International Six-Metre Association

Modern Six-Metre's Newsletter No. 1
(First Revise, 13th December 2005)

Tim Street

e-mail address:- timstreet@tiscali.co.uk
Tel No. 00-44-1548-857612

Introduction

Some twelve years ago I started producing a small annual Newsletter about Classic Six-Metres, initially for the information and interest of British Classic Six-Metre owners, to let them know what the other boats in the British fleet were doing and to help both existing and new owners with their boats and advise on repairs and restorations. As a result of this circulation of information, owners started to take considerable interest in what other owners were doing and it thus lead to a major interest in the upgrading of British boats. Some time later, I was asked by Matt Cockburn of Seattle, owner of Buzzy III, if he could see it and then if he could publish it on the North American International Six-Metre Web Site. After initial publication, interest in the locating and restoration of old Six-Metres expanded fantastically and world-wide many owners and new owners started taking a proper interest in their old boats and in the tracking down and the restoration of other "classics". From a basis of perhaps some 80 - 90 active old boats in racing condition in around 1985, mostly based in Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Long Island Sound and Seattle, there are now some 271 "Classics" in racing condition around the world, with at least another 10 - 12 known to be undergoing major restoration. However, this tremendous growth has been to the detriment of the "Moderns", which has resulted in a serious imbalance, with very little recent progress amongst the modern boats; indeed only four new boats would appear to have been built (or re-built) around the World within the last twelve years.

This Newsletter is started in an effort to provide a news forum for those interested in "Modern" Six-Metres and, to assist with providing information and encouraging people to take more interest in the class and progress it upwards and onwards.

At Appendix A, I have appended an initial list of all known "Modern" Six-Metres, showing, as far as my information extends, where they are and what they are. It must be accepted that this information is entirely based on personal research and thus will undoubtedly contain errors, although I have been advised and helped by three great modern Six-Metre designers, Ian Howlett, Peter Norlin and Pelle Petterson. For anyone who might be interested in joining this exciting and forward looking class, I have also noted both my e-mail address and telephone number at the head of this Newsletter and I will be very pleased to take and try to answer any enquiries at any time (although preferably not after 2300hrs, at my wife's request).

What is a "Modern" Six-Metre (or a Classic?)

While the terms "Classic" and "Modern" are used throughout the current Six-Metre fleets, the beginnings and use of these terms may not be known or understood by many, so perhaps a short background explanation is necessary. In short, a Classic Six-Metre is one built before 31st December, 1965 and a "Modern" is one built after that time. Considerable research by Matt Cockburn in Seattle, where the split originally occurred has not, as yet, explained the exact reason behind the split, although it is believed that it came about with the introduction of the first modern generation metre-boat, the Twelve-Metre "Intrepid" in 1966, which was genuinely faster. With her design, Olin Stephens used the concept of separating the keel and rudder, which he had tried successfully on ocean racers, in particular on Dick Carter's "Rabbit" on which he had also installed a trim tab, with the aim of cutting down the leeway due to the less lateral resistance caused by the shorter keel. This concept proved to be a leap forward in Metre boat design and, in one bound, outclassed all previous Metre boats.

However, the great leap forward in modernization and speed about that time was really due to the efforts of three people, John Taylor in Australia, Eustace "Sunny" Vynne in Seattle and Willi Lehmann in Berlin.

John Taylor had become interested in the class in the 1960s and bought KA 1 Yeoman II, racing her in particular in matches against KA 2 Venger. One day Sunny Vine from Seattle, the then USA Six-Metre Champion with May Be VII, visited John Taylor and suggested that they hold an international competition in neutral waters, subsequently to be known as the American-Australian Challenge Cup. After much discussion, the St. Francis Yacht Club agreed to run the races on San Francisco Bay. In 1969 John Taylor's new Olin Stephen's designed modern Six, Toogooloowoo IV was therefore shipped to San Francisco by Quantas Airways and raced a series of match races in that July against Goose from Seattle, which had won the US trials. The USA won the competition in the last race. As a result, the San Franciscans became very interested in Six-Metres and bought Toogooloowoo IV, renamed her St. Francis IV and shipped her to Australia for the November 1970 challenge, which was won in her by Tom Blackaller against John Taylor's new Stephens Six, Toogooloowoo V.

However, it was the 1970 S & S Twelve-Metre, Valiant whose design lead the way to the subsequent S & S Sixes, all rather heavy boats with a low sail area.

The Australians and Americans then built a number of new Sixes including, in 1975 the very advanced but not very successful design concept by Paul Elvstrom and Jan Kjaerulff, K A 9 Prince Alfred (now SUI 60 La Difference), for the Prince Alfred Yacht Club in Australia, with her experimental bulb-bow. This spurt lead directly to the formation of ISMA and the building of new Sixes in a number of European countries, but initially mainly in Sweden.

Over the same period at least four Sixes were built in Europe between 1968 and 1972, with the same split keel and rudder configuration, three of them by Willi Lehmann on the Muggelsee in Berlin, in the Eastern Zone. These were G 20 Michel, G 47 Ayesha and G 49 Courage which, together with Z 48 Boree for Dr. Rohner at Teufan on the Bodensee, may be said to have formed the start of modern Six-Metres in Europe. These, although beautifully built and quite fast in their time, are now somewhat outdated.

In 1973 some enthusiasts at the Puget Sound Six-Metre Association organised the first World Cup (later revised in 1978) for the Six-Metre Class in Seattle, with the aim of building on the Am-Aus Trophy momentum and breathing new life into the class. This first World Cup was won by Tom Blackaller in St. Francis. Subsequently, the steady output of modern fibreglass Sixes in Sweden, initially mostly designed by Peter Norlin, together with a number of other new boats in the USA by Gary Mull and Doug Peterson, lead to the re-birth of the Class as a major international class, so that by the 1977 World Cup in Marstrand, which was won by Pelle Petterson in S 91 Irene, his first Six-Metre design, 13 out of the 21 entries were modern Six-Metres, with Mats Berglund in May Be IV being the top pre-1960 boat in 9th place.

At the next World Cup, held in Seattle in 1979, there were 17 modern boats out of 25 entries. For these championships, which were again won by Pelle Petterson, this time in S 97 Irene II, his second Six design (now GBR 100 Creme), a new trophy, The Djinn Trophy, was presented for the first placed "old boat", or "Senior Six" in the World Championships fleet and was won by Ylliam VIII, just ahead of Paul Longridge's Saga. At that time "Old Boat" meant yachts built before 1960.

In 1981 Erik Maxwell had Kirlo, designed by Ian Howlett, built which proved to be the by far the fastes boat in that year's uncompleted World Championships on Lake Constance. She may be said to be the boat that "defined modern best proportions of sail area and weight" and is still widely considered to be perhaps the prettiest Modern Six.

During this period, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, who was a great enthusiast for the class, very much helped it's re-establishment throughout Europe and especially in England, until he moved on to Eight-Metres. He had a series of Sixes named Gitana built. He started with Z 59 Gitana; next he had the Pelle Petterson designed Z 77 Gitana Junior, now named Fleau built, followed by F 107 Gitana Jnr. later Battlecry (now FRA 107 Tsigane) and Z 78 Gitana, a beautiful wooden S & S design. He also arranged for very considerable supporting sponsorship by Hennessy, while in England Erik Maxwell supplied great assistance to the fledgling British class by arranging sponsorship by The Famous Grouse Whisky firm.

In 1985, Ben Lexcen added a winged keel to the Ed Dubois designed Pacific Highway, which was not a success and it was not until Ian Howlett produced his first winged keels in 1987, that they were proved to be very much faster, particularly in winds of Force 3 and above.

It was in 1984/85 and against all advice that two Dragon sailors from Cowes, Tim Street and Tim Russell, bought Doug Peterson's Razzle-Dazzle from Philip Beck and Roger Hill, who had previously also owned Mena and Thistle, which they had raced against each other. Thus after a gap of thirty years, the British fleet was re-started by their organising the first ever British Open Championships, at Cowes in June 1985, in which four modern and two old-boats took part. As a direct result of this, to encourage the restoration and upgrading of old boats in England, in 1987 it was decided to re-name the old, pre-1965 boats as "Classics", to encourage their owners to restore and modernise them. For the 1988 European Championships therefore, the boats were, for the first time, listed as "Moderns" and "Classics", with The Famous Grouse Whisky, the event sponsors, providing a prize for the "Classics", which was won by Tom Richardson in Thistle. This was continued at the 1994 Europeans at Benodet, France, but it believed that it was not until the 1995 Worlds at Sandhamn that two separate starts were introduced for the first time.

Since then of course, the Classics have taken over, with very few new, modern Sixes being built. Indeed, it is believed that only Junie in Denmark and Juliane Hempel's two boats, Kontrapunkt V and her new boat in Berlin, in Germany have been new builds.

Quo Vadis?

Where are the Moderns to go now? One major problem is that those boats built between 1965 and 1976, of which there are about 15, are at present outclassed, whilst the later ones, built between 1977 and 1982 are also at present mainly outclassed, but in their cases much due to their lack of wings. Indeed, a detailed study of regatta results from 1973-1979 shows that most of those boats built between 1968 and 1976, although some are beautifully built in wood, are quite clearly not as fast as the faster classics. It is therefore suggested that perhaps consideration should be now be given both by the Moderns and by the Classics Committee, to trialling them against the classics, to see if they might be included as such and the change-over date adjusted in their favour to, say 31 Dec 1976.

In the case of the 1977 to 1982 moderns, they could probably be brought up to a good competitive standard by the fitting of up-to-date winged keels and/or rudders, but consideration ought now to be given to their plight, including perhaps the introduction of some sort of handicap system between the two sets of moderns, the pre-1982 boats perhaps being re-named "First Series Moderns".

However it has also been confirmed by a study (by he Chairman of the ISMA Technical Committee and Scott Rohrer amongst others), that the15 boats built between 1969 and 31st December 1976, are not comparatively very fast and, indeed as late (or early) as 1979, these pre-1977 boats were not performing any better then the pre-1965 boats. Some of them, Gosling, Astree, Goodwood and Toowoogooloo IV in particular, actually appeared to be slower than some of the earlier boats, even when they were new.

The position seems to change by 1977/79 when the moderns became much faster, even before winged keels. Even so, in 1988 at Falmouth, K 72 Thistle, a 1948 David Boyd, came 8th out of 28 in the Europeans in heavy weather, beating 17 Moderns.

When the Djinn Trophy was introduced for the "Old Boats" in 1979, the cut off date was 1960. When England introduced "Classics" to buck up the old boats in 1987/88, the cut-off date was set at 1965, to take account of the revolution introduced by the Sparkman & Stephens Twelve-Metre 'Intrepid'. Since the break is self-imposed, would it perhaps be an idea to consider raising the break date to 31st December 1976? Certainly it is suggested that such a proposal might be studied and perhaps trialled for a year, particularly in Sweden.

The fifteen old "Moderns" affected would be:-KA 6 Toogooloowoo IV 1967; FRA 69 Astree, 1969; GER 49 Courage VI 1969; GER 86 Gosling 1971; NED 20 Goodwood 1971; USA 100 St. Francis V 1973; KA 8 Pacemaker 1973; GBR 82 Razzle-Dazzle 1975; SWE 76 Suncraft 1975; SUI 71 Winchala 1975; SUI 60 La Difference 1975; USA 106 St. Francis VI 1975; SWE 81 Suncraft II 1976; SWE 83 Fastasch 1976; and SWE 84 Fraganita 1976.

At the very least, it might encourage the owners to bring their boats out to race a bit.

Modern Designers

Since the introduction of the modern Six-Metres, successful design has been in the hands of five main designers:
Olin Stephens.
Peter Norlin.
Gary Mull.
Pelle Petterson.
Ian Howlett.

Between them, they have produced by far the majority of successful post 1970 designs. This is not to say that they are alone, as Doug Peterson has designed at least two boats, Razzle-Dazzle and Ah Si Si and, more recently, Stephen Jones and Juliane Hempel have also designed boats, with David Hollom redesigning major changes to Shadow VI.

Strengthening the Class

It is believed that the time has come when we should all be looking ahead and Edmond Capart (Mirage) of Monaco, who has been much involved with CIM in the past, is very keen to project the class forward into the future, to encourage more international competitive racing and the building of new, advanced Six-Metres. To this end, he has proposed the introduction of a new club or international challenge trophy, somewhat similar to the old One Ton Cup; his belief is that, in addition to the beautiful fleet of Classics, it is only the construction of new Six-Metres which would provide success for the class.

As he says, from his experience with the classic yacht environment, we regularly hear about the lack of adrenaline provided by the lack of real, first past the finishing line races, due to the necessary handicap system. These people represent a fantastic potential for the Six-Metres and we should get them interested. To attract them a few things must happen though. We must develop our image of "legendary metre-class, racing machines". We must be perceived to be "gentlemen and maintain fair play", while still being competitive and above all provide the environment where we will all have the best time (why spend the money if not??).

It will be by attracting new people that the class is going to move forward and, if we attract the right people, we will create the possibility of getting sponsors involved. Sponsors and sponsorship are not enough by themselves to get things moving and improve the quality but they are a great catalyser and that will be immediately beneficial to the whole class. We must promote more potential owners outside of the present elite group of owners.

Among other things that he sees as being essential is to organise cost-effective transport for the Sixes, to increase their international participation. His view is that for this we must try to ease the organisation of transport and find creative solutions to reduce the cost.

We need to try to provide proof that, on occasions, a well-designed and well-sailed classic with a good crew can challenge a Modern. We do know that this can be done on occasions in light weather. However, above Force 2 or 3, wings provide the Moderns with too much speed upwind.

He believes that two actions are necessary to achieve this; firstly put together the best crew, the "dream team" of sailing, on a very well designed and well prepared Classic and secondly to organise on occasions "Handicap" regattas, which will also be beneficial to the older Moderns!! It may be of interest to note that this suggestion has been trialled successfully on several occasions in England

Communication is seen by him as the key to the development of the Six-Metre class and that is precisely what Edmond is proposing to focus on. He does not intend to work in opposition to any existing initiative and he will collaborate with anyone else as much as possible, although without becoming involved in politics.

His first goal was to get an article written and published in Monaco about the Sixes, directly targeted at the owners of Classic Yachts. It was harder than he expected but it has finally been done and published recently in the magazine "La Passion Bleue", produced by the Yacht Club de Monaco. From that experience Edmond discovered that he can really help journalists to talk about the class and therefore he is putting together a press kit and a database of usable pictures. He also plans to create a brochure or leaflet that describes our Club- Commodores etc, so they can indirectly promote us. Two other essential marketing tools which he suggests are also needed are a calendar and a cheapish but spectacular picture book about Six-Metres, to be distributed by owners to their entourages (Christmas presents) and clubs. Edmond will also be working on this if it is not already being done.

For the International Six-Metre Challenge Trophy mentioned previously, Edmond and Hans Oen have both lexplored recovering the old One Ton Cup but have come to the sad conclusion that the current involvement of K-Yachting and the Cercle de Voile de Paris make it impossible to get it back for the Six-Metre Class.

Edmond believes that the resources, image and the capacity to attract luxury sponsors by Yacht Club de Monaco, provide a great opportunity for initiating such a challenge. The Yacht Club is interested and Edmond has a green light to follow this project. If this challenge can also be constructed in such a way as to
promote the image of Monaco then it matches the Yacht Club de Monaco's mission and thus gives access to its support. To achieve this, he believes that a new, modern Six-Metre "made in Monaco" is what is needed to provide the opening competition rather than importing a top-class existing boat from another country.

His view is that we therefore need to attract people with deep pockets and thereby attract BIG sponsors for this proposed big event and his recommended approach is that the Class should target clubs rather than individuals, which would provide more coverage for the sponsors. If the proposed Trophy is designed as a challenge between yacht clubs it should help to reinforce members cohesion and thus makes it attractive to Club commodores. More than just a race it must be a project over time (finance, yacht designer, building, training, and the race) thus giving sponsors exposure over a longer period. Edmond would propose to link this event with the launch of the new Monaco Yacht Club (2007), a big project designed by Sir Norman Foster, which will get a lot of media coverage. In combination with this event, Edmond would propose to organize several regattas with one happening once a year in Monaco, focusing in particular on a high level and luxury image.

If we can offer owners such an exclusive challenge with a very high level of service and, in addition, they can race in the Regate Royale, the World
Championship or the European Championship, then we will really become to be more widely seen as an attractive class. After all the Sixes are a cheaper and much nicer and more competitive class than many other more modern classes.

A "Moderns" Committee?

Since the first publication in 1993 of the first Classic Newsletter and the subsequent formation in 1998 of the ISMA Classics Committee, interest has been raised in restoring Classics, to such an extent that there are very few un-restored Classics left in the World, so much so that it would seem that the time has come for the class to concentrate on the "Moderns". One proposal put forward is the formation of an "ISMA Modern's Committee", to locate unused boats and encourage owners to update them and either take part in racing, perhaps under some handicap system, or to put their boats up for sale to new, possibly more impecunious owners.

It would seem therefore that a "Moderns Committee" is now required to promote, encourage and organise the Moderns, headed up by a keen, vigorous chairman and to produce future Modern's Newsletters. If anyone would like to volunteer to take on this project, please let Bernard Haissly, or myself know.

Improving First Series/Transition Sixes

It must be accepted that, from it's first introduction, all the International Rule Metre Classes, but perhaps especially the International Six Metre Class, were development classes and thus outmoding is part of their natural progress and indeed, their planned process. Inevitably, as with all restricted rule classes, older boats will become outdated. However, as we have all seen in the Classics, it is not necessarily inevitable that older boats should be discarded and certain things may be done to improve performance and bring the older Moderns, especially the 1970-1979 boats, up to a reasonably competitive standard, without the high cost of building a new boat. It is believed that there are some 22 of these older "First Series" Sixes in existence which have been taken out of racing, but which could be looked at with a view to improving their performances enough to make them fairly competitive and at least give their owners, or possibly younger enthusiasts, the opportunity to get racing and have fun. If their current owners do not wish to do this, perhaps they might consider selling them, comparatively cheaper, to younger and less affluent owners rather than leaving them unused.

It must be more widely understood that almost any boat in the period in question could benefit from fitting a new keel (preferably a winged keel) and/or rudder.

The former can provide more stability and better hydrodynamics but such a change could be comparatively expensive - say £12,000 (Euros 17,500 approx). However, it should be more widely understood that, if one obtains a suitable design for a new winged keel from an established designer and undertakes the work oneself, as been done in a number of cases by Classic owners carrying out restorations of much older boats, then costs can be very substantially reduced.

Another substantial improvement would be the installation of a new full depth rudder, which again would much improve both handling and hydrodynamics the tank suggests gains very close to having wings on a keel. It is estimated that the cost of such a new rudder could be in the region of £2000 (Euros 2920) for a professional design and new blade, which may mean the necessity for new bearings in addition. However, again a home built rudder could be produced at a much lower cost.

I believe that a number of designers would be pleased to advise on this and if anyone would like to consider it, please contact me and I will advise on who might be prepared to be consultants.

Fleet News

Despite the existence in the World of around 100 modern Six-Metres, sadly there are really only five fleets which include modern Six-Metres. These are:-

Sweden
Germany - Bodensee
Switzerland - Bodensee
Switzerland-Lac Leman
England-Solent
North America-Puget Sound.

In addition to these fleets there are still some three boats based in and around St. Tropez in France which, it is hoped might form the basis of a new fleet there.

In order to prepare these notes some 36 potential correspondents were e-mailed and am pleased to say that at least three have replied, so I must apologise for any paucity of information.

Sweden

With around some 33 modern Six-Metres in Sweden, they have by far the largest fleet in the World, indeed to all intents and purposes, more than the rest of the world put together. Of these, at least 16 are known to be in full racing condition since that number took part in this year's World Championships at Sandhamn, of which the top Swedish boats were SWE 115 May Be XIV (Patrick Fredel and Christer Salen) in fourth place, with SWE 133 Jungfrun (Peter Norlin) in fifth place and SWE 100 Sea Travel (Bo Gustavsson) at sixth.

Other boats known to be active include, SWE 101 Marilyn; SWE 110 Ah Si Si; SWE 114 Notorius; SWE 120 Carina; SWE 121 Berta; SWE 123 Sting; SWE 124 Blue Bird: SWE 125 Delphina; SWE 127 Blade; SWE 129 New Sweden; SWE 134 Evelina and SWE 135 Gubbrora.

Unfortunately, due to lack of response it has not proved possible to report further, other than that they ran a wonderful World Cup this year.

Germany

Germany boasts some nine modern Sixes, of which six are based on the Bodensee, at Bottighofen and Romanshorn, with two in Berlin, Torsten Dornberger's beautifully restored Toogoowooloo IV and now, it is understood, Juliane Hempel's new build, of which nothing is known. In addition, Dieter Grunau has his new boat GER 118 Courage IX, with which he won the World Championships at Sandhamn this year, a wonderful performance as he has been so close before. It is believed that this is the first time that Germany has won the World Championships, although in 1980, Otto Muller won the European Championships at Geneva in G 51 Michel (ex S 97 Irene II; now GBR 100 Creme), with Werner Fretz runner-up in G 50 Ayesha III.

Switzerland

Switzerland boasts fourteen modern Sixes, of which five are based on the Bodensee, six on Lac Leman at Geneva and Lausanne and two, Temptation II and Temptation III, both owned by Beat Furrer, based in effect on Lac Thun near Berne. The Swiss Championships are held on either the Bodensee or Lac Leman on alternate years. With the ISMA President based at the Geneva Yacht Club with his top boat SUI 77 Fleau, racing on Lac Leman is very serious and regattas take place at various venues around the lake, including Lausanne, Versoix and Rolle. Bernard Haissly and Fleau have of course won both the Worlds and the Europeans a number of times.

England

England also has some fourteen modern boats, of which eight are, or will be, active in England. These are GBR 86 Scoundrel I, just returned to England from France; GBR 89 Battlecry, owned by John Prentice who had much to do with helping to re-form the British fleet in 1984/85 and now raced very successfully for him by Richard and Ben Clothier, who came a very close second to Courage IX in this year's World Championships; GBR 90 Lion, Tony Canning & Robert Leigh-Wood, which is returning from Coggelin for the next season; BAH 1 Conch Fritters owned by Robert Leigh-Wood, the BISMA Chairman; GBR 99 Georgia, Tom Richardson;GBR 100 Cream; GBR 102 Bear, owned by Rees Martin, the Class Secretary; GBR 105 Tempest, now under modernisation by Avia Willment and HKG 2 Thisbe and USA 106 St. Francis VI.

In addition GBR 81 Kirlo is currently laid up, while GBR 82 Razzle-Dazzle is undergoing a major refit and modernisation for Andrew Thomas, with the latest Ian Howlett designed winged keel. In addition, GBR 93 Shadow VI, originally designed by Derek Clark and the Blue Arrow Team in 1988 but totally redesigned by David Hollom and rebuilt in 1998, although little used since then, together with GBR 97 Scallywag, originally USA 114 Perspicacious, a 1979 Gary Mull, are both seriously FOR SALE. The owner of Shadow VI is now no longer able to sail her again and is seeking offers.

North America, Puget Sound

Matt Cockburn, owner of the beautiful S & S classic Six Buzzy III, has been steadily rebuilding the North American Fleets following on the pioneering work of Kimo Mackey and has organised a very serious mixed Classic and Moderns fleet, based at Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound, where there are now five serious modern Sixes: CAN 37 Frenzy, owned by Eric Jesperson; USA 119 Sockeye, owned by Past Mitchell; USA 122 Capriccio, owned by Roger Ivie; USA 123 Finnegan, owned by Andy Parker and KA 8 Pacemaker, owned by Robert O'Neil. Sadly, all the other modern Sixes in the USA are spread about, with just two in Newport Harbour, California. However, Hans J. Oen, who owns USA 108 St. Francis VII, is hopefully in the process of putting together a new East Coast fleet, in preparation for the 2009 World Championships at Newport, Rhode Island.

France

Until quite recently, there were a number of very good modern Six-Metres racing as a fleet in southern Brittany, mostly based around Benodet. Sadly, this fleet has now been dispersed, with two boats at least going to England, leaving only some six boats spread around the country. .

Those left are FRA 69 (ex G 53) Astree on the Ile de Noirmoutier, with a further three boats, FRA 106 Warhorse, owned by Jean-Pierre Gourio, based at Rennes, FRA 107 Tsigane, owned by Stefan O'Really Hyland, President of the French Six-Metre fleet and F 118 Manuae, owned by Alain Lebeau (a First Series Six), based in Brittany.

In addition, two boats, FRA 94 Etoile du Midi and FRA 116 Bravade VI, which is owned by Jean-Denis Sarraquine, who is the current British and French Open Six-Metre Champion, are both based at St. Tropez where, together with Basil Vasilou's boat, USA 105 Jane Ann, which is based near there, could form the basis of a high standard modern fleet in 2006 or 2007.

There are, of course, other modern Sixes around the world, some in quite surprising places such as the islands of La Reunion and Antigua as well as one, KA 12 Prince Alfred II, still in Australia.

Conclusion

As I hope you will all appreciate, this is a first shot at a Moderns Newsletter and is thus a little short of good information, especially since there are known to be around 100 Modern Six-Metres in existence. However I hope you may all find it of interest and, to encourage' tout les personnes', I attach at Appendix A, a full list (or fairly full list) of all known post-1965 Six-Metres. I am well aware that it will contain inaccuracies, but it does very much depend on what information I have been able to glean over the years and what a few people have told me. In particular I must also thank Ian Howlett and Matt Cockburn for giving me considerable assistance and both Pelle Petterson and Peter Norlin for giving the time to check their entries.

I will be delighted to receive information, corrections, additions and amendments from anyone, with the aim of having a more comprehensive and accurate list and look forward to hearing from anyone who would like to become the first Chairman of the Moderns Committee, or take over responsibility for this Newsletter. Please!

Tim Street.
Member,
ISMA Classics Committee.
13th December 2005.

Appendix A. List of Modern Six-Metres.