470 (dinghy)

The 470 (Four-Seventy) is a double-handed monohull planing dinghy with a centreboard, Bermuda rig, and centre sheeting.

Equipped with a spinnaker, trapeze and a large sail-area-to-weight ratio, it is designed to plane easily, and good teamwork is necessary to sail it well.

[1] The 470 was designed by the Frenchman André Cornu in 1963 (four years after the 420, its smaller sister) as a modern fibreglass planing dinghy to appeal to sailors of different sizes and ages.

The optimal weight of the combined crew ranges between 110 and 145 kg, making it a suitable boat for men, women and youth teams.

[citation needed] The 470 may be raced in a mixed fleet of boats, its performance being adjusted by the Portsmouth Yardstick handicapping scheme.

The class design may evolve, but its intent is to use proven, economical, and environmentally sound materials, currently fibreglass with integral buoyancy tanks for the hull.

2008 470 World Champions Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving sailing upwind.