Optimist Pram is light and cheap but its flat bottom and sprit rig is said 

 to make it very slow in carrying adults to windward. Other boats cost too 

 much or are too heavy. The New England Clamshell pram was considered 

 not buoyant enough to take care of a load of over 120 pounds. Designed 

 by McGregor for the Richmond Yacht Club and San Francisco Bay, El 

 Toro has engaged in comparative test races with a typical Clamshell ( East 

 Coast) pram and has done better, carrying successfully forty more pounds 

 than a Clamshell of the same length and weight because of its slightly 

 greater width, deeper sides, and fatter girth.* 



El Toro has now been in use for about twenty years and there are said 

 to be about fifteen hundred boats, chiefly in California waters. Construction 

 materials are fiber-glass reinforced plastic, with flotation tanks. Hull shape 

 is similar to that of the Naples Sabot and has a hard chine, with a V cross- 

 section. Price is about $400. Write for information on builders, etc., to the 

 El Toro Association (2820 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley 5, Calif.). The Boat 

 Owners Buyers Guide (published by Yachting) has a long list of builders 

 and dealers. Our information came from W. D. Schock Company, a leading 

 builder (501 29th St., Newport Beach, Calif.). 



Whether an adult can be comfortable in an 7' 10" or 8-foot sailing dinghy 

 depends a good deal upon how small and agile he is or on his standards 

 of comfort. For instance, as William A. Smith puts it ( see note below ) : 

 "In the El Toro [a grown man] must sit either a bit too far forward on the 

 raised center thwart, or aft of it on the bottom where a wet stern piece soon 

 results." 



VITAL statistics: L.O.A. 7'io''; beam 3'io"; draft without board 

 down 3V2'', with daggerboard down i'6"; sail area 37 V2 sq. ft.; weight 85 

 lbs. 



ELVSTROM JR. 



Designed by the man whom Yachting has called the "Amazing Paul Elv- 

 strom," Danish winner of four straight Olympic championships, three in the 

 Finn Monotype Class, the 11-foot cat-rigged Elvstrom Jr. was first intro- 

 duced in Denmark in i960. It was developed for boys and girls who have 

 graduated from 8-foot dinghies but are not quite heavy or strong enough 

 for the larger boats, such as the Finn. Here is a boat aimed particularly at 

 one target, though adults would certainly find it more comfortable than 

 an 8-foot pram such as El Toro. Sailing qualities, in some respects, are said 

 to resemble those of the larger Finn. The boat has a planing hull, an un- 



* See 'El Toro vs. Clamshell," by William Allen Smith, Motor Boating, February i960. 

 68 THE SAILBOAT CLASSES OF NORTH AMERICA 



