The Thames A Class Rater is both a historic and modern specialist sailing craft designed for the particular conditions at Thames Sailing Club, on the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

 at Surbiton

Surbiton

Surbiton, a suburban area of London in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, is situated next to the River Thames, with a mixture of Art-Deco courts, more recent residential blocks and grand, spacious 19th century townhouses blending into a sea of semi-detached 20th century housing estates...

 in England. The rules refer to the craft as a yacht

Yacht

A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...

.

The rig is lofty, supported by standing rigging and usually by runners

Running backstay

Running backstays support the headstay in a fractionally rigged boat. A masthead rig has the advantage of not needing them. A running backstay runs from each lateral corner of the stern to the mast at the level where the forestay begins in the fractional rig. Together with other rigging, it...

, and the hull is a scow

Scow

A scow, in the original sense, is a flat-bottomed boat with a blunt bow, often used to haul bulk freight; cf. barge. The etymology of the word is from the Dutch schouwe, meaning such a boat.-Sailing scows:...

 with metal centreplate

Centreboard

A centreboard or centerboard is a retractable keel which pivots out of a slot in the hull of a sailboat, known as a centreboard trunk or centerboard case...

.

All boats built before 1922 are made from wood whilst those built since are of a different construction.

The rater is extremely fast, planes easily, and is a technically highly challenging boat to sail in anything above moderate wind conditions. It is usually sailed with a crew of three.

Raters have traditionally commuted by river under tow between Thames Sailing Club at Surbiton and Upper Thames Sailing Club at Bourne End, Buckinghamshire

Bourne End, Buckinghamshire

Bourne End is a village predominantly in the parish of Wooburn and Bourne End, but also in the parish of Little Marlow, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated close to the border with Berkshire, near where the River Wye meets the River Thames...

.

Rater Development

Over the years raters have developed extraordinarily tall masts and high aspect mainsails to meet the local conditions, and catch the wind above the trees and other obstructions along the banks. Their sails were always large, but originally they had long booms and shorter masts, but over time the booms got shorter and the masts taller. At first they used the so-called balance lug rug, then the Gunter rig, before moving on to the current Bermuda rig. Over the years bamboo spars were replaced first by wood, then aluminium, and now mostly carbon fibre.

Regattas

Mixed in with large fleets of other boats, the raters are usually seen at the following regattas with very tight, close quarters racing.

• Tamesis Easter Regatta - Tamesis Club at , racing between Teddington Lock
  Teddington Lock
  Teddington Lock is a complex of three locks and a weir on the River Thames in England at Ham in the western suburbs of London. The lock is on the southern Surrey side of the river....
  
   and Kingston Railway Bridge
  Kingston Railway Bridge
  Kingston Railway Bridge crosses the River Thames near Kingston upon Thames, England carrying the South West Trains looping branch line from London Waterloo to Shepperton and Richmond. It was first discussed in 1860 and completed in 1863. The bridge links Kingston and Hampton Wick stations, and...
  
  .

• The Bourne End Week regatta at Upper Thames Sailing Club (seen as the Raters 'national' championships)

Boats past and present

Name	Sail Number	Dates		Description	Currently Racing
		Original Build	Last Rebuild
Kingfisher	1	1909 Alfred Burgoine	2001		Yes
My Lady Dainty	2	1911 Alfred Burgoine	1970 ~	When refurbished in the 1970s by Roger Harrall, boatswain at Raven's Ait, she was clad with a plastic sheath with embossed diamond pattern, similar to non slip floor surfacing, both on her hull and on her decks. She is currently in need of restoration.	No
Surf	3	1908 Linton Hope		Originally named Sea Miaou	No
Estelle	4	1902 Alfred Burgoine		One of the first to have the 45' mast, in 1938	No
Carina	5	1902 Alfred Burgoine	2003		Yes
Vanessa	6	1902 Alfred Burgoine		Originally called Latona Vanessa, she was built to conform to both the "A" and the smaller, slower, "B" rating rules. This results in her being relatively uncompetitive.	Yes
Saucy Sally	7	1906 d: Linton Hope b: Alfred Burgoine		In 1919, when the rest of the fleet was gunter rig Gunter In sailing, a gunter is used for two main configurations of rig:#The gunter is defined as a wire that leads from one point near the end of a gaff to a point near the other end. A block travels along this wire, and a halyard is attached to this block... ged, she was the first to move to bermuda rig Bermuda rig The term Bermuda rig refers to a configuration of mast and rigging for a type of sailboat and is also known as a Marconi rig; this is the typical configuration for most modern sailboats... . She was built to conform to both the "A" and the smaller, slower, "B" rating rules. This results in her being relatively uncompetitive.	No
Ulva	8	1898 Alfred Burgoine		She is the oldest rater in existence. Ulva's hull has been used to create the moulds for the current GRP Glass-reinforced plastic Fiberglass , is a fiber reinforced polymer made of a plastic matrix reinforced by fine fibers of glass. It is also known as GFK ....  raters	Yes
Caprice IV	9	1910 Alfred Burgoine		The most successful rater	Yes
Viva	10	1910 d: FH Jackson b: Townsend		Similar in design to My Lady Dainty. Now lost.	No
Dainty Too	11	1922 d: JM Soper b: Turk		The last wooden rater built. Bluff bows.	Yes
Scamp II	12	1906 d: Linton Hope b: Hart, Harden and Co	1999	Similar in design to Vagabond, less beamy, and with a longer waterline length	Yes
Vagabond	13	1907 d: Linton Hope b: Townsend	1980s	Distinctly narrow beam, came to prominence in Beecher Moore Beecher Moore Beecher Moore, was a highly influential figure in the development of dinghy sailing in the United Kingdom after the Second World War... 's ownership. Under Beecher Moore's ownership, Vagabond originated the dinghy trapeze system. Beecher Moore also experimented with a sliding seat, similar to that of the International Canoe International Canoe The International Canoe, or more properly the International Ten Square Meter Sailing Canoe, often abbreviated to IC is a powerful and extremely fast single handed sailing canoe whose rules are governed by the International Canoe Federation.... . With many "firsts" to her name, Vagabond was the first rater to be commercially sponsored, with the sponsor's logo Logo A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...  appearing on her sails.	Yes
Spindrift	14		1998	The first of the "Plastic" raters	Yes
Atlantis	15		1999		Yes
Osprey	16				Yes
Lady Iona	17				Yes
Sacre Bleu	18				Yes
Wings	19				Yes
Lady Jane	20				Yes
Champagne	21				Yes
Bonito	22				No
Tara	23			Renamed from Caprice V, and built with carbon fibre where technically possible.	Yes

The source data for this section is, in part Rater Descriptions from The Rater Association

In the table, "d:" refers to the designer, "b:" to the builder. Where simply a name is present that is the builder

Handicap

Unusually, for a class designed about a rule allowing wide variation in most design parameters, individual boats are handicapped.

Handicaps will be determined by a handicap committee consisting of the Rater Captain, plus the fastest and slowest helms in the FRP

Fibre-reinforced plastic

Fibre-reinforced plastic is a composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres. The fibres are usually fibreglass, carbon, or aramid, while the polymer is usually an epoxy, vinylester or polyester thermosetting plastic...

and wooden fleets respectively, based on the results of the most recent Thames Championship. In the event that the Rater Captain is one of the latter four, the closest helm to the Rater Captain in their category shall also be co-opted to the committee.

This committee will meet two or three times a year to decide the handicap of all boats.

The overriding principle that the committee will work to is to encourage the older and slower boats to compete.

The Queens Cup

Presented by Queen Victoria in 1893 the race is set to be nine miles with a four hour time limit. The race takes place on the
final day of Bourne End week and is considered the most prestigious race that the raters compete in.

The Association

Thames "A" Rater Association

Thames Sailing Club

Portsmouth Road

Surbiton

Surrey

United Kingdom

KT6 4HH