Streaker Sailing Dinghy

Streaker sailing dinghy

The Streaker dinghy was designed by Jack Holt in 1975 and was first launched in November of that year. His rationale was to design a ‘light weight Solo’ as he was finding it difficult to haul his Solo up the slipway as he got older. It is a lightweight single handed dinghy designed for both racing or cruising. It has a single sail that can be easily rigged and controls lead back to the cock pit allow it to be easily adjusted whilst a float. The hull weight of only 48 kg makes launching and recovery easy.

The Streaker Class Owners Association (SCOA) was formed in 1976 and since then the class has grown steadily and there are strong fleets nationwide, with sail numbers now fast approaching the 1750 mark and SCOA membership totalling more than 180, spread over at least 70 clubs in the UK. The Streaker dinghy is an easy boat to handle no matter how inexperienced the helm might be, it offers extremely lively racing performance in a very broad range of conditions, belying her relatively modest Portsmouth Yardstick of 1162. A benefit of the low hull weight means that onshore handling is easy to handle, even allowing it be popped on the roof on most small family cars without any problem. Careful consideration was given to the overall design and this means she will accept a wide range of crew weights and sizes without seriously affecting either comfort or performance.

Recently this versatility has been further enhanced by the addition of the wave sail a specially designed smaller mainsail within the class regulations, making the Streaker dinghy even easier to handle for both novice and/or lightweight helms even in the most trying of conditions.

Second hand Streakers can be bought for around £400 upwards. Alternatively, for those looking for a brand new boat Wood FRP and Composite Streakers are available in all stages of completion, For those who fancy building their own boats, kits are supplied as a selection of pre-cut hull panels. Typically such a boat can be built in little over one hundred man hours and once painted and fitted out, the finished craft will grace any dinghy park in the country. Finished boats now come with double bottoms leading to more or less dry capsize and both wood and FRP are largely maintenance free. The modern wood finishes available matching the FRP for coping with normal use very well. The class has recently accepted a optional centre main system for more flexability.

Streaker Dinghy Comments

They are a fantastic boat to sail, very responsive and was perfect for me to start racing in when i was 14 years old and i was too big for the topper but too small for the laser, i found it was a perfect comprimise between speed and power.

Not quite an ‘old mans Laser’ (2012 National Champ is about 18!)but a lot more comfortable to sail!