5,5 Yacht International Class Wooden Model Kit – Corel (SM53)
The 5,5 Yacht International Class Model Ship Kit is manufactured by Corel ship model kits. Corel produce historically accurate model ship kits. All kits contain the highest quality parts, cast metal fittings and photo-etched brass parts, and the best available timbers. Wherever possible, all parts are pre-cut and ready for assembly.
History of the 5,5 Yacht International Class
The 5.5 metre International Class is the most popular fixed keel yacht belonging to the International Formula Classes. The class being denoted by a number in the metric system is not bound to any specific size of craft and merely indicates the rating which is derived from a set of factors composing the formula.
The International Yacht Racing Union had already established as long ago as 1906 a regatta yacht classification scheme according to a determinate formula but only after 1920, the year in which the scheme was substantially modified, were the classes and formulas successful. The 5.4 class was instituted and added to the 6-, 8- and 12-metre craft when it was amended in 1949 according to a different calculation formula tending to obtain relatively simple, smaller and therefore more economical craft.
That combined with admission to the Olympic games in 1952, determined surprising diffusion of the craft in all nations traditionally engaged in sailing as a sport, notably in Great Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, the former Soviet Union and Italy. Fitted as a sloop, originally the craft could have neither a genoa nor a sponnake, the later being approved later. The 5.5 remained an Olympic Class until 1968.