Y Flyer

The Y Flyer is a 18 foot (5.5m) sloop rigged racing dinghy designed to be sailed by 2 people. Although the boat looks and performs like a scow, the bottom of the hull is not quite flat, but split along the centerline into two flat chines. Y-flyers are built of either wood or fiberglass. The Y Flyer was designed in 1938 by Alvin Youngquist a Naval Architect working in Toledo Ohio who wished to build a two person performance dinghy as a training boat for the larger A-Scow. He published the design in Rudder Magazine with instructions for how to build it at home using marine plywood. Many Y Flyers are built by their owners following the class rules and design which remain little changed since 1938. Several commercial boat builders have also built Y-Flyers including Turner Marine who are the only builder commercially offering the design today.

The Y Flyer is an active one-design class with fleets, sailing clubs and regattas primarily in the US Southeast, US Upper Midwest and Eastern Canada. The class is designated by a "Y" on the mainsail. Apx. 3000 Y-Flyers have been registered to the class associations

The Y Flyer class require boats to weigh at least 500 pounds fully rigged, without crew or sails. and carry class-approved upwind sails measuring 161 sq ft (14.9 m2). The Canadian Y-Flyer class allows for a spinnaker to be used downwind. The American Y-Flyer class rules forbid the use of spinnakers. When racing against non-class sailboats, the Y-Flyer uses a Portsmouth Yardstick rating of 86.5. The boat sailing characteristics are similar to other fast planing performance boats, but is an often noted for having a bluntly squared off for-deck and using a whisker pole nearly half the length of the boat when setting the jib for running downwind.

The American Y-Flyer class has 19 active one-design fleets and supports a travelling regatta series including Midwinter Races and multi-regatta Mid-Western Cup and Helmsman Cup Awards. The class is noted for maintaining rules which minimize the advantages of high-tech, high-cost features. This focus allows sailors with a modest budget to remain highly competitive. Each year many older boats with low sail numbers, place well in races at the club and regatta level.