PTs racing on Wellington Harbour in the 2013 Swire International Championships.

Design

The Paper Tiger is a catamaran designed by Ron Given of New Zealand in 1968. It is widely sailed in New Zealand and Australia.

Class rules allow hull construction from plywood, kelvar, fibreglass or carbon fibre. The boat is suitable for home built construction.

The rig features an aluminium mast with  a fully battened sail.  Class rules allow adjustable downhaul, outhaul, kicker and lower forestays. This provides a wide sailing envelope over a range of wind and sea conditions. Optimium sailing conditions are 5-25 knots.

Centreboards and rudders can be retractable.

Overall Dimensions

Length: 14 ft (4.3m)

Width: 7ft (2.2m)

Minimum Weight: 110 lbs (50kg)

Sail Area: 100 sq ft (9.2 m²)

Paper Tiger Register 

Plans for over 3200 Paper Tigers have been sold, and its estimated that over 3000 Paper Tigers have been built. The NZPTOA maintains a register of New Zealand Paper Tigers. 

If you own, or have owned a Paper Tiger, you can check out some of it's history in the register. We endeavour to keep this register as current as possible, but this needs all PT owners to help. If you have information to update this register please email the Webmaster.

   

An Early Auckland Boat

This picture of #17 “Bobcat” was taken around 1968 in the Tamaki estuary with Bob Morse at the helm.

Don Blow built the hulls for this early Paper Tiger.

Note that trapeze equipment is no longer allowed under modern class rules.