Our Boats
The Washington Yacht Club currently has 70 boats within its fleet. These include Dinghies, Windsurf boards, Performance Boats (including Catamarans), Daysailers, Keelboats, and Large Keelboats. Click on the buttons below to navigate between the various boat categories.
Dinghies
We encourage all of our members to begin learning to sail on Dinghies, which are small 1-2 person boats by taking our lessons. We teach our “Single-Handed” (1 person per boat) classes in Lasers or Bravos, and we teach our “Double-Handed” (2 people per boat) classes in Flying Juniors (FJs).
Bravo
The Bravo is a 12 foot catamaran designed for 1-2 people that is very simple to sail and requires little to no rigging — just unfurl the sail and you are off! Its simplicity makes it a good choice for individuals with little to no sailing experience as well as for those who want to maximize their time out on the water.
Requirements to Sail: A Bravo Rating or a Single-Handed Novice Rating.
Laser
A Laser is a 13-foot boat designed to be sailed by one person and comprise a majority of our “single-handed” fleet.
Lasers are the most popular racing dinghy in the world — they are responsive, fun to sail, and a great boat to hone your sailing skills on.
Requirements to Sail: A Single-Handed Novice Rating.
Flying Junior (FJ)
The Flying Junior (FJ) is a 13-foot boat designed to be sailed 2 people and comprise a majority of our “double-handed” fleet.
FJs are also an extremely popular racing dinghy and are a great boat to practice sailing with multiple sails and crew.
Requirements to Sail: A Double-Handed Novice Rating.
Windsurfers
Windsurfing is a sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a board usually 2 to 3 meters long, with a volume of about 60 to 250 liters, powered by wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and consists of a mast, 2-sided boom and sail. The sail area generally ranges from 3.0 to 12.0 square meters (standard Laser sail is 7.0 square meters) depending on the conditions, the skill of the sailor and the type of windsurfing being undertaken.
The Washington Yacht Club offers windsurfing classes and gear for beginning through advanced sailors!
Our fleet of windsurfing boards includes the BIC Techno, Mistral IMCO, Mistral Superlight-I, Starboard Start, BIC Samba as well as many other boards. Our sails range in size from 3.0 to 12.0 square meters.
We windsurf on Union Bay, Lake Washington (off of Magnuson Park) and Sail Sand Point (North of Magnuson Park). Classes are open to all members, and windsurfing is offered year round (wetsuits are required during non-summer seasons).
Performance & Catamaran
Once you are proficient with our Dinghies, we encourage you to start sailing our Performance boats. These boats will take practice to learn, but they’re also a lot of fun. There aren’t often classes for these boats. Instead, we encourage you to come to Work Parties, Meetings, and Supervised Sailing Hours to get to know experienced members in the club who can teach to set up and sail these.
Each of these Performance boats are fast and are relatively complicated to rig — therefore Rig ratings are required to be able to sail these boats.
Laser II
470
International 505
International 14
The Laser 2 is a 14-foot boat designed for two people.
A 470 is a 15-foot racing boat designed for two people.
A 16-foot racing boat designed for two people.
A 14-foot racing boat designed for two people.
Hobie 16
Hobie SX18
Hobie 20
Hobie 21
Hobie’s 16 foot catamaran.
Hobie’s 18 foot catamaran.
Hobie’s 20 foot catamaran.
Hobie’s 21 foot catamaran.
Daysailers
Flying Scot
The Flying Scot is a “Daysailer” which means it is great to take a group of friends for a sail! It is 19 feet long and it can fit up to 5 people. It is stable and easy to rig and is a common boat for teaching in other fleets.
You can always ask a chief or Ratings Examiner how to rig it, especially during Supervised Sailing Hours! We have one in our fleet. It can be sailed with a Double Handed Novice rating.
Ensign
The Pearson Ensign is a 22 foot “Daysailer” that can fit a crew of ~4 individuals. The Ensign has a 9ft cockpit, a 7 ft beam, and a draft of 3 ft.
J22 (Freedom)
The J22 is a very responsive performance-oriented 22-foot keel boat that races with a crew of 3 but can fit 4-5 people. It has a draft of 3.8 feet, displacement of 1790 lbs, ballast of 700 lbs and sail area of 223 sq ft. The mainsail and jib are stored in a single bag in the sail locker.
Portsmouth Number (racing handicap): 82.7
Keelboats
Keelboats are medium to large sail boats that have a weighted keel under the bottom of the boat. Members (with proper ratings) may rent these boats out for half day, full day, and multi-day events here using the Keelboat Rental Portal.
Ranger 26 (Rascal)
Rascal is our smallest cruising keelboat. Rascal has a masthead sloop rig, sail area of 322 sq ft, fin keel with draft of 4.33 ft, and spade rudder. Rascal displaces 5,860 lbs and has 2,050 lbs of ballast. Rascal is rigged to fly a symmetrical spinnaker. She sleeps 3-4.
Rascal requires a keelboat novice rating.
PHRF 225
Catalina 27 (Charlotte)
Charlotte is next largest cruising keelboats. Charlotte has a masthead sloop rig, sail area of 346 sq ft, fin keel with draft of 4.00 ft, and spade rudder. Charlotte displaces 6,850 lbs and has 2,700 lbs of ballast. Charlotte is rigged to fly a symmetrical spinnaker. Charlotte sleeps 4-5.
Charlotte requires a keelboat novice rating.
PHRF 227
Catalina 27 (Deception)
Deception is nearly identical to Charlotte. Deception has a masthead sloop rig, sail area of 346 sq ft, fin keel with draft of 4.00 ft, and spade rudder. Deception displaces 6,850 lbs and has 2,700 lbs of ballast. Deception is rigged to fly a symmetrical spinnaker. She sleeps 4-5.
Deception requires a keelboat novice rating.
PHRF 227
Cal 3-30 (Nightshade)
Nightshade is one of our two 30 ft, inboard diesel keelboats. She also has a masthead sloop rig, sail area of 474 sq ft, fin keel with draft of 5.50 ft , and spade rudder. She displaces 10,500 lbs and has 5,000 lbs of ballast. Nightshade is rigged to fly a symmetrical spinnaker. She sleeps 4-6.
Nightshade requires a keelboat skipper rating and additional rig rating. More info can be found here.
PHRF 177
San Juan 30 (Talaria III)
In early 2017, WYC welcomed Talaria III, the second of our 30 ft, inboard diesel keelboats. Talaria has a masthead sloop rig, sail area of 402 sq ft, fin keel with draft of 5.33 ft, and spade rudder. Talaria displaces 7200 lbs and has 3550 lbs of ballast. Talaria III is rigged to fly a symmetrical spinnaker. Talaria is the outfitted the tall rig option and is set up as a racer/cruiser. Talaria sleeps 4-5.
Talaria III requires a keelboat skipper rating and additional rig rating.
PHRF 168
Large Keelboats
Ithaka (a Swan 441) is the Washington Yacht Club’s flagship keelboat, and was recently added to our fleet after a generous donation. This boat will be used to teach members on how to sail a 44′ keelboat. With a displacement of 24,700 pounds, she is the largest keelboat the club has ever had access to and easily berths ten people. With additional systems compared to our other keelboats, she will allow club members to learn the numerous systems that come with a boat this large.
Swan 441 (Ithaka)
Ithaka was built by Nautor, a Finnish company that has been known for its luxury sailing yachts. She was designed by Ron Holland and built in 1979. Swans are known for their blue-water capability and numerous and elegant amenities.
The WYC would like to recognize Tides Marine for their generous donation of Ithaka’s new SailTrack system. The SailTrack is a UHMW insert that sits in the track (aft groove) of the mast and provides a nearly friction-less surface on which to hoist and lower the mainsail. Slides–also donated by Tides Marine–will connect the mainsail to this system. Changes to sail plan will now be both easier and safer. More information about Tides Marine SailTracks can be found here (https://www.tidesmarine.com/sailtrack).