Conversations with Classic Boats

Conversations with Classic Boats is a podcast about classic boat designs and the stories behind them. Hosted by Tom Darling, he shares in this episode a highlight event in 2025:

For the first time since 2009, a World Championship for the International Six Metre Class was held in the USA. Classic wood boats such as Greg Stewart’s San Diego-based Six, Sprig ,90 years young, along with the latest European designs, sailed out of the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club which dates back to 1871.

Twenty-nine Sixes, including 17 modern designs built since 1979 and a dozen “Classic” entries dating back to 1922, had eight races near Oyster Bay on the North Shore of Long Island. Darling organized a multi-generational crew to borrow and revive a 38-year-old design, Blade (USA 111), one of the first Sixes with the controversial winged keel configuration.

The Six Metre is sailing’s oldest development class, having been chosen for the 1908 London Olympic Games in the waters off Ryde on the Isle of Wight. The International Rule had been adopted only a year before and the Six took its place in the world of international sailing through1952 when it was last included in the Olympics.