Half tonners join the Vice Admiral's Cup

This year's event will be a trial for the British Commodores' Cup teams

The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club's annual Vice Admiral's Cup regatta, taking place from Friday 9th to Sunday 11th May, is expected to attract a record entry.

Each year new classes request an invitation to take part and this year the Half Ton Classics fleet, which is enjoying a popular resurgence of interest with many old boats being brought back to life to race under IRC, will join the event for the first time. With the Half Ton Classics Cup taking place in St-Quay Portrieux, Northern Brittany in July, the Vice Admiral's Cup will act as a warm up regatta. At least a dozen Half Tonners are expected to compete alongside their smaller sisters the Quarter Tonners, who will once again be one of the largest classes racing.

The SB20s are also expected to field a strong fleet with more than 20 boats set to race. The SB20s, Half and Quarter Tonners will share a racecourse with the J/109 fleet.

A second race area will accommodate the J/111s, the 45ft class (featuring the Swan 45s, Farr 45s, etc) and a new class for 39 to 43 footers such as the Ker 39s, King 40s and one offs such as Erivale and Zero. This new class will be raced under IRC with a rating band of 1.05 to 1.15.

In 2012 the Vice Admiral's Cup acted as the inshore trials for that year's British Commodore's Cup Team. The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club is delighted to confirm that the RYA has chosen the Vice Admiral's Cup as its inshore qualification event for the British team again this year.

The RYA Selection Committee is using the regatta to help it identify three teams of three boats with IRC Endorsed ratings between 1.020 and 1.230 with the proviso that only one boat in each team may rate 1.150 or above. The Commodore's Cup triallists will join the big boats on race area two.