Vanguard 15

The Vanguard 15 is a popular one design racing dinghy designed by Bob Ames. It is a double-handed (two person) monohull sailboat with a sloop rig (one headsail one main sail). Ideally the combined weight of the crew is between 270 lb (120 kg) and 340 lb (150 kg) and both members hike off the boat to keep it flat. Its design allows it to plane while sailing upwind in 12 knots (22 km/h) of breeze or more. Another of the design features of the boat is to be self bailing or self rescuing meaning that if the shallow cockpit of the boat takes on water, large drains in the stern of the boat will allow the water to drain via gravity and with no effort by the crew or need for the boat to be moving to drain.

Vanguard 15

UCLA Marina Aquatic Center V15 sailors approach the leeward gate during Tuesday night racing, Summer 2008.
Development
Designer	Bob Ames
Design	One-design
Boat
Crew	2
Draft	3 ft 2 in (0.97 m)
Hull
Type	Monohull
Construction	Fibreglass
Hull weight	190 lb (86 kg)
LOA	15 ft 3 in (4.65 m)
Beam	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Rig
Rig type	Sloop
Mast length	19 ft 9 in (6.02 m)
Sails
Upwind sail area	127 sq ft (11.8 m2)

Vanguard 15s are often organized into fleets, which hold their own regular weekly racing as well as encourage participants to sail in larger regattas. One example of an active V-15 fleet can be found at Larchmont Yacht Club or the Seattle Yacht Club. Additionally, several Intercollegiate Sailing Association programs such as UCLA Sailing (http://www.macsailing.org/Sailing/index.htm) maintain V-15 fleets. Currently the US Team Racing National Championships are held each year in Vanguard 15s.

The Vanguard 15 class has one of the 10 largest one design national championships in the United States each year. The 2008 championship at Larchmont Yacht Club had 77 boats. The 2010 championship in Newport, Rhode Island had 57 boats.