The Cape 31 has been described as an ‘affordable high performance 31 foot race boat’.

Leaving the subjective issue of affordability for another days discussion, we took a deep dive into why the Cape 31 is being hailed as one of the most exciting one design fleets of the last decade.

Designed by Wicklows Mark Mills, masterminded by Lord Irvine Laidlaw and built by a licensed boat builder in Laidlaws city of residence, Cape Town, the Cape 31 has been optimised for a combination of both upwind and offwind performance in a breeze. As the world-renowned Enzo Ferrari was quoted as saying ‘We need to look around and understand how market and design move’, and this is exactly what Mark Mills has done.

The key to this boat’s success is that it has proven itself as not only a great one design boat, but also as a competitive boat under multiple rating systems, with some impressive results this year in the UK, having won multiple International Racing Certificate (*IRC) events.

Another savvy design feature of the Cape 31 is that she (along with her 2 piece mast) easily fit into a 40ft container! A feature which surely comes in useful when shipping around the world as they have been for the 50+ boats already delivered and the dozen or so currently in build for secured buyers. The largest fleet is currently hanging out on the south coast of the UK, with new fleets growing across the world including USA, Europe, Australia, and Hong Kong.

In the…