Lightning (dinghy)

Short description: Sailboat class

Lightning

Development
Designer| Olin Stephens
Location| United States
Year| 1938
No. built| 15,550
Builder(s)| Clark Boat Company
Lippincott Boat Works
Nickels Boat Works
Allen Boat Company
Jack A. Helms Co.
J.J. Taylor and Sons
Lockley Newport Boats
Skaneateles Boat & Canoe
Mobjack Manufacturing
Siddons & Sindle
Lofland Sail-craft
Eichenlaub Boat
WindRider LLC
Role| One-design racer
Boat
Boat weight| 700 lb (318 kg)
Draft| 4.95 ft (1.51 m) with centerboard down
Hull
Type| monohull
Construction| wood or fiberglass
LOA| 19.00 ft (5.79 m)
LWL| 15.25 ft (4.65 m)
Beam| 6.50 ft (1.98 m)
Hull appendages
Keel/board type| centerboard
Rudder(s)| transom-mounted rudder
Rig
Rig type| Bermuda rig
I (foretriangle height)| 20.00 ft (6.10 m)
J (foretriangle base)| 6.91 ft (2.11 m)
P (mainsail luff)| 24.00 ft (7.32 m)
E (mainsail foot)| 10.00 ft (3.05 m)
Sails
Sailplan| fractional rigged sloop
Mainsail area| 120.00 sq ft (11.148 m2)
Jib/genoa area| 69.10 sq ft (6.420 m2)
Spinnaker area| 300 sq ft (28 m2)
Total sail area| 189.10 sq ft (17.568 m2)
Racing
D-PN| 88.4

[edit on Wikidata]

The Lightning is an American sailing dinghy that was designed by Olin Stephens of Sparkman & Stephens, as a one-design racer and first built in 1938.[1][2][3]

An accepted World Sailing class, the boat is one of the most popular one-design sailing classes in the United States and is also raced in several other countries.[1][3]

The design was developed into a smaller boat, as a trainer for the Lightning, the Blue Jay in 1947.[4]

## Contents

* 1 Production
* 2 Design
* 3 Operational history
* 3.1 Racing
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 External links

## Production

The design has been built by a large number of manufacturers in the United States and also in Canada . There have been 15,550 boats completed and it remains in production by the Allen Boat Company.[1][5][6]

In the past it has been built in the US by the Clark Boat Company, Lippincott Boat Works, Nickels Boat Works, Jack A. Helms Co., Lockley Newport Boats, Skaneateles Boat & Canoe, Mobjack Manufacturing, Siddons & Sindle, Lofland Sail-craft, the Eichenlaub Boat Co and WindRider LLC. It was also built in Canada by J.J. Taylor and Sons Ltd.[1]

Boats have been delivered complete, sold as kits for amateur construction and also amateur-built from plans.[3]

## Design

Lightning

The Lightning is a recreational sailboat, initially built with wooden plank construction and, since the early 1960s, of fiberglass with wood trim. It has a fractional sloop rig with wooden or aluminum spars. The rig employs a backstay, anchored off center, so as to not impede the tiller. If equipped with a wooden mast it has a jumper stay from the mast head to the spreaders. The hull has a foredeck, with a V-shaped coaming, a raked stem, an angled transom, a transom-hung rudder controlled by a tiller and a retractable centerboard. It displaces 700 lb (318 kg) and carries a class-prescribed maximum of 130 lb (59 kg) in centerboard weight.[1][3]

The boat has a draft of 4.95 ft (1.51 m) with the centerboard extended and 5 in (13 cm) with it retracted, allowing beaching or ground transportation on a trailer.[1]

For sailing the design is equipped with a 300 sq ft (28 m2) spinnaker. Mainsail and jib windows are optional for improved visibility and safety.[3]

The design has a Portsmouth Yardstick racing average handicap of 88.4[3] and is normally raced with a crew of three sailors, although it can accommodate six adults.[7][8]

## Operational history

The boat has an active class club that regulates the design and organizes races, the International Lightning Class Association.[9] By 1994 there were more than 460 racing fleets in Canada, Europe, South America and the United States.[3]

In a 1994 review Richard Sherwood noted that the design has good freeboard and stability.[3]

### Racing

## See also

* List of sailing boat types

Related development

* Blue Jay (dinghy)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 McArthur, Bruce (2020). "Lightning sailboat". sailboatdata.com. https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/lightning.
2. ↑ McArthur, Bruce (2020). "Sparkman & Stephens". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190331193635/https://sailboatdata.com/designer/sparkman-stephens.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Sherwood, Richard M.: A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition, pages 102-103. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994. ISBN 0-395-65239-1
4. ↑ McArthur, Bruce (2020). "Blue Jay sailboat". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191208163015/https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/blue-jay.
5. ↑ WindRider LLC. "Lightning". windrider.com. https://www.windrider.com/collections/windrider-sailboat/products/lightning.
6. ↑ Allen Boat Company. "Allen Boat Company". allenboatco.com. http://www.allenboatco.com/.
7. ↑ Lightning Class Association, Yearbook 1941
8. ↑ "About Lightning - International Lightning Class Association". https://www.lightningclass.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=93488&module_id=274527.
9. ↑ McArthur, Bruce (2020). "Lightning Class (Int)". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 10 November 2020. https://archive.today/20201110010434/https://sailboatdata.com/association/lightning-class-int.

## External links

* Allen Boat Company official website
* Windrider official Lightning archives on Archive.org

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