420 (dinghy)
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The International 420 Class Dinghy is a monohull planing dinghy with centreboard, bermuda rig and centre sheeting. It is designed for a crew of two. The name describes the overall length of the boat in centimeters (the boat is exactly 4.2 meters long).
The International 420 was designed by Christian Maury , after a specification drawn by Aristide Lehoerrff and Pierre Latxague , chief sailing instructors of the Socoa sailing school SW France near St Jean de Luz. It was built at first by french industrialist Lucien Lanaverre, a former cooper for the Bordeaux wine industry, who had converted to the then new industry of GRP polyester moulding. [1] in the 1960s as an inexpensive general purpose two sail, transom sheeted, non-trapeze dinghy, with modest easily handled sail plan. The class developed rapidly in France, being adopted nationally as a youth trainer for the larger Olympic class International 470 which was also designed by Cornu. By the late 1960s the class was adopted by a few UK university sailing clubs for training and team racing. A License for building boats was acquired by tjhe Harken Brothers (Vanguard Boats) in the US and he 420 started a brilliant career there, specially as a college racer. The class organisers adopted a policy of "prudent evolution" so as to allow development without making existing dinghies obsolete. The hull's seaworthiness and stability at speed proved to be better than most of its contemporaries, and this together with its modest sail area make it fun to sail in heavy weather and thus an excellent youth trainer, qualities that led to its adoption for that role by the RYA in the mid 1970's.
With its trapeze and spinnaker it provides the capability for advanced sailing techniques for international standard sailors, while still remaining affordable and accessible to beginners. The International 420 maintains a large multinational class association. The combination of effective class management, the boat's inherent sailing qualities, and prudent evolution have contributed to the classes continuing success.
A modified version known as the "Club 420" uses a stronger but heavier version hull of the International 420. The Club 420 also is rigged with a non-tapered mast for increased durability and lower cost at the expense of added weight. The Club 420 is popular in North America, largely replacing the International 420 class. The Club 420 has grown since the laser 2 class has begun to decline since the introduction of the 29er. Small fleets of Club420s each are sailed extensively by high schools and college sailing teams participating in the Interscholastic Sailing Association and the Intercollegiate Sailing Association respectively.
A third variant called the "Collegiate 420" shares the same hull as the Club 420, however the additional rigging for both the trapeze and spinnaker are absent. The Collegiate 420 was conceived as a basic training dingy for teaching basic sailing skills where the added performance and complexity of the trapeze and spinnaker are not required. The Collegiate can be upgraded to a Club 420 or vice versa where required.
The International 420 was replaced by the 29er as the ISAF Youth Worlds two person dinghy for boys and girls for the 2007 championships in Canada.
References
For the 2009 ISAF World Championships, The international 420 was raced, and is expected to be raced in the next 3-5 years at that event.