More than 1,800 of these boats have been built and are now sailing the waters of France but also throughout Europe since 1976, has seen some class leaders calling for a grooming of the gauge to boost its performance.
Finally, Asprosurprise France (association of the class) asked the international authorities to recast the Rules of Measurement. But you don't have to throw it all away!
Indeed, this small boat born from the pencil stroke of naval architect Michel Joubert is still pleasant and efficient. Of course, we could add huge asymmetrical spinnakers for downwind sailing or even imagine more efficient appendages (why not foils?).
But the richness of this class remains the strict one-design on an accessible boat. This is the foundation of the class, which therefore renews its rules of measurement... without changing anything. The only modifications are added to avoid the holes exploited by some racing purposes. No more "wrong" interpretations.
The class president says it in a few simple words: " Our support is a monotype which certainly dates back to 1976. But then what about the Corsair, Dragon Muscadet, Star, and other 470, 420 or J24... Did they disappear because they got a few wrinkles? We want to be in this line: the Surprise is a one-design accessible to all that allows pure and hard regattas, but also rides, or cruises more easily transportable, but above all that accepts all age groups.
It is this monotype, which we want to preserve, and our association is working to do so, which is the purpose of this update. ?
The new gauge applicable from 1 January 2020 is available here :
