Lightning (dinghy)
 Class symbol | |
 | |
| Development | |
|---|---|
| Designer | Olin Stephens |
| Year | 1938 |
| Design | One-Design |
| Boat | |
| Crew | 3 |
| Draft | 4 ft 11 in (1.50 m) |
| Hull | |
| Type | Monohull |
| Hull weight | 700 lb (320 kg) |
| LOA | 19 ft (5.8 m) |
| Beam | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) |
| Rig | |
| Rig type | Sloop |
| Mast length | 26 ft 2 in (7.98 m) |
| Sails | |
| Spinnaker area | 300 sq ft (28 m2) |
| Upwind sail area | 177 sq ft (16.4 m2) |
| Racing | |
| D-PN | 87.0 |
The Lightning is a sloop rigged sailing dinghy originally designed by Olin Stephens of Sparkman & Stephens in 1938 and was first sailed on Skaneateles Lake, NY, United States. More than 15,750 Lightnings have been built since then. There are over 500 fleets of Lightnings worldwide, many of which participate in dinghy racing.
Awarded World Sailing Class status, the Lightning is sailed in more than 13 countries and in the Pan American Games, and the class provides a professionally managed association that is among the largest in all of one-design sailing. A World Championship is held every two years. North American, South American and European Championships are held each year as are innumerable regional and District championships.
There is room in the cockpit for four to six to daysail, but a crew of three is employed when racing. On most racing teams, the skipper helms the boat and handles the mainsail. The front crew on a racing team handles the jib upwind and is responsible for spinnaker pole handling downwind. When racing, a middle crew is relied upon for trimming the spinnaker downwind and has boat balance as a primary responsibility upwind.
The Lightning's rig is simple, but offers sophisticated sail shape controls. The hull features a hard chine design that combines the stability that provides sail-carrying power, with flat bottom sections that promote planing. The Lightning's hard chine and 130 lb centerboard give her the stability and power of a small keel boat going to weather in strong winds and allow her to carry a very large spinnaker for breathtaking offwind rides.
At 700 pounds (318 kg), length of 19'0" (5.8 m) and beam of 6'6" (2 m), the Lightning is easily trailered. Draft with the centerboard down is 4'11" (151.3 cm) and 5" (12.8 cm) with the centerboard raised.
The International Lightning Class Association (ILCA) protects the boat's design and licenses custom and private builders to build boats under its administration.
Lightnings can compete in mixed-fleet handicap racing with a D-PN of 87.0.[1]
Events
Open World Championships
Youth World Championsips
Year
|
Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 Peru |  Stephen Craig (USA)
|
 Hugo Castro (ARG)
|
|
| 1980 Onterio Canada |
Ian Jones (USA)
|
 Otavio Machando (BRA)
|
|
| 1982 Sicily, Italy | Gordon Anderson (USA)
|
||
| 1984 Brick, NJ USA | Jody Swanson (USA)
|
||
| 1986 Olivos, Argentina | Guillermo Parada (ARG)
|
||
| 1988 Tampere, Finland |  Duncan Stewart (CAN)
|
||
| 1990 Point Abino, Canada | Ned Roseberry (USA)
|
||
| 1992 Point Abino, Canada | Tom Starck (USA)
|
||
| 1994 Neuchatel Switzerland |
Marty Essig (CAN)
|
||
| 1996 Brick, NJ USA 19 Boats |
 Miguel Plaza, Jr (ECU)Carlos PLAZA Francis PLAZA |
Chad ATKINS (USA) Adam BURNS Cap PIN |
Gabe CROWDER (CAN) Adam DUNN John VICKERS |
| 1998 Salina Ecuador 16 Boats |
USA 14640 Sean Carroll (USA) Karl Schutte (USA) Kate Sheahan (USA)
|
GRE 14377 Constantinos Merentitis (GRE) Hilias Manolakis (GRE) Michalis Koulianos (GRE)
|
COL 14057 J. CAMILO BUSTOS Camilo SALCEDO Nicolas DEEB |
| 2000 Athens Greece 18 Boats |
Dionisis Dimou (GRE) Michalis Pateniotis (GRE) Thanassis SiouziosAntonis Pateniotis (GRE)
|
Sotiris Dimopoulos (GRE) Vagelis Kafetzidakis (GRE) Charis Finos (GRE) George Finos (GRE)
|
Jose Maria BETTINI Cofone JUAN Valette FRANCO |
| 2002 Rockester 13 Boats |
15152 Thomas Sumner Pedro Soares Mark Pineda |
14056 Erik Johnson Karl Johnson Kate Brush |
15103 Travis MAIER Meredith PELTON Robert RAMIREZ |
| 2004 São Paulo Brazil 14 Boats |
BRA-14330 Thomas Sumner Felipe Brito Mark Pineda |
BRA-14378 Marcelo BELLOTTI Eduardo MOLINA Alejandro CARRI |
BRA-14894 Joao HACKEROTT Constantin VASSILAS Jorge ZARIF |
| 2006 Jyväskylä Finland 10 Boats |
BRA 14894 Thomas Sumner Felipe Brito Felipe Brito |
GRE 15077 Panagiotis VERGINADIS Timos VLACHOS Theodoros POULAKOS |
USA 14146 Nicholas Aswad Connor Aswad Peter HAZELETT |
| 2008 Quebec Canada 11 Boats |
15298 Taylor Lutz Luke Vreeland Bernie Roesler |
14901 Ian SCHILLEBEECKX (BEL) Connor ASWAD (USA) Will SCHWARZ (USA)
|
15166 Matthew SCHON Timmy CRANN Jason LUTZ |
| 2010 Salinas Ecador 16 Boats |
ECU 14379 Jonathan Martinetti Pedro Velez Eduardo Viteri |
ARG 1 Tomas DIETRICH Tomas PELLEJERO Gaston BISIO |
BRA 15333 Rafael KRAUSZ Otavio BIRMAN Nicolas BRANCHER |
| 2012 Järvenpää Finland 16 Boats |
CAN 14895 Adam MacDonald Abby Bennett Sam Jones |
USA 15122 TimmyCRANN Lauren JONES Alica BLUMENTHAL |
USA 15202(3) Mike GEMPERLINE Scott VINING Stuart WALLACE |
| 2014 Ontario Canada 24 Boats |
BRA 15333 Felipe Rondina Jose Afonso Hackerott Thomas Sylvestre |
USA 15166 Jonathan LUTZ Alexandra JONES Nicholas SERTL |
CHI 11011 Cristobal MOLINA LORCA Jens KUHLENTHAL PFEFFER Pedro Andres VERA CARRERA |
| 2016 Salinas Ecuador 20 Boats |
BRA 15333 Felipe Rondina Thomas Petrie Sylvestre Christian Lacerda Shaw |
ARG 13360 Martin Cloos Bautista Menendez Lucas Elias |
ECU 14675 Matias Dyck John Birkett Jose Andres Lecaro |
| 2018 Voula Greece 16 Boats |
USA 14748 Jeffrey Hayden Brian Hayes Jr. Meredith Ryan |
GRE 15144 V Gourgiotis G Tsoulfas M Kypraios |
BRA 15333 J Hackerott E Van Deursen M Peek |
Masters World Championsips
Year
|
Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 Salina, Ecuador | Jack Elfman Cindy Lister Mike Holly |
||
| 2001 Marsala Italy |
Richard Hallagan Hendrix Ten Eyck Tammi Jamison
|
||
| 2003 Miami | Jim Crane Larry Bone Kip Hamblet |
||
| 2005 Concón, Chile | Canada Peter Hall Phillip Kerrigan Jay Deacon |
||
| 2007 Athens | Bill Mauk Vladimir Kulinichenko Michel Sumpton |
||
| 2009 Colchester, VT | Jim Crane Brenda Crane Tom Allen |
||
| 2011 Buzios, Brazil | Claus Biekarck Gunner Ficker Marcelo Batista da Silva |
||
| 2013 Castiglione del Lago, Italy | Ched Proctor Jamie Ewing Jay Lurie |
||
| 2015 Ontario, Canada | David Dellenbaugh Jeff Eiber Jay Lurie |
||
| 2017 Salinas Ecuador 23 Boats |
USA 15507 Ched Proctor Meredith Killion Todd Wake |
BRA 14893 Claudio Biekarck Gunnar Ficker Marcelo Silva |
USA 15590 Jeff Linton Amy Smith Linton Steve Davis |
| 2019 Expoo Finland 27 Boats |
USA 15507 Ched Proctor (USA) Bill Faude (USA) Meredith Killion (USA)
|
USA 9 Tom Allen (USA) Jane Allen (USA) Shelby Allen (USA)
|
CAN 15499 Larry MacDonald (CAN) Jody Starck (CAN) Ian Jones (CAN)
|
Pan American Games
The class is regularly used in the pan american games.
See also
- Blue Jay Sailboat a smaller version of the lightning.
References
- ^ "Centerboard Classes". US Sailing. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.