Dart 18

Dart 18

Class symbol
Boat
Crew	2
Hull
Hull weight	130 kg
LOA	5480 mm
Beam	2280 mm
Rig
Mast length	8 m
Sails
Mainsail area	12.92 m^2
Jib/genoa area	3.16 m^2
Spinnaker area	15.5 m^2, not legal for racing
Racing
D-PN	76.3
RYA PN	805

The Dart 18 is a one-design 18-foot (5.5 m) long glassfibre sailing catamaran. It is designed to be sailed by two people and can achieve speeds of up to 20 knots. This is reflected in its Portsmouth Yardstick of 805^[1] and D-PN of 76.3^[2]

History

The Dart 18 was designed and built by Panthercraft, which was formed in 1969

The first Dart 18, designed and built in Falmouth, Cornwall, is now owned by the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. Up to the present, a number of improvements have been made, but the original concept was preserved through strict class rules. More than 8350 boats have been built up to 2016, which are sailed in more than 16 nations on 4 continents. Since 2012, Windsport International holds the worldwide licence to build the Dart 18.

The boats are manufactured since 2005 at Collins Fibreglass Plastics in South Africa and in Europe. The World Championship results can be found here.

Design

The hulls of the Dart 18 are similar to most sailing catamarans, but without centreboards. Instead, the lower part of the hulls have skegs typical for a beach catamaran. The hull material is glassfibre. Both hulls are filled with flotation inserts to preserve buoyancy in case of damage. The inside of each hull can be reached through a hatch cover located at the rear of each hull. The boat is assembled by attaching the main and rear beams to the hulls with spring-loaded retaining clips, and lacing the trampoline to the beams and hulls. The two rudders are removable without tools, retract on impact with the beach, and can be locked in the up position.

The rigging consists of a rotating mast held by a forestay and two shroud wires. The shrouds can be adjusted by simply moving the bolts in the chainplates. The Dart 18 mast does not have spreaders. There is a trapeze for the crew.

The mainsail does not have a boom, has nine full battens, and is controlled by a main sheet with a 7:1 mechanical advantage. The jib sail has two short battens, and is controlled by a jib sheet with a 2:1 mechanical advantage. The main sheet block and both jib sheet blocks have a ratchet and a cleat.

A gennaker sail can be added, but is not legal for racing. This is usually combined with a jib furling system. The boat can also be sailed by one person, without a foresail, with a D-PN of 78.7.^[2]

Events

World Championships

Year v t e	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1991 -  Great Britain Abersoch	Great Britain Kim Furniss Sarah Powell	Great Britain Gareth Owen Steve Cottrell	France Daniel Peponnet Christian Carabeau
1995 -  Germany Travemunde	Netherlands Sven Karsenberg Annemarie Kingma	Great Britain Gareth Owen Will Thompson	France Erik Matheron Pamela Matheron
1998 Nouméa New Caledonia	Great Britain Gareth Owen Christopher Delves	New Caledonia Thierry Lebiez Franck Caromel	Great Britain David Lloyd Katie Jennings
1999 -  South Africa Port Elizabeth	Great Britain Jon Hutchings Vicki Jennings	France Hervé le Maux (FRA) Toya Al (NED)	Great Britain Robert Garcka Marc Howell
2002 -  France Marseille	France Christophe Gazharian Catherine Gazharian	France Hervé le Maux (FRA) Joanna Jones-Pierce (GBR)	France Thierry Wibaux Christine Wibaux
2003 -  Great Britain Stokes Bay	France Vincent Bouvier Fanny Merelle	France Hervé le Maux (FRA) Joanna Jones-Pierce (GBR)	Great Britain Matt Pullen Deborah Rickard
2004 -  Portugal Lagos	France Thierry Wibaux Christine Wibaux	France Vincent Bouvier Fanny Merelle	Great Britain Dave Roberts Louise Roberts
2006 -  South Africa East London	Great Britain Matt Pullen Deborah Rickard	Great Britain Gareth Owen Angus Armstrong	Great Britain David Lloyd Polly Bishop
2007 -  Italy Torbole Lake Garda	Great Britain Dan Norman Melanie Rogers	Great Britain David Lloyd Cathrin Farthing	Great Britain Paul Wakelin Emma Curtis
2008 -  Netherlands Workum	France Emmanuel Dode Billy Besson	Great Britain Dan Norman Melanie Rogers	Great Britain David Lloyd Cathrin Farthing
2009 Palm Beach Aruba	France Emmanuel Dode Fred Moreau	Great Britain David Lloyd Joanna Jones-Pierce	Germany Mathias Huber Dominik Volke
2010 -  Great Britain Weymouth	Great Britain Tom Phipps Richard Glover	France Emmanuel Dode Fred Moreau	Great Britain Dan Norman Melanie Rogers
2011 -  Belgium Knokke	Great Britain Alan Kernick Fiona Kernick	Great Britain Dan Norman Melanie Rogers	France Thierry Wibaux Christine Wibaux
2012 -  Italy Punta Ala	Great Britain Tom Phipps Nikki Boniface	Great Britain Dave Roberts Louise Roberts	France Thierry Wibaux Christine Wibaux
2013 -  France Carnac	Dan Norman (GBR)  Jessica Day (GBR)	Jonathan Pierce (GBR)  Ginny Trafford (GBR)	Brian Phipps (GBR)  Katy Phipps (GBR)
2014/5 -  South Africa Stillbaai Vaal Dam	South Africa Alan Kernick Fiona Kernick	South Africa Ben Mienie Lloyd Beyers	South Africa Chris Clarke Morgan Rusch
2016 -  Netherlands Medemblik	Dan Norman (GBR)  Alysha Monkman (GBR)	Dave Roberts (GBR)  Louise Roberts (GBR)	Michiel Fehr (SUI)  Andri Fried (SUI)
2017 -  Germany Scharbeutz [3]	Dave Roberts (GBR)  Louise Roberts (GBR)	Jorg Gosche (GER)  Arne Gosche (GER)	Herve LeMaux (FRA)  Joanna Trafford (GBR)
2018 -  Italy Dervio Lake Como	Alessandro Siviero (ITA)  Marco Tramutola (ITA)	Michiel Fehr (SUI)  Andri Fried (SUI)	David Lloyd (GBR)  Anne Chaumet - LaGrange (FRA)
2019 - Thailand Pattaya 52 Boats[4]	GBR 7835  Dave Roberts (GBR)  Louise Roberts (GBR)	GBR 7930  Gareth Owen (GBR)  Hebe Hemming (GBR)	GBR 7945  Daniel Norman (GBR)  Alyesha Monkman (GBR)
2020 - France La Rochelle	COVID 19

See also

• List of multihulls

References

1. "Portsmouth Number List 2013". Royal Yachting Association. Retrieved 16 August 2013.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
2. "Multihull Classes". US Sailing. Archived from the original on 16 August 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
3. http://manage2sail.com/de-DE/event/e9efae25-2028-48c1-8451-f3183ddce75b#!/results?classId=8b6af7e7-905a-4d5e-bfbb-5a33fbdad013
4. http://www.dart18.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Final-Results.pdf

External links

• UK Dart 18 Catamaran History Archived 2021-12-09 at the Wayback Machine
• UK Dart 18 Catamaran Association
• SA Dart 18 Catamaran Association
• ISAF 2020 class report for the Dart 18
• National Maritime Museum Cornwall
• Windsport, supplier of Dart18 boats and parts