Digesting the changes

James Boyd considers the prospects of the revamped Admiral's Cup

Above - the Beneteau First 40.7 can comply with IMS 600

IMS 600

Away in the bunkers of the last Offshore Racing Council conference in Edinburgh, the new IMS 600 class was created with its own owners' association.

The draft rules for the class state that an IMS 600 yacht is "an offshore cruiser/racer rated under the International Measurement System, to foster competition within a narrow band at the highest levels of the sport."

In a nutshell IMS 600 boats are around 40ft long (under the rules boats of 10.9-12.9m LOA are allowed). They include craft such as the Tripp 40, IMX40 and Beneteau 40.7. A key point to the class is that boats must come from a 'series production' run of a minimum of five hulls, decks and interiors of the same materials and specificiations.

Under class rules no more than 50% of the crew can be professional as described in either group 2 or 3 of the ISAF Competitors Classification Code.

Tripp 40