420

Current Specifications
420s under sail
Class Symbol
Crew	2
Type	Monohull
Design	GRP
Construction	One-Design
Rig	Bermuda
Keel	Centerboard
Trapeze	Single
LOA	4.2 metres (13 ft 9 in)
Beam	1.63 metres (5 ft 4 in)
Draft	0.965 metres (3 ft 2.0 in)
Hull weight	80 kilograms (180 lb)
Mast height	6.26 metres (20 ft 6 in)
Main & Jib area	13.05 square metres (140.5 sq ft)
Mainsail area	10.25 square metres (110.3 sq ft)
Jib / Genoa area	2.8 square metres (30 sq ft)
Spinnaker area	8.83 square metres (95.0 sq ft)
D-PN	97.7
RYA PN	1087[1]
Development
Year	1959
Designer	Christian Maury
Role	Youth trainer, racing
Infobox last updated: March, 2010

The International 420 Class Dinghy is a double-handed monohull planing dinghy with centreboard, bermuda rig and centre sheeting. The name describes the overall length of the boat in centimetres (the boat is exactly 4.2 metres long). The hull is fibreglass with internal buoyancy tanks. The 420 is equipped with spinnaker and optional trapeze, making teamwork necessary to sail it well. It has a large sail-area-to-weight ratio, and is designed to plane easily. It can be rigged to sail single-handed.

The 420 was designed specifically to be easier to handle than its larger higher-performance cousin, the 470. Both were designed by French engineer Christian Maury, the 420 as a stepping-stone for club and youth sailing to the 470. The class is an class International recognised by the International Sailing Federation.

A derivative of the 420 called the Club 420 is popular in the North America. This class is not recognised by International Sailing Federation or the International 420 Class Association and can't be used at class events. The boats are very similar in appearance but the club 420 is slightly stronger, heavier and less refined.

History

The International 420 was designed by Christian Maury, after a specification drawn by Aristide Lehoerrff and Pierre Latxague, chief sailing instructors of the Socoa sailing school SW France near St Jean de Luz. It was built at first by French industrialist Lucien Lanaverre, a former cooper for the Bordeaux wine industry, who had converted to the then new industry of GRP polyester moulding^[2] in the 1960s as an inexpensive general purpose two sail, transom sheeted, non-trapeze dinghy, with modest easily handled sail plan. The class developed rapidly in France, being adopted nationally as a youth trainer for the larger Olympic class International 470 which was also designed by Cornu. By the late 1960s the class was adopted by a few UK university sailing clubs for training and team racing.

Construction

The class adopted a policy of "prudent evolution" so as to allow development without making existing dinghies obsolete. The hull's seaworthiness and stability at speed proved to be better than most of its contemporaries, and this together with its modest sail area make it fun to sail in heavy weather and thus an excellent youth trainer, qualities that led to its adoption for that role by the RYA in the mid-1970s.

With its trapeze and spinnaker it provides the capability for advanced sailing techniques for international standard sailors, while still remaining affordable and accessible to beginners. The International 420 maintains a large multinational class association. The combination of effective class management, the boat's inherent sailing qualities, and prudent evolution have contributed to the class's continuing success.

Events

World champions

Open

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1975 Medemblik	United States Witehurst	France Russo	Netherlands Carels
1978 Copenhagen	France Pollet Johanssen	Great Britain Cathy Foster Wendy Hilder	Spain Sallent Isnard
1979 Canakkale	Italy Di Salle Vassalo	West Germany Möller Möller	New Zealand Dickson Wilcox
1980 Quiberon	Israel Brockan Friedlaender	France Brenac Mikuelis	France Jaffrezeic Berthonneau
1982 Adelaide	Australia Ferris McKay	United States Brown	West Germany Etten
1984 Annapolis	West Germany A. Andruleit H. Andruleit	West Germany Filimonow Stöckmann	Canada Ellis Ferrow
1986 Nieuwpoort	France Eric Godard Christophe Godard
1987 Balatonfüred	France Jean-François Berthet Gwendoel Berthet
1988 Belmont	France W. Sanchez-Diez Bertrand Dumortier	West Germany Christian Halm Alexander Halm	France Jean-François Berthet Gwendoel Berthet
1989	France David Ravet Bertrand Loyal	Great Britain Steve Irish Greg Irish	Great Britain John Merricks Rob Wilson
1990 Crozon-Morgat	France Christian Gout Jean Gout
1991 Rimini	Great Britain Steve Irish Greg Irish
1992 Sdot-Yam	Spain Gustavo Martínez Dimias Wood
1993 Marstrand	Italy Marcello Luciani Dario Luciani
1994 Plymouth	Great Britain John Merricks Ian Lovering
1995 Fremantle	Australia Roger Perrett Teague Czislowski
1996 Blankenberge	Portugal M. Fortunato M. Nunes
1997 Newport	France W. Sanchez-Diez Gabriol
1998 Palamós	France Nicolas Charbonnier David Deguine
1999 Athens	France Nicolas Charbonnier David Deguine		Portugal Pedro Pinto Miguel Pinto
2000 La Rochelle	Australia Mathew Belcher Daniel Belcher	Italy Luca Matteo Bursic Thomas Jacob	Greece Mileos Michaelis Theodores Polighrondis
2001 Ravenna	Italy Michel Mazzotti Guilia Mazzotti	Spain R. Medina J. Cerezo	Italy B. Danti F. Geggio
2002 Tavira	India Farokh Tarapore Vikas Kapila	Great Britain Nic Asher Elliot Willis	France Morgan Lagravière Noé Delpech
2003 Hayling Island	Spain José Antonio Medina Onan Barreiros	France Nicolas Duron Sébastian Durand	France Morgan Lagravière Noé Delpech
2004 Mornington	Australia Nathan Wilmot Malcolm Page	Australia Mathew Belcher Rike Ziegelmayer	Australia Nathan Outteridge Ayden Menzies
2005 Brest	Portugal Tomas da Silva Francisco Gomes	Italy Alfredo Capodanno Vittorio Papa	Spain Pablo Santurde Abelardo Quevedo
2006 Las Palmas	New Zealand Carl Evans Peter Burling	New Zealand Simon Cooke Scott Illingworth	France Fernando Lodos Julien Pulve
2007 Auckland	New Zealand Carl Evans Peter Burling	New Zealand Simon Cooke Scott Illingworth	New Zealand Rowan Swanson Bruce Kennedy
2008 Athens	Greece Michalis Mileos Evangelos-Vasileio Mitakis	Greece Vasilis Papoutsoglou Akilas Drougas	Italy Edoardo Mancinelli Scotti Lorenzo de Felice
2009, Lake Garda	Greece Antonios Tsimpoukelis George Karonis	New Zealand Francisco Lardies Finn Drummond	Great Britain Ben Palmer Konrad Weaver
2010, Hafia	Justin LIU (SIN)  Sherman CHENG (SIN)	Francesco FALCETELLI (ITA)  Gabriele Franciolini (ITA)	Edoardo MANCINELLI SCOTTI (ITA)  Leonardo CUCCHIARA (ITA)
2011, Buenos Aires	Pablo VOLKER (ARG)  Agustin CUNILL MARTINEZ (ARG)	Edoardo MANCINELLI SCOTTI (ITA)  Leonardo CUCCHIARA (ITA)	Benjamin Grez (CHI)  Diego Gonzalez (CHI)

Women's

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1998 Galaxidi	Israel K. Kliger V. Buskila
1999 Athens	Greece D. Milona A. Kourkoulou
2000 La Rochelle	Great Britain Christina Bassedone Helen Mayhew	Greece Altana Danezi Evagelia Vlachov	Italy Elena Ziliani Alessandra Marenzi
2001 Ravenna	Italy Elisabetta Sacchegiani Paola Bertone	Italy Sara Postogna Anna Postogna	Italy C. Mariani C. Gabrielli
2002 Tavira	France Caroline Jonet Magali Pallanca	Greece Spiridoula Mileou Sofia Papadopoulou	Brazil Isabel Barzaghi Laura Zani
2003 Hayling Island	Brazil Isabel Barzaghi Laura Zani	Great Britain Charlotte Savage Maia Walsh	Germany Dorothea Gebert Natascha Lorenz
2004 Mornington	Australia Elise Rechichi Tessa Parkinson	Great Britain Lucy MacGregor Nicola MacGregor	France Camille Lecointre Gwendolyn Lemaitre
2005 Brest	Italy Maria Stella Turizio Maria Carolina Rendano	France Marie Lumeau Claire Bossard	Great Britain Maria Stanley Catherine Alton
2006 Las Palmas	Great Britain Hannah Mills Peggy Webster	Spain Tara Pacheco-Van Rijnsoever Elena Barambio	Italy Benedetta Danti Elisa Cecconi
2007 Auckland	New Zealand Jo Aleh Olivia Powrie	New Zealand Shelley Hesson Bianca Barbarich-Bacher	New Zealand Sarah Bilkey Rosie Sargisson
2008 Athens	Greece Katerina Kaitatzidou Sofia Kaitatzidou	Israel Gil Cohen Adva Kremer	Greece Afrodite Kyranakou Elena Nikiforidi
2009 Lake Garda	New Zealand Alex Maloney Bianca Barbarich-Bacher	Italy Camilla Marino Claudia Soricelli	United States Sydney Bolger Caitlin Beavers
2010, Hafia	Roberta Caputo (ITA)  Benedetta Barbiero (ITA)	Morgan Kiss (USA)  Katia Da Silva (USA)	Christina Celli (ITA)  Silvia Morini (ITA)
2011, Buenos Aires	Annabel Vose (GBR)  Megan Brickwood (GBR)	Nadine Bohm (GER)  Monika Lindner (GER)	Maelenn Lemaitre (FRA)  Aloise Retornaz (FRA)

ISAF Youth Worlds

The class has been used for almost all the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships as the two person dinghy for boys and girls. For a couple of years the class was competing for the slot with both the 29er and Laser 2. The Laser 2 is no longer recognised equipment for the youth worlds and the 29er has been recognised separately for the skiff discipline.

Gallery

Participants in US Junior Women's Double-handed Sailing Championship, October 2008.   Mythologies cresting a wave as she heads out from the shore at Brighton, South Australia   420 GBR 39178   420 FRA 51265

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 420 (dinghy)

• Official international class website
• ISAF 420 Microsite
• Official UK class website
• Official Austrian class website
• International 420 Rigging Guide