470: World’s coolest yachts

Yachting World has been asking top sailors and marine industry gurus to choose the coolest and most innovative yachts of our times, and British Paris 2024 Olympic representative, Vita Heathcote, nominated the Olympic 470. Here’s the report:

The two-man 470 dinghy was designed by André Cornu over 50 years ago and been an Olympic boat since 1976. At the Olympic Sailing in Paris 2024 it will be sailed by mixed pairs.

“Very complex and fine-tuned, there is no tweak the 470 hasn’t undergone!” says Heathcote. “Everyone goes through the class rules with a fine-tooth comb and strives to forge a new, faster, more effective modification for the already highly developed boat and systems.

“But what really stands true to its Olympic nature is how this obsessive search for technical perfection doesn’t tint the fierce competition on the water.

“A positive to the boat’s complexity is that a balance can be found for pretty much any size and style of team – the combinations between hull, rig, foils, sail shape, settings can create infinite combinations and somewhere in there is the perfect one for your team! Call me biased, but the 470 is a true specimen of a boat and watching them on the water makes me think there’s none better.”

Olympic 470 class stats rating
Top speed: 19 knots
LOA: 4.7m/15ft 5in
Launched: 1963
Berths: 0
Price: from £13,000
Adrenalin factor: 70%

For Yachting World’s list of cool boats, click here.