The Tornado is a double handed

multihull A multihull is a boat or ship with more than one Hull (watercraft), hull, whereas a vessel with a single hull is a monohull. The most common multihulls are catamarans (with two hulls), and trimarans (with three hulls). There are other types, wi ...

class recognised as an International Class by the

International Sailing Federation International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

. It was used for the Catamaran discipline at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

from 1976 to 2008.

Design

The boat was designed in 1967 by Rodney March from the

Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the districts of England, local government district of Borough ...

, England. At the IYRU Olympic Catamaran Trials for international status, where it defeated other catamarans. To increase its performance even further, the Tornado was modified in 2001, with a new

sail plan A sail plan is a drawing of a sailing craft, viewed from the side, depicting its sails, the spars that carry them and some of the rigging that supports the rig. By extension, "sail plan" describes the arrangement of sails on a craft. A sailing c ...

which included a

spinnaker A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a Point of sail#Reaching, reach (wind at 90° to the course) to Point of sail#Running downwind, downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinna ...

and spinnaker boom, as well as an increased sail area of the existing sails. An additional

trapeze A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes, metal straps, or chains, from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or ...

was also added, and the jib was made self tacking. The Tornado is among the fastest double handed catamarans, with an ISAF Small Catamaran Handicap Rating System rating of 0.934 and a D-PN of 59.0. It is the fastest catamaran in the

RYA The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is a United Kingdom Sports governing body, national governing body for sailing (sport), sailing, dinghy sailing, yacht and motor cruising, sail racing, Rigid inflatable boat, RIBs and sportsboats, windsurf ...

Portsmouth Yardstick scheme, with a 2015 Portsmouth Number of 634.

Events

Olympics

The Tornado was used as the equipment for the multihull discipline in the

from 1976 through 2008, when multihulls were deselected. Please see the individual years for results Olympic Sailing Regatta

World Championships

Open

Mixed

References

External links

International Tornado AssociationISAF Tornado Microsite
{{Authority control Classes of World Sailing Catamarans Olympic sailing classes