The National Maritime Museum Cornwall has welcomed Zander, a Water Wag, to its hanging flotilla gallery.

Water Wags are reputedly the oldest one-design sailing boats in the world.

Not to be confused with the modern day footballers wives and girlfriends, "The Water Wags" association was formed in 1887 at Kingstown Harbour in Ireland (when Ireland was still part of the UK), and managed by a King, Queen, Queen's Bishop, Knights and Rooks, in response to the invention of the one-design boat.

The Water Wag's designer, Thomas Middleton, a member of the Shankhill Corinthian Sailing Club, decided it would be a wonderful idea to build racing dinghies of the same design in order to test sailors' skills.

Andy Wyke, the National Martime Museum's Boat Collection Manager, said: "Today many boats are adapted and modernised to make them go faster, rather than simply relying on the skills of the person sailing them. In a one-design the boat is built from one set of plans which can't be changed unless the rules change. Therefore, if you can win in a Water Wag, you know that you've won on skill and merit alone."

Middleton first designed and built thirteen Water Wags in 1887 at a cost of £13 each. The boats are still built and raced today and some of them are over 100 years old.

Zander was built in 1947, by Gammon Brothers at Herne Bay, and is easily recognised in the Museum by her distinctive red sails.