5.5 metre rule
The Origins and Birth of the 5.5 Metre Class Dave Hollom
5.5 Metre Class Rule evolved out of a rivalry between two rating rules and two yachting associations. Part of this article was first published in Seahorse Magazine in March 2005, issue number 301.
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looks at how the
he origins of the 5.5 Metre Class are interesting because the rule to which they are designed was originally conceived as a rule for full size sailing craft but was not initially used for that purpose. It was instead used as a rule to promote international model yacht racing but it did finally revert to its original purpose, as a rule for full size sailing, with far reaching consequences. The story involves two rival yachting associations, two rival rating rules, two of the pre-eminent yachting journalists and administrators of the day, and in one way or another, the leading yacht designers from both sides of the Atlantic. It also involved what seems like a fair amount of sibling rivalry. The story starts at the turn of the last century when yachting authorities on both sides of the Atlantic were desperately searching for a rating rule that would treat equitably boats of varying sizes. (Sounds familiar). It is quite obvious, even to the casual observer that a good big-un will
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always beat a good little-un. Indeed, if almost any sort of rating rule had been used when the schooner America won her famous race round the Isle of Wight back in 1851 we would not now be racing for the America’s Cup but for the Aurora’s Cup (doesn’t have quite the same ring does it) for America was a 170-ton schooner and Aurora only a 47–ton cutter and Aurora finished only 8 minutes behind. Any fair handicapping system would have placed Aurora miles ahead. Forget the hollow waterlines and flat cotton sails and any of the other reasons that observers gave for America’s supposed superiority. She won because she was bigger. Under a handicap system she would have been beaten fair and square. Rating Rules Yachting, on this side of the Atlantic, had been, since about 1880, through a number of rating rules that had not produced the results desired by their architects. These were: from 1881-6, the Yacht Racing Association (YRA) “1730” Rule, from 1887-1895, Dixon Kemp’s Length and Sail Area Rule, from 1896-1900, the First Linear Rating Rule and from 1901-06, the Second Linear Rating Rule, culminating in 1906 with the First International Rule which survived until 1919. On the other side of the Atlantic the Seawanhaka rule, a length and sail area rule, adopted by the Seawanhaka Yacht Club in 1882 and widely, though not universally, used throughout North America, had similarly, in 1902, been superseded by the New York Yacht Clubs Universal Rule. (See panel for details of all the rating rules mentioned). The main architect of the Universal Rule was Nathaneal Herreshoff and it was the first rating rule to include displacement as a variable within the rule. It also included a
