Designers Choice

The Designers Choice is an American sailing dinghy that was designed by Sparkman & Stephens as a sail training and racing boat and first built in 1978. It was Sparkman & Stephens' design #2349.

The Designers Choice was later developed into the Shadow, by making the cockpit longer and deeper and adding internal seating.

Production
The design was built by Howmar Boats in the United States starting in 1978. A total of 1,500 boats were produced, but the company went out of business in 1983 and the boat went out of production at that time.

Design
The Designers Choice is a recreational sailboat, built predominantly of fiberglass. The hull design is flat aft, so the boat will plane. It has a fractional sloop rig with anodized aluminum spars and a loose-footed mainsail. The hull has a slightly raked stem, a vertical transom, a transom-hung, kick-up rudder controlled by a tiller and a retractable centerboard. The forward part of the boat is open, without a foredeck. The aft deck includes a small stowage locker. The cockpit is self-draining. The boat displaces 315 lb.

The boat has a draft of 3.00 ft with the centerboard extended and 5 in with it retracted, allowing beaching or ground transportation on a trailer.

For sailing the design is equipped with an outhaul, boom vang, a Cunningham and a jib window. It is also fitted with foam flotation for buoyancy, hiking straps and may also be optionally equipped with a spinnaker for sailing downwind.

The boat may be fitted with a small outboard motor for docking and maneuvering.

The design has a Portsmouth Yardstick racing average handicap of 101.3 and is raced with a maximum crew weight of 900 lb.

Operational history
In a 1994 review Richard Sherwood wrote, "this is a combination boat, meant for training, racing, or general sailing. The Designers Choice has curved sections forward and is relatively dry. With flat surfaces aft, she planes."