Contender
Description
The Contender is a high-performance, single-handed sailing dinghy renowned for its speed, agility, and demanding handling. Designed in 1967 by Australian naval architect Bob Miller (later known as Ben Lexcen, famous for his work on the America's Cup yacht Australia II), it was created as a potential successor to the Finn dinghy for Olympic competition. Although it didn't secure Olympic status, it quickly gained popularity worldwide and was recognized as an International Class by World Sailing in 1968. Today, it's one of the most popular single-handed trapeze dinghies globally, with active fleets in countries like Australia, the UK, the US, and New Zealand.
Construction Details
| Designer | Ben Lexcen |
|---|---|
| Length | 16.000 ft |
| LOA | 16.000 ft |
| LWL | 15.000 ft |
| Beam | 4.670 ft |
| Displacement | 230 lb |
| Max Draft | 4.330 ft |
| Min Draft | 0.330 ft |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | - |
|---|---|
| j | - |
| p | 19.17 ft |
| e | 8.85 ft |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | 19.17 ft | 8.85 ft | - | - | - | - |
Documents
Sails
| Sail Type | MAINSAIL |
|---|---|
| Luff | 19.167 ft - (5842 mm) |
| Foot | 8.85 ft - (2697 mm) |
| Leech | * 19.75 ft - (6020 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 82.33 ° |
| Diagonal | 20.01 ft - (6099 mm) |
| Head (inches) | 5.5 in - (140 mm) |
| Area | * 87.8 ft² |
| Comments | Not more than five battens are permitted and shall divide the leech into approximately equal parts. The length of the batten pockets shall not exceed 1050 mm. The upper side of the top batten pocket shall reach from the leech to the luff rope at a point not less than 1230 mm from the top of the headboard measured along the luff with just sufficient tension to remove wrinkles adjacent to the luff. |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.