the Tornado catamaran established a clear superiority over the other catamarans at the IYRU Trials of 1967 and was granted international status.

It was selected as an Olympic class in 1968 and saw its first Olympics at Montreal, Canada in 1976. It has since enjoyed rapid growth in popularity in 40 countries and is one of the fastest growing Olympic classes.

This fact is illustrated by the increasing number of boats at the World Championship each year reaching a high of 104 boats in 1979, at which time it was decided to limit the number of entries.

The Olympic status of the Tornado has brought some of the finest sailors from all over the world to the class. With over 22 nations regularly attending the annual World Championships and the three medals won at the 1992 Olympic Games going to three different continents, the Tornado Class has a worldwide fleet matched only by a handful of other sailing classes.

The popularity of the Tornado is attributable only in part to its Olympic status; by far its greatest attribute is its performance! With a top speed in excess of 33 knots, and with Tornado sailors now "flying'' the hull downwind as well as upwind, it is small wonder the Tornado has won so many hearts! Tornado 'N Technology (`TNT') The Tornado has been described variously as a "bruiser'', a "rocketship'' and a "mean machine''. And let's face it, it is an impressive contraption! That a craft of its size can be made so light yet so strong and durable and capable of carrying such a large and powerful rig, is an amazing technological achievement.

The hull configuration, which is essentially a rectangular platform, is subjected to enormous strains, especially stresses of a torsional or twisting nature. These are imposed in part by the unevenness of the waves over the four corners of the platform, causing one corner to lift on a wave while the diagonally opposite corner may be in mid air, and all of this, don't forget, can be occurring at over 20 knots.

It is essential that the platform be as rigid as possible: if it gives when it hits waves, the hull loses its kinetic energy and it's ability to punch through the seas.

Another set of stresses are those imposed by the rig which is pulling upwards on the four corners of the platform, causing them to want to bend upwards and inwards. This must be resisted so that when a puff of wind hits the sails, the power is transferred directly and instantly into the hulls to drive them forward, and is not absorbed or dispersed by a sag in the rig due to a twisting platform.

Sailing's `mean machine' From Page 8 One way of looking at this platform/rig interaction is to appreciate that the platform, like the conventional hull, is only something to put the rig on.

That said, however, the rig is only as good as what you put it on! Better materials and better construction techniques along with design ingenuity have given the Tornado a strength/weight ratio that is truly remarkable.

One Tornado hull, at 20 feet long, weighs a mere 102 pounds while remaining incredibly stiff and strong. The class rules allow the boats to progress with technology and let modern materials such ascarbon fibre, nomex, epoxy resins and premium grade aluminium to be used in the construction of the boat.

Let's look at some of the technological and design advances that have made all this possible.

The basic principle, used in practically all fibreglass construction, is that two curved "skins'' joined together by an intermediate material of much lighter weight are collectively as strong as if the entire thickness were made up of the heavier "skin" material.

Now fibreglass is a heavy material, so to have a hull thickness entirely of fibreglass is to have a heavy hull. But to have two "skins'' of fibreglass with a foam core inbetween is to produce a much lighter hull, and a more resilient one. The technique, then, is to produce a thinner "skin'' that is just as strong, and here better materials and craftmanship play their part.

The material fibreglass, as the layman knows it, is a combination of threads or fibres of glass made from silica or sand which are held or cemented together by resin.

Tornado catamaran: A portrait From Page 9 Builders have been using better grades of glass which have less impurities and fewer imperfections in the fibres. Similarly, there are better resins today.

Craftsmanship comes into the equation when the builder lays up or combines the glass fibres with the resin. The lower the proportion of resin the lighter the construction, but too little resin will not properly cement the fibres together.

Because the Tornado has a minimum weight, all of the technological gains in lighter weight have been converted to design gains. The lighter hull skins have enabled the "saved weight'' to be redistributed in the form of additional laminations and reinforcing for greater strength and stiffness.

Most hulls have many bulkheads and a "sub-deck'' or horizontal deck placed inside the hull halfway down. This makes for an incredibly stiff hull. There are also lamination and reinforcings techniques such as a "leafspring'' configuration on the inside of the hulls that resist the twisting forces the hulls are subjected to.

Now, has this remarkable platform (hull) been given the rig it deserves? David Pelly, in his book Faster! Faster! , says the Tornado rig: ... has proved to be one of the most powerful, practical, tunable rigs ever mounted on a one-design. Its good qualities can be seen from the fact that people working on experimental rigs for speed trials have repeatedly chosen the Tornado rig as an "off the shelf'' powerplant which is hard to improve upon except by the great expense of a wing rig. The sail plan on the Tornado has been through a major development programme in the last few years including the use of spinnakers, bigger square-top mainsails and lower aspect jibs. All the possible combinations have been tested by the three medal-winning teams from Barcelona to offer the best possible future to the class.

These design and technological breakthroughs have enabled the Tornado to maintain its edge as the Ferrari of the sailing world and to this day it remains unchallenged as the fastest one-design boat in the world.

The Tornado: a superlative, a joy, ... a marvel! WITH a top speed in excess of 33 knots, it's small wonder the tornado has won so many hearts.

THE tornado class made its Olympic debut in 1968 and has enjoyed rapid growth since.

DESCRIBED as the `Ferrari of the sailing world', the tornado remains unchallenged as the fastest one-design boat in the world.

SAME STORY APPEARED IN MID-OCEAN NEWS TV GUIDE 7.11.1997 SAILING SLG