The Sydney 40 was chosen from the design board by the Royal Ocean Racing Club to become the new One Design class for the Admiral's Cup. The class never really took off for a variety of reasons this led to the failure of the management company Race 1. The boat had a highly tunable rig and was hard to sail well rewarding the most experience crews. The class was allowed to hold a World Championship by the International Sailing Federation for two years early on in its existence.