[1] They are used for match races known as the International Catamaran Challenge Trophy and its successor the International C-Class Catamaran Championship - both often referred to as the "Little America's Cup".

The class was founded during the 1960s and was part of the 4-tier IYRU (now ISAF) approach to divide up the sports catamaran sailing scene into 4 separate groups.

[2][3] The A-Class is the largest remaining of those 4 main classes.

Meanwhile, the C-Class quickly developed into high tech boats that were used in the Little America's Cup.

These require large investments of time and money to race, and so this class is extremely small, but it maintains its status as the ultimate sailing catamaran designs.