Ensign Specifications
Number of crew 3-4 LOA 22 ft 6 in LWL Waterline length The Waterline length is a measurement of ships and boats. The term denotes the length of the vessel at the point where it sits in the water. It excludes the total length of the boat, such as features that are out of the water... 16 ft 9 in Beam Beam (nautical) The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position... 7 ft (2.1 m) Hull Hull (watercraft) A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...  weight 3,000 lb Sail area (main & jib) 235 sq ft

The Ensign sailboat

Sailboat

A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails. The term covers a variety of boats, larger than small vessels such as sailboards and smaller than sailing ships, but distinctions in the size are not strictly defined and what constitutes a sailing ship, sailboat, or a...

 is the largest class of full keel boats in North America. It was designed by Carl Alberg

Carl Alberg

Carl Alberg was a Swedish born yacht designer known for his influence in early fiberglass boats.- Career :thumb|an Alberg 30, built in 1966...

. Its popularity, rather than declining with the advent of very high performance boats, has been on a major upswing. It has one of the strongest national organizations and support fleets from the East Coast through the Rocky Mountains, with fledgling fleets on the west coast including a fleet in San Diego, CA. The Ensign reigns supreme coast to coast as a one strong one design fleet spanning purposes from family day sailor to one design racing machine.

The Ensign is 22 and 1/2 feet long, weighs about 3,000 pounds, has a draft of 3 foot (0.9144 m) and is best raced with a crew of four. It has no life line

Life Line

A life line is a Neuro-Linguistic Programming concept.Life Line may also refer to:* "Life Line" , episode from the sixth season of Star Trek: Voyager* "Life-Line", Heinlein's first published science fiction story....

s and therefore can be sailed with many dingy tactics such as hiking and roll tacking. It is a comfortable day sailer with a large cockpit. The small two-berth cuddy can be used for close-coast and harbor overnights. Besides a main and working jib

Jib

A jib is a triangular staysail set ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its tack is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bow, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast...

 it can have an inventory of a #1 and # 2 Genoa, a blade and spinnaker

Spinnaker

A spinnaker is a special type of sail that is designed specifically for sailing off the wind from a reaching course to a downwind, i.e. with the wind 90°–180° off the bow. The spinnaker fills with wind and balloons out in front of the boat when it is deployed, called flying. It is constructed of...

. It can be equipped with a roller furling genoa.

The Ensign Class Association promotes Ensign Class racing under uniform One-Design

One-design

One-Design is a racing method where all vehicles or boats have identical or very similar designs or models. It is also known as Spec series. It is heavily used in sailboat racing. All competitors in a race are then judged based on a single start time...

 rules to maintain competitiveness while controlling costs. Ensigns are the largest class of full-keeled, one-design sailboats in the United States.

History

In 1959, Pearson commissioned naval architect Carl Alberg to design a 22 feet (6.7 m) cruiser suitable for racing in the Midget Ocean Racing Club (MORC). His design, called the Electra, was the predecessor of the Ensign.

Pearson dealers John Nichols and Osman Robinson of the Nichols Yacht Yard in Mamaroneck, New York, found many prospective Electra buyers would prefer the boat with a larger cockpit and smaller cabin. They passed the information along to Pearson, who asked Alberg to design a day sailer, suitable for one-design racing, based on the Electra hull. The Electra Day sailer was first built by Pearson Yachts in 1962. It was later renamed the Ensign when the class association was formed to avoid confusion with the Electra MORC racer.

Pearson Yachts

Pearson Yachts

Pearson Yachts was a small manufacturer of fiberglass sailboats built in Bristol, Rhode Island founded by cousins Clinton and Everett Pearson in 1956. The company is one of earliest fiberglass sailboat manufacturers. The Carl Alberg designed Triton 28 launched at the New York Boat Show in January...

 of Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Portsmouth is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,389 at the 2010 U.S. Census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water. Most of its land area lies on Aquidneck...

 built Ensigns from 1962 to 1983. They manufactured 1775 boats. The original molds were sold to the Ensign Class Association when Pearson Yachts went bankrupt. Ensign Spars, Inc. started building new Ensigns in 2001 using the original molds, calling their boats the New Ensign Classic.

The Ensign was inducted into the American Sailboat Hall of Fame in 2002.

External links

• Ensign Class Association
• Ensign Spars New Ensign Classic builder]
• New Pearson Ensign Website
• Sloop
  Sloop
  A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....