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Boat Classes
THE INTERNATIONAL CONTENDER
- the only truly international trapeze single hander, sailed and enjoyed
by men and women of every age
and ability.
Why? Because the contender is fast, refreshingly straightforward to set up, great fun and has a fantastic world wide competition circuit.
How hard is it to sail? That depends how good you want to be! While our international champions may spend hour after hour on the water perfecting their technique, basic boat handling can be mastered with just a day’s determined practice, making the contender very accessible to any competent small boat sailor.
The Contender is a high performance racing dinghy, light, fast, spectacular. A single hander, where the helmsman controls the boat from the trapeze wire to balance the forces from the large sail. Its excellent performance in stronger winds and waves reflects its Australian origin. The Contender was designed as a potential successor to the Finn dinghy as a class for Olympic single handed racing. For the last 40 years, the Contender has been the only high performance single-handed dinghy that offers international racing in competitive fleets. Worldwide, about 2,400 boats have been built and sailed in 17 countries.
Photos
Boat Specification
| Polyester or Wood | |
| Ben Lexcen | |
| 4.87 | |
| 83 kg | |
| 1.45 m | |
| 1.50 |
Sail Areas
| 10.8 | |
| Not Applicable |
World Governing Body
- the only truly international trapeze single hander, sailed and enjoyed
by men and women of every age
and ability.
Why? Because the contender is fast, refreshingly straightforward to set up, great fun and has a fantastic world wide competition circuit.
How hard is it to sail? That depends how good you want to be! While our international champions may spend hour after hour on the water perfecting their technique, basic boat handling can be mastered with just a day’s determined practice, making the contender very accessible to any competent small boat sailor.
This site has everything you need to know to get the most from your contender, including go fast set up, training tips and where to race. Have a look around, drop by often and if you have any questions please be in touch.
Office Bearers
Neil Smith
Jens Langendorf
Marco Versari Class Associations
