The Charleston Snipe Fleet, Fleet 52, is home of one of the finest one-design dinghies in the world. We are passionate about our class and our boats. Take a look around our site and you'll see why the class's official motto is “Serious Sailing, Serious Fun”®
The Snipe is the oldest active one-design racing class in the world, and has a 700+ member following in the US. There are 58 fleets in the US and over 30 fleets internationally. The class has an excellent, highly-structured leadership and as a result is still growing while many classes are shrinking.
It is a technical boat with a plethora of "strings to pull", a mast that can be tuned on the fly, a whisker pole for the jib, and hard chines for quick planning. Its wide range of tuning makes it a fun boat to sail in all winds, and offers a continual challenge so one is always learning. The class draws crew of all ages, and features participants from 7 to 70 years old. It is a good family-friendly fleet with many venues offering daycare, separate awards for top husband and wife teams, and many parent/child teams at each event. The “one-design-ness” of the boat still holds true with many competitive molds from the 70's and 80's to brand new hulls still being produced today.
The Snipe at a Glance
LOA: 15' 6" LWL: 13' 6" Beam: 5" Draft: 3' 3" (board down) Total Sail Area: 128 sq ft Min Weight: 381 lbs Crew: 2
