We currently sail a variety of different boats:
36/600
The 36/600 is one of the largest classes certified by AMYA, with nearly 1500 boats registered since its introduction in 1971. Some of the contributing factors for the 36/600's national popularity is that they are economical to build, easily transported, and a genuine pleasure to sail.
The 36/600 is a developmental class, so there are very few restrictions beyond the thirty-six inch hull length and six hundred square inches of sail area. The class specifications are so worded to encourage the designers and builders to fully utilize their imaginations. Design diversity for 36/600 hulls is quite broad. For example, beams range from a narrow five inches to over eight inches. Sail aspects range from forty-five inch luffs to over sixty inch luffs. The weight of a 36/600 can vary from under five pounds to over eight pounds. Though there is usually a commonality of boats sailed by a club, it isn't unusual to have most of the boats quite different in design. This gives a skipper the option of exercising their judgment of which design is best for the the prevailing conditions at their sailing venue.
The sailing characteristics of the 36/600 are well suited for both the experienced skippers and the beginner. For a novice skipper, the 36/600's size and simplicity makes understanding the boat and what makes it go quite easy. For the veteran skipper, the quick response and "on the edge" speed makes the 36/600 an ideal choice for competitive sailing.
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Victoria
The Victoria One Design is a simple, affordable, ARF sailboat manufactured by the Thunder Tiger Model Company, and distributed world wide. The kit's low cost (about $89 for the kit, perhaps $200 nicely outfitted), ease of assembly, and good sailing characteristics make it a great first yacht, while remaining fun to sail and race for old hands as well. The emphasis of the Victoria is on SIMPLICITY and FUN, and to these ends check out the Victoria Resource Center for the latest building, tuning, and sailing tips, along with other interesting and useful information about the boat.
The boat itself is made of heavy duty PVC-type plastic, and is quite durable, capable of surviving virtually any mishap or collision. The kit also includes high quality aluminum spars, sails, and all necessary fittings. All you need to do is add a two-channel radio and you're ready to sail. Construction is generally a weekend project. The ease of assembly also makes the Victoria a great "club" boat, as new skippers can buy a boat and join the racing with a minimum of trouble and expense.
As currently established by the class rules, the Victoria One Design is tightly controlled in terms of sails, hull, fin, bulb, and rudder, while still allowing some minor variations in terms of the standing and running rig. This gives skippers a solid one-design boat with a little room to experiment.
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Marblehead 50/800
The M or Marblehead Class, sometimes called the "50/800", is a medium size high performance development class. It's original concept in the 1930's was to produce the largest model that would conveniently fit in the standard American car of the time. The class is a development class with the main restrictions being a hull length of 50 inches and a sail area of 800 square inches. The class has been highly developed over the years to produce a high performance model that can be sailed in a wide range of conditions, assuming the owner has the appropriate rigs. Today's M weighs around ten pounds and carries an 85 inch rig in most conditions. The hull and rigs tend to use advanced materials and techniques. Boats are available from several suppliers who can provide them from basic kit form to fully assembled. There is also an active used boat market at the local level.
The M Class has a large base, with over four hundred competitive models in existence. It is sailed in most areas of the country. Competition is available from club level to national level, and even international level. As an international class with the same rule as the rest of the world (except the measurements for AMYA are in inches and pounds), AMYA members can attend regattas abroad. They can also take advantage of several excellent foreign suppliers.
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SeaWind
The SeaWind One Design model sailboat is a 1-meter replica of an America's Cup yacht, manufactured by KYOSHO and distributed in kit form through hobby stores worldwide. The kit ($299, or ready to sail with radio, servos and batteries for under $400) is designed with an excellent instruction manual, for simple home assembly without special tools. The finished boat "out-of-the-box" delivers excellent performance satisfying to novice and experienced skipper alike. The SeaWind Resource Center, affords access to tips on building, tuning and sailing while also providing a communication center for skippers through its forums.
The boat itself is made of sturdy ABS plastic with aluminum spars. A few early kits (SeaWind SE) were supplied with an alternative fiberglass hull, and sale of these kits has been discontinued. The initial Class Rules tightly control the boat elements close to the kit to ensure new skippers are not faced with a costly refit to be competitive while allowing minor modifications to rigging (materials and adjustment methods) to facilitate tuning and to the hatch cover to ensure watertight integrity.
More recently a Carbon Edition SeaWind (SeaWind CE) has been added which has a carbon fiber/resin hull and slightly modified keel slot area, otherwise the parts are the same as for the standard ABS kit. The SeaWind CE is able to be sailed under Class Rules using correction weight as defined in the Rules.
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The Micro Magic Class is one of the largest and fastest growing in the world, with affiliated classes in over a dozen countries spread over three continents. Micro Magic kits are manufactured by Graupner of Germany and their design and basic look are pattered after single-handed trans-Atlantic boats popular in Europe called Mini 6.5's. The boat features an ABS hull and deck (which must be joined during assembly), carbon fiber spars and high qualty rigging hardware. While not a 'Ready-to-Run' kit, it can be assembled with common adhesives and epoxies by builders with novice skills. The class sails under the well-established International Micro Magic Rules, and is governed in the United States by the Micro Magic Class Owners Association.Micro Magic class yachts can be sailed in a wide variety of wind conditions--from drifters to Force 5 winds utilizing smaller alternate sail rigs which are legal under the class rules. Their small size (21") and light weight (860 grams minimum) make Micro Magics extremely east to transport and sail. Despite their size, they sail as well if not better than many larger sailboats.
AMYA description - Micro Magic
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Classic Marblehead
Time to dig it out, fix it up, and come join the fun. Boats from the 70s to the mid 80s now have a home in the new Classic Marblehead class. We currently have 5 boats in the Phoenix area and are planning a Regatta in the near feature.