Discovery 20

This design was intended for enjoyable day sailing, although there is space below deck for camping gear. There is a 7' by 7' cockpit that is roomy for 4, you sit upright, not sprawled on a trampoline. My 75 year old mother-in-law found the boat very comfortable. The D-20 is quite fast, all up weight of the boat is 527 pounds. Utilizes a daggerboard, rotating aluminum mast and streamlined crossbeams. Wood/epoxy/glass construction.

I really never appreciated how fast the boat was until about 10 years after she was designed when I raced mine in the Wednesday night Y.C. series against a new Newick 24' trimaran (longer, wider, taller rig, new laminate sails). The other boat was sailed by a very experienced sailor and I was expecting to get my butt kicked. During the first upwind leg (in about 8 knots breeze) the Discovery 20 blew everything away, including a fleet of Etchells. I was so impressed I hove to at the weather mark and waited for the other tri to catch up so that I could get a better comparison on the down wind leg (he had a spinnaker I didn't). As expected, I lost some ground here but not really that much, and I could get it all back going upwind.

Discovery has low volume floats, in stark contrast to the more recent tri's. In this size of boat, where you can hike out and the weight of a body or two to windward makes such a large difference, the low volume float seems to work well. The boat is very resistant to capsize. In a severe knock down the leeward float gets punched under water relieving the gust and then pops back up to sail away like nothing happened. To date none have capsized and some Discoverys have sailed a great deal in very windy conditions. Sort of surprising, and somewhat unexpected. I'm NOT claiming that you can't capsize it, only that she's very forgiving. Oh, and she folds for 8'6" wide transport. Plans are available for owner building. Plans cost $295. Complete materials cost with trailer typically under $5,000.