Designer Ian Proctor Year 1965 Crew 2 | Location United Kingdom Design One-Design | |
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Role Designed for the Olympic Games 1972 | ||
The Tempest is a one design two man high performance keelboat with a trapeze. It was designed by Ian Proctor for the 1965 trials for the new Olympic Keelboat, which it won convincingly.
The class has since progressed with the times, including a new deck and cockpit layout and changing the construction from GRP to a foam sandwich. In the last few years the rules have allowed a bigger spinnaker, longer spinnaker pole and the use of epoxy resin in the construction of the hull.
The Tempest has an unusual aspect in that it is a keelboat but also has a trapeze, a rigging element usually only found on certain dinghies. As a result the Tempest is just as exciting to sail as fast dinghies, but is much more forgiving and is unable to be capsized. Due to the planing hull shape and large sailplan, the Tempest is remarkably fast when sailing on a reach, and speeds in excess of 15 kts are not uncommon in moderate winds.
Tempests are sailed actively throughout the world with fleets in Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, United Kingdom, North America and Australia.
In sailing at the 1972 Summer Olympics the Tempest class was used alongside the Star class as an Olympic racing yacht. The Gold Medal was won by Valentin Mankin and Vitaly Dyrdyra of the Soviet Union. For the 1976 Olympics the Tempest class was used in place of the Star class. The Gold Medal was won by John Albrechtson and Ingvar Hansson of Sweden.
Since 2010 the Tempest is one of the Vintage Yachting Classes at the Vintage Yachting Games.
European Championships
European championships were only held when a World Championship was held outside the European continent. From 1980 no Europeans were held anymore.