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            **Selected Double-Handed Racing Dinghies**
           Published 2023-01-22; Last updated 2024-12-11

This article compares the most popular and fastest double-handed, monohull racing dinghy sailboats. All are drysailed and necessarily have centerboards, daggerboards, or lifting keels. I excluded boats that can be sailed double-handed but are typically solo (e.g., Topaz) or triple (e.g., Thistle) crew. These boats are often raced in one-design classes, but are also suitable for mixed-class racing.

The 420 is by far the most popular dual-handed dinghy. It is the default boat choice for clubs, schools, and individuals. However, it is at the low end of the modern performance scale, is comparatively fiddly to rig, the spinnaker is a lot of work, and for two full size adults the boat is just too small. The primary advantage of the 420 is simply that there are a lot of them, so you can easily buy one used, get replacement parts, and find a fleet to sail in.

![The 49er is the highest end of dinghy racing for hardcore athletes sailing in areas with plenty of room to accelerate.](49er.jpg attriburl="https://49er.org/" attrib="49er Class Association")

At the high end, the 49er remains the gold standard for one-design, high performance ocean dinghy racing by experienced sailors.

On the low end of performance, the relatively new RS Feva is a good and simple introductory boat for double handed racing in any environment. Between the Feva and the 49er is a large range within which sailors of any ability and location can find the best sailboat for them, including perhaps the 420.

The table below is sorted by decreasing RYA Portsmouth Yardstick Number, so from slowest at the top to fastest at the bottom. The fastest boat on paper is not always the best boat. For example, a 49er is too much boat for a small lake or river. It won't be able to leverage its speed because each leg is too short. In that situation, it will be a hassle continually tacking and won't have a long enough downwind run to justify raising the spinnaker.

The boats towards the bottom of the table are extreme. They require an experienced pair of sailors who practice together regularly. They also can take significantly longer to rig each day for sailing or for trailering and are relatively expensive to maintain compared to the middle range boats.

The best boat is suited to the wind, waves, and obstructions in its local area, to the ability of its crew, and to the other boats it will sail with. The dinghies described here are all intended for racing. It is not fun to have the fastest or slowest boat in a region for mixed class racing. The excitement of racing is executing the right tactics within the pack. The ideal case is a large fleet of one-design boats to sail with, but the more common case is a set of nearby boats with similar capabilities to compare against. So, the best boat for any sailor is likely one that is similar to what their neighbors are in.

Comparison

Boat	PY (2024)	D-PN (2017)	First Year	Trapezes	Spinnaker	LOA (m)	Beam (m)	Hull Weight (kg)	Downwind Total Sail Area (m^2)	Upwind SA/D	Notes
Mirror	1390	113.10	1962	0	Yes	3.30	1.39	46	10.90	41.97
RS Feva XL	1244	105.20	2002	0	Asymmetric	3.64	1.42	63	8.55	54.89
International FJ	1126	97.90	1956	0	Yes	4.03	1.60	75	17.66	55.35	Latest revision circa 1980
Enterprise	1117	92.60	1956	0	No	4.04	1.60	91	10.68	53.84	Spinnaker permitted in some regions
International 420	1111	97.20	1959	1	Yes	4.20	1.65	100	19.08	61.52	Massively popular, at the level of the Laser
Laser 2000	1107	92.50	1997	0	Asymmetric	4.44	1.77	64	21.81	74.22
Wayfarer	1109	91.60	1957	0	Yes	4.82	1.85	169	26.60	43.67	Latest revision is Mark IV in 2007. CL16 is the same boat as the Wayfarer
Snipe	1099	91.90	1931	0	No	4.72	1.52	172	11.89	39.08	Unique boom-launched jib pole for downwind instead of a spinnaker
Laser 2	1085	92.80	1978	1	Yes	4.40	1.42	77	21.72	64.69
Laser Vago	1064	91.00	2005	1	Asymmetric	4.20	1.56	106	23.75	56.62	Ended production 2022
Albacore	1037	90.93	1954	0	No	4.57	1.55	109	11.61	51.83
RS 200	1046	88.30	1995	0	Asymmetric	4.00	1.83	78	19.81	64.19
Scorpion	1044	112.00	1959	0	Yes	4.27	1.45	81	21.09	53.94	Mostly UK
Tasar	1020	88.20	1975	0	No	4.52	1.75	64	11.43	76.68
Merlin Rocket	983	87.10	1946	0	Yes	4.27	2.18	95	24.00	47.59	Mostly UK
Buccaneer 18	978	86.90	1966	0	Yes	5.49	1.83	227	32.80	44.51	238 kg; must be trailer launched
International 470	973	86.30	1963	1	Yes	4.70	1.69	120	25.70	52.65
RS 500 XL	966	86.00	2007	1	Asymmetric	4.34	1.57	87	26.20	61.52	Mostly UK
Fireball	955	85.60	1962	1	Yes	4.93	1.35	76	24.43	64.17
29er	895	84.50	1998	1	Asymmetric	4.40	1.70	90	30.02	66.92
505	896	79.80	1954	1	Yes	5.03	1.88	127	44.30	65.49
Cherub	903	79.80	1951	1	Asymmetric	3.71	1.80	50	19.54	94.12	UK, Aus, NZ
B14	853	81.00	1986	0	Yes	4.25	3.00	64	46.40	69.48
Flying Dutchman	829	82.00	1951	1	Yes	6.10	1.80	130	38.00	17.00
VX One	802	77.00	2011	0	Asymmetric	5.97	2.19	224	45.97	49.93	Lifting keel, not technically dagger/centerboard
RS 800	799	77.00	1999	2	Asymmetric	4.80	2.90	62	36.90	72.79	Mostly UK + Europe. Current version has boom sheeting
International 14	758	85.30	1946	2	Asymmetric	4.27	1.83	74	50.60	106.87	Spinnaker area is not class limited. Typical area is given here
49er	740	68.20	1994	2	Asymmetric	4.88	1.93	122	57.00	87.79	Latest revision 2009

![The venerable 420 is perfect for college race teams.](420.jpg attriburl="https://www.420sailing.org/content/introduction-to-the-420" attrib="© Andrea Lelli, via 420sailing.org")

Metrics

Portsmouth Yardstick (PY)

Royal Yacht Association UK handicap, where corrected race time ($C$) is related to elapsed time ($T$) by:

$C = T \times \dfrac{1000}{\operatorname{PY}}$

Lower numbers thus indicate faster boats. Once a faster boat has finished, a slower boat will still win if it finishes within $\Delta T$ clock time:

$\Delta T < T_f \times \left(\dfrac{\operatorname{PY}_s}{\operatorname{PY}_f} - 1\right)$

For example, if an RS 800 finishes at $T_f=20$ min elapsed time, a Wayfarer behind it still has $20 \times (1109/799 - 1)$ min = 7 minutes and 33 seconds to finish and win.

These handicaps are adjusted locally and annually based on reported results from participating clubs. This causes them to automatically calibrate to all relevant factors and real-world conditions, unlike measurement based handicaps.

However, boats with faster designs are usually raced by more experienced sailors. This means that high rating boats sailed by less experienced sailors underestimate the performance of the boat itself, since the ability of those sailors may be limiting the race performance.

The PY is not adjusted for wind and sea conditions. It is reasonably accurate for popular boats in 7-12 kts of wind, but may be a poor handicap in other conditions.

D-PN

North American handicap (this is historically the "Dixie-Portsmouth Number", but is officially, confusingly called simply "Portsmouth Yardstick", the same as the UK system) managed by US Sailing, where corrected time is given by:

$C = T \dfrac{100}{\operatorname{DPN}}$

but the D-PN number is adjusted for the wind conditions in ways that vary by boat category.

This is related to the PHRF keelboat handicapping system by:

$\operatorname{PHRF} = 6 \times (\operatorname{DPN} - 55)$

The ratings and process are similar to RYA Portsmouth numbers.

The US numbers have not been updated since 2017 and as of 2020 US Sailing appears to intend to adopt UK Portsmouth numbers.

First Year

The first year of production. For dinghies, this is really only of historical interest. The classes are frequently revised, so a boat first released in 1946 in a plywood displacement, hiking form may today be a GRP and carbon fiber planing machine with dual trapezes.

Trapezes

Is there a trapeze for the crew (1), both crew and helm (2), or neither? The trapeze allows the sailors to bring their weight further out, stabilizing the boat. More trapezes leads to a potentially faster, and definitely more fun boat. They also require substantially more skill to sail than a traditional hiking boat and guarantee a very wet ride from spray plus inevitable capsizes and swimming.

![The RS800 is to the 29er what the RS Aero is to the Laser. It trims the weight and grows sail area to supercharge a successful form; or consider it an International 14 made practical for smaller lakes and rivers.](rs800.jpg attrib="RS Sailing" attriburl="https://www.rssailing.com/project/rs800/")

Spinnaker

A traditional symmetric, poled spinnaker adds to downwind sail area, but also complexity of sailing due to the pole handling and need to raise and lower sail dynamically.

An asymmetric spinnaker is attached at the tack to the bow as if it was a large genoa, although they stil cannot tack because they are outside of the forestay with insufficent room to pass through. It is much easier to raise, douse, and gybe, but cannot sail as deep as a symmetric one and is less effective below a broad reach. However, asymmetric spinnakers can sometimes be leveraged all of the way up to a close reach.

Asymmetric spinnakers are often deployed on a retracting bowsprit and are frequently very large compared to traditional spinnakers.

Any spinnaker greatly complicates recovery in the event of a capsize. They must be dropped while in the water before the boat can come back up safely. A spinnaker also forces dousing to tack (but can be gybed), which is complexity and a liability in areas with strong windshifts or with an asymmetric spinnaker on a high reach near a leeward shore.

In 2021, the racing rules of sailing changed to define start and finish of a boat as when any part of its hull crosses the line. This addressed a complication for boats with retractable bowsprits with spinnakers where the boat could previously finish when they crossed the line, even though the hull itself was still on the course.

Length Overall (LOA)

The numbers given are with the bow sprit retracted. Unlike a keelboat, the waterline of these dinghies is irrelevant for performance as they all plane in 10 kts of wind. The LOA does not matter much for cost and the crew will always be on the rail or trapeze pressed against the helmsperson, so space inside the boat is also not relevant.

LOA mostly matters for racing dinghies for the very practical issue of whether it will fit in your garage in the winter.


Beam

Width of the boat, with racks and wings extended. Wider boats generally offer better performance and hiking/trapezing, but are more difficult to right after a capsize.

Beam does not matter much for storage. Double handed boats can't be transported by car top anyway, and all can be collapsed for trailering on normal roads. The length will be the limiter on the dock and in winter storage.

Hull Weight

Light boats accelerate quickly, and there is roughly a 3× difference between the heaviest and lightest boats on this list. Light boats can be difficult to tack in very strong wind, although with a jib all of these boats tack easily in most conditions.

Heavier boats are more stable, easier to board in high wind, and much harder to dolly up and down a beach or pull onto a dock. Two small teens may be unable to beach launch a Wayfarer by themselves, but they may also be unable to keep a 29er upright while sailing.

Downwind Sail Area

Sail area including the spinnaker. More area is usually faster, although many factors affect boat speed. Too much sail area for the conditions and weight of the crew makes the boat slower and hard to handle.

Upwind SA/D

Sail area to displacement ratio. Higher is faster. All of these boats have ratios that are more than twice typical fast keelboat ratios. Note that the handicaps track the SA/D ratios closely; this is a very good predictor of upwind performance.

The sail area and displacement numbers can be measured in various ways, though, so the numbers aren't perfectly comparable between boats.

![The RS500 offers modern performance and streamlined controls for a 420-like form, but the class is small and almost exclusively in UK and Europe.](rs500.jpg attrib="RS Sailing" attriburl="https://www.rssailing.com/project/rs500/")

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