MG14 is a two-person

skiff A skiff is any of a variety of essentially unrelated styles of small boats. Traditionally, these are coastal craft or river craft used for leisure, as a utility craft, and for fishing, and have a one-person or small crew. Sailing skiffs have devel ...

with a high-performance development hull, single trapeze and asymmetrical spinnaker. It was originally developed in 1963 at Manly Sailing Club in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

as the Manly Graduate 14ft to be used as a stepping stone between the smaller

Manly Junior The Manly Junior is a junior racing dinghy class popular in Sydney Australia. It was designed in 1959 for younger sailors and the length (2.6 m) was originally designed so that the boat could be stored vertically downstairs inside Manly Yacht Club ...

and larger boats such as the 16ft Skiff. During its early history it had a double luff spinnaker, but is now rigged with an asymmetric spinnaker - giving great performance, ease of use and tactical gybing downwind. The MG14 is now a high performance machine, with performance to rival any other single trapeze boat of its size. Keeping the modest sail area, however, has ensured entry level skiff sailors, and older sailors, can still compete and race. It is a performance boat that places emphasis on technique, finesse and strategy - rather than brute force! The class has various hull designs of similar performance, but with variances in stability or speed on certain wind angles and strength. The class has a tight set of rules so the boats can modernise but the older ones still remain competitive for many years. Because of this MG14s have good resale value. It is a popular class with fleets in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Victoria and in the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

. The NS14 class is very similar to the MG14 - it has the same hull and working rig designs but that class does not allow

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 ...

s or trapezes. The NS14 and MG14 share the same restricted development rules about hull and working sail measurements. Several boats are registered to sail as both MG14 and NS14s.

Main class specifications

* Length: 4.25 - 4.30m (14ft) * Beam: 1.60 - 1.83m (6ft). * Minimum Hull Weight: 64 kg. * Working Sail Area: 9.3 sq m (mainsail and jib) * Asymmetric

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 ...

: 14m perimeter. * Crew: Two. * Trapezes: One.

External links

MG14 class siteNS14 site
{{Sailing dinghies and skiffs Dinghies