Indeed, veteran Vanguard builders and Harken associates famously described the Volant as essentially a Flying Dutchman with the back end chopped off. With its low-slung profile, high-aspect rig, and ultra-lightweight construction, it brought the relentless athletic demands of Grand Prix sailing to the domestic racing crowd. Built until 1986—when the boatbuilding business was sold and moved to Rhode Island—the Volant remains one of the most distinctive and rare performance dinghies of its era, highly regarded for its uncompromising speed and exceptional design pedigree.
Design Brief & Intent
The primary mission of the Vanguard Volant was to deliver a pure, unrestricted double-handed racing platform. It was targeted squarely at seasoned, athletic sailors who craved the physical and technical challenges of a high-performance dinghy but preferred an 18-foot overall length. Positioned as a step up from typical domestic club racers of the early 1980s, the Volant offered a level of design sophistication that directly challenged premier international classes like the International 505 and the Thistle. Unlike the heavier, more stable family daysailers of the era, the Volant sacrificed comfort and forgiving behavior in pursuit of raw velocity.
Its construction reflected Vanguard’s top-tier fiberglass layups of the Wisconsin era. The hull was engineered to be exceptionally stiff, utilizing high-quality hand-laid fiberglass to keep the weight of the platform down to a mere 410 pounds. The cockpit layout was incredibly spartan, dominated by a prominent centerboard trunk and highly ergonomic, close-at-hand control systems. Every square inch of the deck was optimized to integrate the Harkens' revolutionary ball-bearing hardware. This focus on premium, low-friction control runs created a highly responsive machine where shroud tension, mast pre-bend, and sail shape could be micrometers-adjusted under load, making the boat an absolute joy for technically minded racers.
Sailing Performance & Handling
The physical sensation of sailing a Vanguard Volant is characterized by explosive acceleration and immense sensitivity to crew input. With an astronomical sail-area-to-displacement ratio of 50.15, the boat functions as a pure planing machine. Even in moderate air, the hull lifts easily onto its lines, breaking free of its bow wave upwind and screaming downwind under its symmetrical spinnaker. The handling is highly athletic and completely unforgiving of mistakes. The helm is razor-sharp; the slightest movement of the outboard rudder yields immediate directional changes, making it critical for the skipper to maintain constant, active steering.
Stability is entirely dynamic, relying on the crew’s weight and position rather than any form of ballast. To keep the boat flat and leverage its massive sail plan, a trapeze system is essential. The crew must be highly coordinated, as a late transition during a tack or a sudden drop in wind speed can easily result in a capsize. The centerboard design allows for excellent pointing ability upwind when fully deployed, while raising the board partially downwind reduces drag to a minimum, letting the boat hit double-digit speeds with ease. Because of this volatile mix of extreme power and light weight, the Volant demands a highly experienced hand and is entirely unsuitable for beginners or casual daysailing.
Deck Layout & Rigging
The deck and rigging layout of the Volant represents a masterclass in early-1980s performance engineering, heavily influenced by Harken's development of high-speed racing blocks. The boat utilizes a fractional sloop rig with a highly flexible aluminum mast and boom. This flexible spars setup allows the crew to actively depower the main by inducing mast bend using a powerful boom vang and adjustable backstay or shroud controls. The jib is typically rigged with a furler, enabling quick depowering during chaotic maneuvers or when coming alongside a dock.
Control lines are routed with extreme precision. Fairleads and cleats are concentrated around the centerboard trunk and along the side tanks, allowing both skipper and crew to adjust the cunningham, outhaul, and vang without losing their footing or compromising their hiking or trapeze positions. The symmetrical spinnaker is launched from a dedicated launcher or turtle bag, requiring precise coordination to pole out and fly. Every hardware placement on the deck was chosen to reduce friction, allowing the crew to make instant, high-load adjustments with minimal physical strain.
Market Snapshot & Legacy 2
The production of the Vanguard Volant ceased in the spring of 1986 when the Harken brothers sold Vanguard's boatbuilding division, shifting their undivided focus to Harken Marine hardware. Today, the Volant occupies a rarefied space on the brokerage market. It is an exceptionally scarce model, commanding a dedicated cult following among dinghy racing purists. Because of its rarity, it rarely changes hands, and when a hull does appear on the market, it often trades at a nominal value compared to modern high-performance skiffs, presenting an incredible performance-per-dollar opportunity for the right buyer.
However, the economics of acquiring a Volant must factor in substantial restoration costs. Given that these boats are now decades old, prospective buyers should expect to completely replace all running rigging, check blocks for UV damage, and likely invest in a new suite of sails, as original sails will have lost all structural integrity. Its legacy remains incredibly secure within the sailing community; the model is considered such a vital piece of company history that a fully rigged Vanguard Volant stands proudly alongside a Vanguard Finn in the central atrium lobby of Harken’s global headquarters in Pewaukee, Wisconsin.
Known Issues & Triage
As with any ultra-lightweight fiberglass racing boat from the 1980s, age and structural stress are the primary concerns when evaluating a Volant. The most common and critical technical issue involves the unbonding of the inner cockpit floor from the hull and the centerboard trunk. Over years of hard racing and the extreme loads generated by the centerboard, this bond can fracture. Once compromised, the floor will flex, reducing the stiffness of the hull and allowing water to collect in the enclosed buoyancy compartments, adding deadweight and presenting a safety hazard. This requires a tedious triage routine of cutting access ports, drying the interior, and re-tabbing the joints with epoxy and fiberglass tape.
Additionally, the deck areas near the shroud chainplates and the mast step must be closely inspected. The extreme rig tension required to sail the Volant can lead to stress cracking, crazing, or localized delamination of the fiberglass skin from its core. The side tanks, which bear the constant impact and leverage of a trapezing crew, are also prone to developing soft spots. Any signs of flex in these high-load zones should be addressed immediately by injecting epoxy or performing localized core replacement to restore the structural integrity of the hull.
The Verdict
The Vanguard Volant is an absolute rocket of a boat, representing a high-water mark of 1980s American dinghy design. It offers pure, unadulterated high-performance sailing that closely mimics the experience of an Olympic-class racer. While it demands athletic, highly skilled operators and meticulous upkeep, it rewards its crew with blisteringly fast planing performance and incredibly responsive handling.
Pros
- Incredibly fast, high-performance planing machine with a massive power-to-weight ratio.
- Legendary build heritage and historical design pedigree associated with the Harken brothers.
- Intricate and highly ergonomic deck hardware layout that allows precise on-the-fly sail adjustments.
- Offers pure, unfiltered helm feedback and a highly rewarding double-handed sailing experience.
Cons
- Extremely demanding and highly unforgiving; totally unsuitable for beginners or single-handed casual sailing.
- Extreme rarity makes locating a hull and finding class-specific rig information highly challenging.
- Prone to age-related hull issues, specifically cockpit floor unbonding and soft spots in high-load areas.
- Requires active, highly coordinated teamwork and physical use of a trapeze to prevent capsizing in a breeze.
