8th Half Ton Classics Cup at Nieuwpoort, Belgium - Preview

Half Ton Classics Cup at Sport Nautique Saint-Quay-Portrieux 2014 © Fiona Brown / www.fionabrown.com

The 8th Half Ton Classics Cup will take place in Nieuwpoort, Belgium from 17-21 August. This event is for yachts which were built as IOR half tonners with an IOR rating less than 22 feet. The owners are permitted to modify their masts, keels and sails, but they must retain the original hull shapes.

Most of the Half Tonners were built as prototypes, many being built by amateurs in back yards and in sheds. If a design proved to be successful, the boat builders obtained approval to put the design into production for sale to the public. Most of the prototypes have very minimal accommodation, while the production boats often had the cockpits reduced in size and the internal accommodation improved.

In recent years the event has been sailed under IRC handicap system which assumes that an older boat is slower, and is therefore given a more beneficial handicap known as age allowance.

Many of the boats have been modified in recent years. The most frequent modifications are:

1. Deeper keels sometimes with lower centre of gravity. (Keels without a bulb are currently favoured under IRC.)
2. Swept back spreaders and omission of runners.(Runners are penalised under IRC.)
3. Larger spinnakers. Some carry masthead spinnakers which are preferred by boat owners who sail on windward leeward courses.
4. Reducing weight. A carbon mast will always be quicker than an aluminium mast.
5. Non-overlapping jibs, which can sometimes be difficult to get optimum speed in light weather.

Who is going to win the championship for the Half Ton Classics Cup?

The Half Ton Classics Cup has been held previously in Nieuwpoort in 2003 and 2009 and on both occasions the winner was General Tapioca, which is a highly modified and well sailed Berret boat which loves both light and heavy weather. No prediction of the outcome can be made without putting money on this one at least for a place.

Two Irish boats also look good, they are the Humphrey designed Harmony and Checkmate XV. Both are carefully prepared with IRC handicaps as low as they can legally achieve. Checkmate XV 's crew has always done well in this event when sailing King One. However they seem to seek out the wrong sort of luck, having been the victim of black flags and damaged rigs in previous events. The team on Harmony are all young. Do they have what it takes to win the event? Only if they keep their cool, and don't drink to much of that great Belgian beer!

Other than these three there are many great English, French and Belgian sailors waiting for the opportunity to lift the trophy.

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