photos by Alice Breed
The International One-Design Class was conceived to build, maintain and race a fleet of “One-Design Yachts, distinctive in appearance and performance, using one-design racing, and especially to develop the competitive capacities of both helmsmen and crews under the fairest and most equal conditions.” Through Friday, September 18, the Nantucket IOD is hosting the IOD World Championship, and more than a dozen of these stately vessels can be seen racing around the island.
The Nantucket IOD Fleet Association (NIODFA) was established in 1997 by a group of sailors, most of whom were members of the Nantucket Yacht Club, for the purposes of owning a fleet of International One-Design keelboats (IODs) and sponsoring racing activities for the IODs in Nantucket Sound.
In the summer of 1997, Peter McCausland began aggressively promoting the idea of a fleet of IODs in Nantucket, and to this end he gathered a group of Nantucket sailors – Rear Commodore/RC Chair Bob Constable, past Commodore Geoff Verney, and Fleet Captain Mark Beale – to debate the merits of the concept. In subsequent discussions, McCausland proposed that an association should be formed which would own the fleet of IODs and individual sailors would own an undivided interest in the association, represented by a share. The total number of shares outstanding would equal the number of boats in the fleet. A Charter and By-Laws were drafted and an order was placed for six new IODs. Today the Fleet consists of 15 boats and 65 members.
Because of this cooperative ownership, this week’s race is a true competition between the crews with no variables in the vessels or equipment. The crews rotate between boats, sailing a different vessel in each race.
Teams participating in the IOD World Championship Nantucket 2015 are from Sweden, Norway, St. Mawes, Bermuda, Northeast Harbor, San Francisco, Marblehead, Fishers Island, Chester, Long Island Sound, and Nantucket.
