Club 420

The 420 has two sails, main and jib. The crew controls the jib, and the skipper controls the main and steering. This boat is safe and comfortable enough to learn sailing on, but challenging enough for experienced sailors to race.

The International 420 Class Dinghy is a double-handed monohull planing dinghy with centreboard, bermuda rig and centre sheeting. The name describes the overall length of the boat in centimetres (the boat is exactly 4.2 metres long). The hull is fibreglass with internal buoyancy tanks. The 420 is equipped with spinnaker and optional trapeze, making teamwork necessary to sail it well. It has a large sail-area-to-weight ratio, and is designed to plane easily. It can be rigged to be sailed single-handed.

DCDS owns 10 420s for use by the sailing team.

Laser Radial

The Laser Radial is a single-handed boat, sailed by one skipper who controls the main sail and the steering. The Laser is not as commonly sailed, but is essential for a team. The Laser is a more challenging boat for more experienced sailors.

The Laser Radial is a popular one-design class of small sailing dinghy, originally built by Laser Performance. It is a singlehanded boat, meaning that it is sailed by one person. The Laser Radial is a variant of the Laser Standard, with shorter mast and reduced sail area, allowing light sailors to sail in heavy winds. The International Class is recognised by the International Sailing Federation.

O'Pen Bic

The O'Pen Bic is a newly-designed, one-man boat, designed for sailors between the weight requirements of a Opti and Laser. It can be a tough boat to handle, but with the right sailor with the right knowledge of the boat, it can be a speed demon on a windy day.

The O'pen Bic, often simply referred to as the Open Bic, is a single handed sailboat designed for younger sailers. Developed by Vitali Design, the boat was launched in 2006. It is an International Class, as recognized by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF), and as of 2010, 3,500 boats have been sold.

Optimist Dinghy

The Optimist Dinghy (Opti) is specifically a training boat for sailors up to 15 years old. The Opti is a very stable and easy boat to learn how to sail on, and despite its' boxy construction, they still are raced in many places across the world.

The Optimist is a small, single-handed sailing dinghy intended for use by children up to the age of 15. Nowadays boats are usually made of Fiberglass, although wooden boats are still built. It is one of the most popular sailing dinghies in the world, with over 150,000 boats officially registered with the class and many more built but never registered. The Optimist is recognized as an International Class by the International Sailing Federation.

Lightning

The Lightning is a larger sailboat raced by 3 people. Although this boat is not raced in our junior program, it is important nonetheless because it is the main sailboat used by many members of Pontiac Yacht Club. PYC boasts the title of having the largest Lightning fleet in the world, Fleet #54. Lightning races are held many days throughout the year, including the annual Whitecap Regatta held in September. Many of our sailors from DCDS have already crewed for older, more experienced members for their regattas, enhancing our sailors' skill.