The Lightning is an American sailing dinghy that was designed by Olin Stephens of Sparkman & Stephens, as a one-design racer and first built in 1938. An accepted World Sailing class, the boat is one of the most popular one-design sailing classes in the United States and is also raced in several other countries. The design was developed into a smaller boat, as a trainer for the Lightning, the Blue Jay in 1947.

Production

The design has been built by a large number of manufacturers in the United States and also in Canada. There have been 15,550 boats completed and it remains in production by the Allen Boat Company. In the past it has been built in the US by the Clark Boat Company, Lippincott Boat Works, Nickels Boat Works, Jack A. Helms Co., Lockley Newport Boats, Skaneateles Boat & Canoe, Mobjack Manufacturing, Siddons & Sindle, Lofland Sail-craft, the Eichenlaub Boat Co and WindRider LLC. It was also built in Canada by J.J. Taylor and Sons Ltd. Boats have been delivered complete, sold as kits for amateur construction and also amateur-built from plans.

Design

The Lightning is a recreational sailboat, initially built with wooden plank construction and, since the early 1960s, of fiberglass with wood trim. It has a fractional sloop rig with wooden or aluminum spars. The rig employs a backstay, anchored off center, so as to not impede the tiller. If equipped with a wooden mast it has a jumper stay from the mast head to the spreaders. The hull has a foredeck, with a V-shaped coaming, a raked stem, an angled transom, a transom-hung rudder controlled by a tiller and a retractable centerboard. It displaces 700 lb and carries a class-prescribed maximum of 130 lb in centerboard weight. The boat has a draft of 4.95 ft with the centerboard extended and 5 in with it retracted, allowing beaching or ground transportation on a trailer. For sailing the design is equipped with a 300 sqft spinnaker. Mainsail and jib windows are optional for improved visibility and safety. The design has a Portsmouth Yardstick racing average handicap of 88.4 and is normally raced with a crew of three sailors, although it can accommodate six adults.

Operational history

The boat has an active class club that regulates the design and organizes races, the International Lightning Class Association. By 1994 there were more than 460 racing fleets in Canada, Europe, South America and the United States. In a 1994 review Richard Sherwood noted that the design has good freeboard and stability.

Racing