About
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE RAINBOW SCOW
The Rainbow was designed by R J Hill in Western Australia In 1940. Ron, a Perth yachtsman, really started something when he designed and built a 12 foot skimmer hull, developed from the American Moth class. He called the new craft " Iona" and surprised everyone by easily defeating the champion twelve footers of Perth. Iona's performance impressed local yachtsmen, who promptly obtained plans from Hill and embarked on a building programme, which gave birth to the Rainbow class.
The Rainbow spread to all the southern states and by the 1960's was the most numerous small boat class in Tasmania and South Australia. It was also a popular class in Victoria in the 1960's and 70's National championships were held, a team of six boats from each State competing during the first week of January. Each team contained at least one junior representative (under 18 years on 1st October). Both junior and senior titles were decided over five heats using the Olympic points system. In later years a B division was introduce to grow numbers and allow others to race in a less intense competition.
Many successful yachtsmen began their sailing careers in Rainbows as the main fleet was highly competitive, made more so because young people could build a new hull for themselves at a cost of about $300. In short, they were fast and thrilling to sail, cheap to build, and safe due to their great built-in buoyancy. Rainbows were controlled in Australia by the National Rainbow Council with affiliated clubs in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales, Queensland & Tasmania.
The emergence of fibreglass boats caused a decline in class numbers, but Rainbows are regular participants in the increasingly popular classic dinghy regattas.
The "New Rainbow"
In 2023, the first Rainbow built in New South Wales for many years was launched in Sydney. The boat was constructed using modernised wooden boatbuilding techniques. The frames and key structures were cut exactly using a CNC (Computer Numeric Control) router. This ensured that the hull was dimensionally accurate to the original hull shape. The epoxy adhesive and sealing, combined with a "strongback" girder from bow to centreboard structure allowed for a far lighter structure than traditional techniques.
The modernised Rainbow design offers prospective builders many advantages: -
Constructed using readily available materials,
Freedom to modify the design of the rig and sails to take advantage of maximum sail area,
Absence of complex curves, and a simple hull shape requiring fewer components, making for faster construction,
High initial stability due to the flat bottom, yet overall narrow beam for easy storage.
Follow the resurgence of the class on the following pages of this site and on Facebook.