and overnights, not extended cruising. The Ten is a one-design and is delivered complete. No hull or rig alterations are allowed." The Tartan Ten was inducted into the

American Sailboat Hall of Fame The American Sailboat Hall of Fame is a defunct hall of fame honoring 26 production sailboats built-in the United States. The hall of fame was established in 1994 by Sail America, a trade association for the U.S. sailing industry, to recognize ing ...

in 1998. The citation, written by Josh Adams of ''Sail Magazine'', noted, "Tartan Marine’s effect on the racing community with the T10 went beyond the boat. Now Sailors could forget about their boat’s rating and compete boat for boat. Inshore, Tartan’s energized approach to fleet development, spawned large fleets throughout the Midwest. The all purpose mission of the Tartan Ten: ready for offshore, good around the buoys, and fun for the small-family cruise or daysail."

References

External links