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Displaying items by tag: FIRST 45

French Manufacturer Beneteau, the world's largest production yacht builder is celebrating success in December's Sydney-Hobart race.

Following the historic success of 2009 when two FIRSTs occupied the first two places in the overall IRC and ORC rankings, the 2010 race has seen another Beneteau double as two Firsts won their class in the 600-mile offshore fixture.

True to its reputation, the 2010 race took place in extreme conditions with winds reaching 45 knots and the suspense maintaine right to the end.

The well-named FIRST 45 Victoire won the race in IRC2. The FIRST 40 Paca was the winner in IRC3.

The Irish agent for Beneteau is BJ Marine.

Published in Offshore

About Quarter Tonners

The Quarter Ton Class is a sailing class of the International Offshore Rule racing the Quarter Ton Cup between 1967 and 1996 and from 2005 until today.

The class is sailed by smaller keelboats of similar size and is likely the world's most-produced keelboat class.

The Ton, Half, Quarter, etc. 'classes' were each given a 'length' and yacht designers had almost free rein to work the hull shapes and measurements to achieve the best speed for that nominal length.

The Ton Rules produced cranky and tender boats without actual downwind speed. Measurement points created weird, almost square hull shapes with longish overhangs.

They were challenging to sail optimally and lost value very quickly as any new wrinkle (e.g. 'bustles') to take advantage of the rule made older boats very quickly uncompetitive.

Although its heyday was 30 years ago, the boat class continues to make its presence felt by holding its own in terms of popularity against some fern race fleets.

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