International 14-foot dinghy
| Notation | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Boat dimensions | |
| Length above : | without bowsprit u. Rudder 4,267 m |
| Width above sea level : | 1,830 m |
| Mast height : | 7.626 m |
| Sail area | |
| Sail area close to the wind : | 18.58 m² |
| Gennaker : | any, usually 35–40 m² |
| Others | |
| Rigging type: | Sloop |
| Yardstick number : | 88 (from year 1996) |
| Class : | Construction class |
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The International 14-foot dinghy ( International Fourteen Foot Dinghy , shortly Int 14 ) is a regatta - dinghy for two.
According to the name of the boat class , the boat length is 14 feet, i.e. 4.27 meters. The fully battened mainsail and the asymmetrical gennaker are characteristic of the trapezoidal skiff . Both crew members, the helmsman and the bow, use a double trapeze to counteract wind pressure and heel . With almost 60 square meters of sail area, a maximum speed of around 30 knots (approx. 55 km / h) is achieved before the wind .
The first regattas were sailed in Australia as early as 1898. The 14 footer achieved international status as early as 1928, making it the oldest internationally recognized boat class. There are large fields in Great Britain, Australia, Germany, USA, Japan and also in Canada.
The building regulations of the construction class allow technical advances, so that newer boats are usually more competitive than older ones due to further developments. In all development steps in the past decades, a length of 14 feet has remained: "Imitations come and go but 14's are forever."
history
In 1898 the first Australian Championship was held. In 1928, the 14- footer was the first class in the world to be awarded the status of "International Class" by the World Sailing Association .
Within this construction class, the boat technology was continuously developed to the thoroughbred skiff with double trapeze, fully battened big head mainsail, asymmetrical spinnaker and T-foils but also the form of the sailing competition, for example team sailing or the spectacular SuperCup. The International 14 has played a decisive role in the development of sailing.
The International 14 has been a driving force in the development of sailing since 1920. The outstanding designers of the time, Uffa Fox, Morgan Giles and Austin Farrar, built boats with a hull weight of less than 100 kg, true to Fox's motto “weight is only of use in steam rollers”. The wooden 14s from this era are still actively sailed and are represented at the important championships such as the Prince of Wales Cup with their own “Classic” rating. The Prince of Wales Cup was donated in 1927 by the then Prince of Wales to the future Duke of Windsor and is still one of the most important trophies in international dinghy sport.
With the appointment to the international class in 1928, the first 14s came to Germany. At the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s there was brisk regatta activity, for example for the “Pan Prize of the International 14-Foot Dinghi Class”, which was held on the Outer Alster. Unfortunately, the German 14-fleet fell victim to the chaos of war and the boats from that time are considered lost. The German fleet only revived at the end of the 1990s and is now the strongest skiff class in Germany with over a hundred registered boats.
At the Prince of Wales Cup in 1938, John Winter and the later IYRU President Sir Peter Scott used the trapeze for the first time, heralding a development that was to change the dinghy sport significantly. The invention of the trapeze was so revolutionary at the time, however, that the 14-world association, which has always been democratically organized, initially banned this development and only lifted this ban again in the 1960s. In the event of any rule changes, the individual boat owners must agree, so that a balance must always be achieved between the innovative and the more cautious forces who are concerned with limiting costs. This structure enabled the class to develop with a sense of proportion, which not only ensured its survival for more than a hundred years, but also made it a decisive driving force in matters of boat technology and sailing.
The double trapeze was introduced in 1984 and the asymmetrical spinnaker, which had long been popular in Australia, in 1988 . New materials such as carbon fiber reinforced plastic (KFK) made the boats lighter and lighter. Today the minimum weight of the hulls is 70 kg. For the rig, too, KFK was increasingly becoming the superior material.
In 1996 it merged with the Australian 14-foot skiffs that had developed in parallel over a hundred years. At the first joint World Cup in 1997 in San Francisco, despite the different boat designs in the field of over a hundred boats, only slight differences in speed and very tight sails were observed.
At this time, numerous one-design boats were created based on the 14 concept. The most prominent example is the 49er , which successfully refreshed Olympic sailing. The most recent development are so-called hydrofoils . Horizontal blades have been used on the rudder blade since 2000, and their angle of attack can be adjusted. This makes the boats much faster and easier to handle. True to the motto “imitations come and go but 14s are forever”, today's constructions continue to drive innovation in sailing.
Others
In the film Wind (1992) about the America's Cup , a race with 14 international dinghies leads to an exchange of blows between the competitors.
