Stock images of The 6 Metre worlds 2009 in Newport Rhode Island.
Racing was held inside Narragansett Bay just north of Gould Island where the fleet was met with strong wind and tide, but also on the first days sailing outside Newport Harbor in light conditions.
The International Six Metre Class is a class of classic racing yachts. Sixes are a construction class, meaning that the boats are not identical but are all designed to meet specific measurement formula, in this case International Rule. At their heyday, Sixes were the most important international yacht racing class, and they are still actively raced around the world. "Six metre" in class name does not, somewhat confusingly, refer to length of the boat, but product of the formula; 6mR boats are, on average, 10–11 metres long.
The International Rule was set up in 1907 to replace numerous handicap systems which were often local, or at best national, and often also fairly simple, producing extreme boats which were fast but lightly constructed and impractical. The Six Metre class was not the smallest rating established under the rule, but was nonetheless the most popular, and they were chosen as an Olympic class in 1908.
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