NS14
Length: 4.27m (14' 0")
Beam: 1.83m (6' 0")
Sail Area: 9.3m2 (100sqft)
Hull Weight: 64kg (140lb)
PY: 1000 (1075 singlehanded) provisional
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The NS14 is a two person racing dinghy ideally suited to husband/wife and parent/child teams. Small sails, no trapezes and no spinnaker ensure they are easily handled afloat, whilst the light weight hull means they are also easy to handle ashore. The simple yet sophisticated rig, comprising of a rotating wing mast and fully battened sails is superbly efficient. No other dinghy so easy to sail is so fast. NS14s are boats that reward skill and finesse, rather than strength and machismo. So what, exactly, makes the 'Northie' special?
No Kite
Conventional spinnakers are tricky and unappealing to use, not to mention expensive. They tear easily, are difficult to gybe and difficult to trim. Assymetric spinnakers take some of the complexity out, but need to be big to be effective (which can make them hard to hoist and drop), and are not ideal in handicap races or on restricted waters. The highly efficient NS14 rig allows them to reach at speeds equal to similar sized boats, but without the need for a kite. Downwind, the jib can be 'goosewinged' (held out on the other side of the boat to the mainsail), to maximise exposure to the wind, again allowing it to sail as fast as many spinnaker boats.
The lack of spinnaker also makes the NS14 an ideal boat for novice crews, and is therefore a great way to introduce your children or partner to the joys of sailing. Please note though, that this is not a beginners boat and we recommend that the helm (or crew) is a competent sailor.
No Trapeze
The NS14 probably has the smallest sails of any adult dinghy. It is also 6ft (1.80m) wide. There is therefore no need for a trapeze, making it highly manoeuvrable and opening it up to a wider range of people.
Wing Mast
This is what makes the Northie a little bit different. Rare on dinghies, but universally adopted on catamarans, wing masts are rotated to point into the wind. This reduces turbulence on the leeside of the mainsail, reducing drag and increasing lift. The end result is a faster boat that sails closer to the wind.
So why are they not more commonly found on dinghies? Well, to get maximum benefit from a rotating mast (or, more correctly, an over-rotating mast) the mainsail should have a lot of roach, which in turn requires it to be fully battened. Fully battened dinghy sails are a fairly new phenomenon, mainly due to the fact that the extra power of fully-battened, highly roached sails could not be harnessed easily with old sail materials. Catamarans, with their greater stability, were able to harness this power and so took this evolutionary path.
So why is the NS14 different? Firstly, the class has small sails and is therefore always looking for ways to generate more power. It is simpler, from the designers perspective, to simply add more sail area but it is far more elegant to make the most of what you've got. Secondly, some of Australia’s most respected sailors and designers were involved with the class from its very beginning. Unrestricted by the archaic rules of existing development classes and not needing to worry about the budgetary constraints that commercial organisations have, this group of scientists, engineers and naval architects soon began a prolonged series of experimentation, starting from first principles, to create more efficient boats. Details of this development can be found in Frank Bethwaite's excellent book 'High Performance Sailing' - a thoroughly recommended read. This development lead to the production of the much respected Tasar dinghy (which is, in fact, a one-design spin-off of the NS14). Since the Tasar was introduced over 30 years ago, development has continued apace with larger wing sections now the norm and carbon being increasingly used in masts.
Stop Press: Full carbon wing masts are now available from C-Tech and CST.
Small, High-Aspect Ratio Sails
NS14 sails are small. There is probably no adult dinghy with smaller sails. So that should make Northies slow, right? Well, hopefully, you are being convinced that that is not the case. It is our view that small and efficient is better than brute force and ignorance. There are no restrictions on sail shape in NS14s, except that the mast must be no more than 5.5m long. Any combination of jib/main ratios may be used, indeed it is perfectly allowable to only have a jib if you wish. There are very, very few classes in the world that have such freedom on rig development, which is why the Northies have evolved into such efficient boats. Forty years of development has led most in the class to adopt a tall, thin (high aspect ratio) mainsail which is fully battened and virtually rectangular in shape. Aerodynamically this is vastly superior to the near triangular shape that most classes sport. If you are interested in knowing exactly why the NS14 style is better, there is an article in our Technical Discussion section. For now, however, just consider the fact that America's Cup Class yachts and A-Class catamarans and have similar sail shapes. NS14 sails - small, but perfectly formed.
Lightweight Hull
The hull of an NS14 is substantially lighter than most other similar size classes. At 64kg it is fully five stone lighter than a Merlin Rocket, and 2 stone lighter than that idol of the dinghy racing world, the International 14. The maths is simple, lightweight = less drag = more speed. Foam sandwhich construction reduces the amount of heavy fibreglass and resin needed and also results in a stiffer hull. The wing masts used on NS14s operate at a low rig tension, which stress the hull less than conventional rigs. Hulls therefore have a long life span, remaining like new for many years. Carbon and other exotic materials are not required to build strong, light Northie hulls and are therefore banned to keep costs as low as possible.
A Development Class
There have been many new classes in the UK in recent years. But hopefully by now that you'll agree that the NS14 is different. But it is also different because it is a development class. There is no single design of NS, anyone can have a go as long as it meets some fairly simple rules. This has some major benefits. a) The class evolves with time, so does not become outdated b) your boat can be tailored to your personal preferences c) if you don’t like something, you can change it!