110 CLASS 



"In seven years an unorthodox one-design has grown from a local curios- 

 ity to an international class." So wrote Florence Van Wyck in the February 

 1946 issue of Yachting. The 110 story began in 1939 when the search of a 

 then little-known young designer, C. Raymond Hunt, for a fast and inex- 

 pensive racing boat led him to the yard of George Lawley and Sons at 

 Neponset, Massachusetts. After some experimentation with a boat called the 

 225, the first 110, a smaller boat, arrived at Marblehead in time for Race 

 Week. Some yachtsmen eyed with skepticism the sleek 24-foot cigar- 

 shaped sloop, with its very narrow plywood hull and flat bottom. When it 

 had beaten the times of every small class boat in the fleet up to and in- 

 cluding the Stars, the skeptics had to sit up and take notice. When they 

 learned the cost (then slightly under $500 complete with sails) some of 

 them went into action. 



Early in 1940 a 110 was taken to the New York Motor Boat Show. That 

 put her on the yachting map and a National 110 Class Yacht Racing As- 

 sociation came into being. In August 1941 the first National no Class 

 Championships were held on Lake St. Clair, Michigan, with five fleets rep- 

 resented: Marblehead, Boston, Long Island Sound, Chicago, and Detroit. 

 Eventually the Association became "International" and the iios went to 

 the Philippines, Canada, Bermuda, Mexico, Argentina, and the Canal Zone. 

 However, the 110 is primarily an American class with an estimated 545 in 

 the United States (out of 557 in the world), and fleets on the East Coast, 

 Great Lakes, and Pacific Coast. 



With their easily driven hulls, narrow and pointed at both ends, the 

 lies slice through seas which would slow up many other boats, though 

 their flat bottoms sometimes slap the waves in a steep chop. While the low- 

 cut genoa used to blot out the view on the lee bow, this has been remedied 

 by a transparent window. The cockpit is small for a boat of its length and 

 the 110 cannot be considered a family day sailer in the usual sense. But 

 as a relatively inexpensive and fast racing boat in the days before Hght 

 planing hulls took over a considerable part of the new-boat market, the 

 110s had a great deal to offer. There is no mistaking them, even if they 

 didn't have no on their sails, though their younger sisters, the more re- 

 cently developed 210s, have points of resemblance. A no-racer has this 

 to say about them. 



"The no was designed to exploit the possibihties of plywood construc- 

 tion, both in respects to sailing ability and ease of construction. We who 

 sail in this class feel that Mr. Hunt outdid himself. With its three hundred- 

 pound cast-iron fin keel the no will not capsize (can be swamped but will 



150 THE SAILBOAT CLASSES OF NORTH AMERICA 



