Vanguard 15

The Vanguard 15 is a popular one design racing dinghy (no changes to the boat) designed by Bob Ames. It is a double-handed (two person) monohull sailboat with a sloop rig (one headsail one main sail). Ideally the combined weight of the crew is between 270 and 340 lb (150 kg) and both members hike off the boat to keep it flat. Its revolutionary design allows it to plane while sailing upwind in 12 knots (22 km/h) of breeze or more. Another of the design features of the boat is to be self bailing or self rescuing meaning that if the shallow cockpit of the boat takes on water, large drains in the stern of the boat will allow the water to drain via gravity and with no effort by the crew or need for the boat to be moving to drain.

Vanguard 15s are often organized into fleets, which hold their own regular weekly racing as well as encourage participants to sail in larger regattas. One example of an active V-15 fleet can be found at Larchmont Yacht Club. Additionally, several Intercollegiate Sailing Association programs such as UCLA Sailing (http://www.macsailing.org/Sailing/index.htm) maintain V-15 fleets. Currently the US Team Racing National Championships are held each year in Vanguard 15s.

The Vanguard 15 class has one of the 10 largest one design national championships in the United States each year. The 2008 championship at Larchmont Yacht Club had 77 boats. The 2010 championship in Newport, Rhode Island had 57 boats.