Tasar (dinghy)

The Tasar is a convert|14|ft|m|sing=on fibreglass 2 person sailing dinghy with a mainsail and jib. Designed by Frank Bethwaite of Sydney in 1975, the boat is technologically advanced. Aimed at a husband and wife/parent and child crew, it is designed for a combined crew weight of 140 kg. The hull weighs 68 kg, and is of sandwich foam construction. he hull has a fine angle at the bow to reduce wave impact drag with unusually clean and sharp chines aft to ensure very free plaining and outstanding stability. The foam cored hull is stiff and light and the advanced hull shape, together with an innovative rig which combines a rotating mast with a fully battened main sail, allows the Tasar to plane upwind with the crew normally hiked. The wide beam and a cockpit designed for comfortable hiking make the Tasar easy, fun and very exciting to sail in winds up to convert|25|kn|km/h. The Tasar is an international class, with strong fleets in Australia, USA, Britain, and Japan. The 2005 world title were held in Darwin, Australia which catered 131 boats. 2006 saw the introduction of new PET film sails). The 2007 Tasar Worlds were held in Phuket and attracted 60 entries from Australia, Japan, Thailand, U.S., Canada, South Africa and the U.K. See the 2007 Worlds website at http://2007worlds.tasar.org

Length overall: 14 feet 10 inches (4.52 m)

Waterline length: 14 feet 0 inches (4.27 m)

Beam: 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m)

Weight: Hull, fully rigged without spars, sails or foils: 149 pounds (68 kilograms)

Crew: Two, design crew weight 300 pounds (133 kilograms), minimum crew weight for racing 287 pounds (130 kilograms) (When boats are sailed by crews weighing less than this, ballast is carried to equalize performance.)

Sails: Sails were originally polyester fiber. PET film sails were adopted in 2006.

Mainsail: PET film - convert|89.44|sqft|m2|abbr=on., 8.31 m².(Polyester fiber - convert|90|sqft|m2 - 8.36 square metres)

Jib: PET film - convert|38.42|sqft|m2|abbr=on., 3.57 m².(Polyester fiber - convert|33|sqft|m2 - 3.07 square metres)

Portsmouth Yardstick Handic

Construction: GRP foam sandwich for the hull, hollow aluminium section for the spars

Designers: Frank Bethwaite, Ian Bruce

The Tasar is constructed to the same specifications by licensed builders in Singapore and Canada. This keeps all boats as similar as possible and ensures a true one design class.

The current world champions in this class of dinghy are Jonathon and Libby McKee.

The Australian class website [http://www.tasar.com.au]