Classes
The class is the main focus of IMOCA. As the names imply, this class is "open", meaning that it does not represent fixed boat designs; instead, they are defined by a "box rule" which permits any design, as long as it meets certain restrictions. The restrictions limit the lengths of the boats and place certain safety requirements on the boats, such as minimum stability requirements. This class is recognised by the International Sailing Federation.
Boats are typically light and high-powered, with large sail-plans. Typically consisting of large carbon-fibre shells, there are few concessions to comfort.
Read more about this topic: International Monohull Open Classes Association
Famous quotes containing the word classes:
“There are two classes of men called poets. The one cultivates life, the other art,... one satisfies hunger, the other gratifies the palate.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What’s the greatest enemy of Christianity to-day? Frozen meat. In the past only members of the upper classes were thoroughly sceptical, despairing, negative. Why? Among other reasons, because they were the only people who could afford to eat too much meat. Now there’s cheap Canterbury lamb and Argentine chilled beef. Even the poor can afford to poison themselves into complete scepticism and despair.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“There are three classes into which all the women past seventy that ever I knew were to be divided: 1. That dear old soul; 2. That old woman; 3. That old witch.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)