Corsair
Description
The Corsair is a classic 16-foot, three-handed sailing dinghy designed by renowned Australian naval architect Alan Payne (1921–1995), best known for his America's Cup yachts like Gretel (1962) and Gretel II (1970). Introduced in the mid-1960s, it's a fiberglass monohull daysailer optimized for youth training, club racing, and recreational sailing in protected waters. Payne crafted the Corsair to be forgiving and stable—ideal for beginners—while offering responsive performance for more experienced crews. Built initially by De Havilland Marine (later by other Australian yards), around 200-300 were produced until the 1980s, with a strong legacy in Australian sailing. It's the official training dinghy for the Australian Navy Cadets, emphasizing safety and ease of handling.
Construction Details
| Designer | Alan Payne |
|---|---|
| Builder | De Havillard Marine |
| Length | 15.750 ft |
| LOA | 15.750 ft |
| LWL | 13.120 ft |
| Beam | 5.910 ft |
| Displacement | 300 lb |
| Max Draft | 3.080 ft |
| Min Draft | 0.400 ft |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | 18.50 ft |
|---|---|
| j | 5.50 ft |
| p | 20 ft |
| e | 7.50 ft |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18.50 ft | 5.50 ft | 20 ft | 7.50 ft | - | - | - | - |
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.