Lest we Forget - the glorious International Offshore Rule

by Richard Gladwell on 17 Jun 2011
Remember our interview with leading designer, Greg Elliott a few weeks ago? And the way he spat/spelled out the the racing rules - IOR --- IMS --- IRC. They meant little to someone who designs for performance.

But for others, bending the rule to get the biggest boat for the smallest possible rating occupied many hours, and generated tens or probably hundreds of thousands of dollars in design fees.

Many of the IOR boats, in particular, are on the scrap heap. Some of the sweeter ones remain actively sailed.

But it is in the Quarter Ton class, that we can see the IOR rule in all its glory - with the short boats and often distorted and bumped hull shapes, to persuade the rule that it was 'seeing quite a different boat.

Sail-World's Ben Gladwell strolled around the Cowes waterfront and snapped these images of some of Quarter Tonners hauled out ahead of next month's Coutts Quarter Ton Cup.