The X Boat, also called the Cub, is an American
sailing dinghy that was designed by
John O. Johnson as a
one-design racer and first built in 1932.
[Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition'', pages 72-73. ]Houghton Mifflin Company
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Boston Financ ...
, 1994.
Production
The design was built by
Johnson Boat Works starting in 1932 and later by
Melges Performance Sailboats
Melges Performance Sailboats, is an American sailboat manufacturer founded by Harry Melges, father of former Olympic sailor Buddy Melges.
Melges Boat Works, Inc. was founded by Harry C. Melges, Sr. in 1945. The company was originally named ''M ...
in the
United States. Johnson Boat Works went out of business in 1998, but the boat remains in production by Melges.
Design
The X Boat is a simple,
sail training and racing
sailboat, intended for junior
sailors under 16 years of age. Originally constructed of wood, it is now built predominantly of
fiberglass, with wooden trim. 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 ...
with
aluminum spars, a spooned
raked stem, an angled
transom
Transom may refer to:
* Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar
* Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet
* Operation Tran ...
, a rounded, transom-hung
rudder controlled by a
tiller fitted with a tiller extension and it has a retractable
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 ...
. It displaces .
The boat has a
draft of with the centerboard extended. The boat can be transported on a
trailer.
For sailing the design is equipped with a
boom vang, a stern-mounted
mainsheet traveler and two sets of
hiking straps
In sailing, hiking (stacking or stacking out in New Zealand; leaning out or sitting out in United Kingdom) is the action of moving the crew's body weight as far to windward (upwind) as possible, in order to decrease the extent the boat heels (le ...
.
The design has a
Portsmouth Yardstick racing average handicap of 97.7 and is normally raced with a crew of two
sailors.
Operational history
The class is supported by the
Inland Lake Yachting Association, which organizes racing regattas.
The annual association championship for the class often attracts over 100 boats to compete.
In a 1994 review Richard Sherwood wrote, "The X Boat was designed as a low-performance training boat for junior programs. With the exception of the boom vang, sail control is minimal so as to emphasize handling skills ... Since 1984 the Portsmouth Number has dropped dramatically."
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
*
{{Sailing dinghies and skiffs
Dinghies
1930s sailboat type designs
Two-person sailboats
Sailboat type designs by John O. Johnson
Sailboat type designs by Johnson Boat Works
Sailboat types built by Melges Performance Sailboats