The Hull Yacht Club sailing program utilizes a number of different boats.

N-10 (Turnabout):

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 formally 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.

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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 up to the class maximum of 15. 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 and the class is growing.  Translation: this is a good investment as you can recoup most of the cost of the boat after having used it for several years.

Join the Optimist Class Organization and receive Opti News free. For more information check out www.usoda.org