Welcome to the Banshee Class Web Page

The Banshee is a very fast 13-foot fiberglass sailboat. It was designed by Richard L. Reid. It weighs 120 lbs., and carries 82 square feet of sail. It is very quick, responsive, and fun to sail.

Richard Reid designed the Banshee in 1969. He had been building Flying Juniors which had been winning races. The Sunfish was out, and Richard thought that there was room for a mass-market boat a bit more substantial.

He was a retailer in Foster City, CA. He used the hull shape of the Flying Junior as his model, making a few minor modifications. The first fleets were in Foster City and at the San Jose Sailing Club. These boats were built by Richard Reid himself (his company was known as Marine Plastics.) He began to subcontract construction to Merrysville and Santa Cruz.

Barry Bruch raised venture capital to establish Banshee International, which took over production of the boats (with Richard Reid as VP). They built boats in Santa Cruz (from 1974) and Scotts Valley (from 1982).

Some Banshee drawings: Drawings from Steve Bonham

Click here to see an early brochure on the boat.

An experimental variant, the Griffon, was built by Banshee International. It used very lightweight materials (e.g. carbon fiber), had the same deck, and basically the same hull (with some minor modifications - for example a slightly fuller bow). It weighed 80 lbs! Fifteen were made.

Abbott Boats of Ontario, Canada was licensed to make 500 boats. It isn't known how many they made, or what became of the molds.

The primary Portsmouth Number (D-PN) for the Banshee is 94.3. This number represents the length of time boats take to sail a common but unspecified distance; the numbers are useful for comparing boats (The Laser is 91.3). A smaller number indicates a faster boat. This number was taken from the 1993 compilation of Portsmouth numbers by the United States Sailing Association, as quoted in "A Field Guide to Sailboats", by Richard M. Sherwood.

If your hull still has it's Hull Identification Number ("HIN"), you can determine what it means from this web page: http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/hin.htm.

You may download the proposed new class rules as an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file by clicking here.

Class Rules

Click here to view the Class Rules, scanned/OCR'ed/cleaned up by Steve Bonham.

Lines

If you're interested in making a half-model of the banshee, here is a sketch of the lines:

Maintainence Tips

They have taken over basically all of the equipment from the original manufacturer, and can provide you with just about any part you'd need.

Another source to try is:

Sailing Tips

• Sail the boat flat for maximum speed.
• When beating, center your weight at or slightly forward of the thwart.
• On a non-planing reach or run, move back just aft of the thwart.

Fleet One

A sacramento Banshee fleet was officially organized Feb. 27, 1998 in George Koch's family room...

There was quite a bit of good-natured discussion about what to call the new fleet. After Tom Goodwin suggested "Sacramento Banshee Fleet #1", one of the other bird boaters said, "How about 'National Banshee Fleet #1', while another joked "Why stop there, let's name it 'World Banshee Fleet #1'". After much discussion, the group settled on "Banshee Fleet #1 (Sacramento)", setting a precedent for the development of other such fleets.

For more Banshee information, look at the Banshee Fleet One web page.

(Ed. note: for futher info, check the Folsom Lake Yacht Club Page.)

Owners & Locations

There is now a password-protected page with this information here. Email me (Bryan Bentz) if you're a Banshee owner and would like the password. These addresses are not for further distribution.

Wanted & For Sale

May 17, 2004
For sale (Massachusetts): Banshee #4226, for parts or restoration. Has original mast, sail, dagger board. Rebuilt rudder (does not swing). For anyone who is interested in a restoration project, hull had a tree fall on it during a winter storm and has a crack running through the front quarter. I will be moving soon and I can not take it with me. Question, photos, etc, please feel free to contact Eric at (617) 916-2900

April 12, 2004
Banshee for sale in Santa Cruz, CA. Immaculate Banshee fully rigged with sail and new trailer. Fully race ready, all spars. $1500 obo. Must pick up - 2 inch trailer ball. Call Janet (w) 831-426-8697 or (h) 831-429-8950.

Banshee #1494, 100% race ready. New sail plus original. Compass. Two daggerboards. Smooth bottom. First place, SS # 1, May 00. Second place, Gold Country Regatta.
Sacramento, CA
phllazier@aol.com

Wanted - August 28, 2000
JoeXB12@aol.com is looking to purchase a Banshee in good working condition. He's in the SF Bay Area.

Final Comments

Last update: 06/15/04.