The One Ton Cup, or International Cup of the Cercle de la voile de Paris, was announced in October 1898. It arose from the liquidation of the yacht Estérel, whose syndicate funds were reinvested in a new cup for the smallest rating class. The silver cup, designed by Robert Linzeler, is considered an Art Nouveau masterpiece.
The first edition took place in May 1899 at Meulan: Bélouga, helmed by Eugène Laverne, beat the English Vectis. The British took the cup in 1901 with Scotia 2, and France won it back in 1903. From 1907 the event was sailed in 6 Metres, except 1920-1923 in 6.5m SI where Cordella won four times. Swedes, Norwegians and Swiss then dominated, until French wins by Virginie Hériot (1927) and Robert Meunier du Houssoy (1960-1962).
On Jean Peytel's initiative the cup was relaunched in 1965 as an offshore event, on 22-foot RORC rating boats, then 27.5-foot IOR in 1971 and 30.5-foot IOR in 1984. These One Tonners carried designs by Dick Carter, Bruce Farr or Philippe Briand, who won in 1984 aboard Passion 2.
From 1999 to 2002 the cup served as the IC 45 world championship, a Bruce Farr one-design. It was later sailed in Fast40+ in 2016-2019, won by Girls on Film and then by Niklas Zennstrom's Ran.
