The 8mR yachts have always been the choice of the rich and famous as there day boats for racing. Owners of 8mR yachts include royal families and world renowned industrialists and millionaires.

Among the famous 8mR yacht owners and sailors you will find such names as the Rothschild family, the Duchess of Windsor, Baron Alfred Krupp von Bohlen of Germany, Virginie Hériot of France, Carl Siemens of Germany, Marcus Wallenberg Jr of Sweden as well as the royals from Spain, Sweden and Norway among others.
Some famous families have been sailing and racing 8mR yachts for generations, like the Rothchilds who started sailing an 8mR yacht already in 1924 and the family still today keep up the tradition with there modern 8mR yacht built in aluminum.
Even the designers them self owned and raced 8mR yachts, this includes William Fife III who raced an 8mR yacht himself.
The class got a good push in 1928 when the New York Yacht club ordered no less then 11 8mR yachts in one go from the famous yard Abeking & Rasmussen.
The metre rule has proven its success over many years but one thing that deserves mentioning under the 8mR class is that in a recent race in St. Tropez in France during the Rolex Cup the 1930 designed 8mR yacht Vision won over the modern 1986 8mR yacht Gaulois designed by the French yacht designer Fauroux in every race held! Not only did the 1930’s 8mR yacht beat the other eights, it also beat the entire fleet of 12mR yachts in 4 out of 5 races, and some of the 12mR yachts where modern Americas Cup yachts!
Today the fleet is still very active with a Cup for the classic yachts named the Sira Cup that is held every year. The Sira Cup was donated in 1983 by King Olav of Norway, and the modern yachts race for the World Cup and the European Cup.