The National 10 class was originally known as the Turnabout class, built in 1953 by Harold R. Turner as a small, wooden, single or double handed dinghy class. Many boats were kit built by 'do it yourselfers' in their garages or cellars.

In 1972 the Turnabout class formal changed it's name to the National 10 class. It also decided to refine the class by approving a new mold, designed as close as possible to the original wooden design. This was accomplished by J. R. Duplin Marine in 1972, with some major improvements, including aluminum spars. The minimum class weight of 215 lbs. was increased to 255 lbs. to keep both the older Parker Turnabout, the woodies and the new Duplin National 10's more competitive.

For more information about the class and the boat, visit the N10 Class Website.

N10 (Turnabout)

Optimist

The Optimist has become the most popular youth sailing boat in the world today. It is safe and stable, making it the ideal sailing school boat. Overall, the safe design of the Optimist just about guarantees that a beginners Sailing experience will be a positive one. This encourages a higher percentage of children to finish the program, then go on to fully enjoy the benefits of recreational and competitive sailing. Children love the Optimist because they feel confident when sailing as it is very resistant to capsize. They can relax and enjoy themselves. The boat is both kid-friendly and coach-friendly.

For the reasons given above: stability, safety and simplicity, the Optimist is also a great racing boat, offering multiple levels of competition for all ages. There are over 400 Optimist regattas just in the USA each year. With so many Optimist sailors and so many Optimist events, there's no limit to the number of events that a skipper can participate in.

There is also a very dynamic used market for Opti's as kids are constantly aging out. Translation: this is a good investment as you can recoup most of the cost even after several years of use. Join the Optimist Class Organization and receive 'Opti News' free. For more information, check out the Optimist Association.

420

The International 420 is an established worldwide performance two person trapeze and spinnaker racing dinghy. There are 56,000 worldwide. This popular dinghy is sailed at school, club, open, national and international levels. There are many second hand boats available, active clubs and excellent tuition for all levels.

Built in buoyancy tanks make the boat very safe even when inverted. The 420 is the youth development boat in 43 countries around the world and is the ISAF Youth World Championship boat. Despite the emergence of newer commercial driven classes and asymmetrics, the 420 is still the worlds top youth training boat.

Please visit the International 420 Class website for further information.

The Hull Yacht Club Jr. Sailing program utilizes a number of different boats, each described below.

Jr. Race Boat Information