One Ton Cup 1984

Sirius II, third overall

The One Ton Cup series experienced something of a renaissance in 1984, following the decision of the Offshore Racing Council in 1983 to increase the One Ton rating from 27.5ft IOR to 30.5ft. It also benefited from a central European venue, with 24 entries attending the regatta run by the Societe de la Trinite sur Mer on the South Brittany coast.

French yacht Passion 2, designed and skippered by Philippe Briand, was the outstanding boat of the series, and marked a general dominance of the event by the French, not just French-crewed yachts but in terms of designers, builders and riggers, and followed on from the success of Diva, the Joubert/Nivelt 40 footer that was top boat in the Admiral's Cup a year earlier.

Passion 2 had won the French selection series and dominated the One Ton Cup, although she had only a modest start in the first race in light, fluky conditions over an Olympic course in which she finished fifth. She won the next race in perfect 12 knot breezes, but only after some very close racing, mainly against the German yacht Sudpack, a new Judel/Vrolijk design.

As elegant as she was fast, the 1984 winner of the One Ton Cup, Passion 2

The third race was the short offshore, which was started in a near calm and Passion 2 was able to overhaul Super Stroumpf, a First 40 Evolution, soon after the first mark. Briand held the lead from there on to the finish, while mid-fleet placings changed constantly throughout the day and night. The racing was so close that 22 of the 24 yachts finished the 26 hour race within 30 minutes.

Close downwind action during the 1984 One Ton Cup, with Coyote leading Cifraline III

Passion 2 to weather of competitors in the 1984 One Ton Cup (Coyote to leeward and Regardless ahead to the right)

This win put Passion 2 at the front of the overall results. She lead from Sudpack, but the next race was the windiest, with up to 21 knots and Sudpack ran into difficulty when rig tension began to crush the composite construction beam supporting the mast. Sudpack was the most extreme of the new boats, with a measure beam (B) of 3.8m (right), and was finished only four days before the start of the series and competed without a full sail wardrobe.

The 1984 One Ton fleet head downwind (Sudpack leading from Passion 2, Sirius II and Jade)

Sudpack, the widest of the One Tonners in 1984 - construction problems in the fourth race forced her out of the final race and she finished 12th overall

The distinctive topside flare and curved sheerline that borrowed much from Briand's earlier winning Half Tonner Free Lance

The increased breeze suited the new Farr design Sirius II, owned and crewed by the Spanish Navy and assisted by Geoff Stagg, and she went on to lead the race from start to finish, to make amends for only average placings of 7/4/9 in the previous races. The win was all the more impressive for the margin of one minute, over another First 40, Coyote. Passion 2 finished fifth.

Passion 2 chases Sudpack downwind during the 1984 One Ton Cup

Sirius II (above and below) - enjoyed the breezier conditions of the fourth race

Passion 2 - above and below

The surprise boat by the end of the fourth race was the vintage Holland design, the masthead rigged Regardless which had been a top contender in the 1979 Admiral's Cup.  Regardless was lying a remarkable second overall and had put together a solid series with placing of 3/7/5/4.  The boat had benefited from a new mast, rigging, deck gear, carbon rudder and new sails to bring her up to 1984-standards. Experienced observers were heard to mutter, "if Regardless wins, she will set IOR design back five years!". 

The last race, the double points long offshore (255 miles), began with the overall result still wide open and the promise of more light weather. Passion 2 came again to the fore, rounding each mark consistently ahead, but with Coyote in close company. After 40 hours of racing, Passion 2 took the gun, and a clear 24 point lead to win the One Ton Cup. French yachts filled four of the top five places, with only Sirius II getting in on the act in third. Cifraline 3, a Daniel Andrieu design, finished second. Regardless finished a lowly 17th in this race, and had to settle for seventh overall.

Another view of Sudpack, from astern and showing her wide beam

One of the four First 40 Evolutions in the 1984 One Ton Cup, Fair Lady, and seen below to leeward of Sudpack

It was also notable that, with the series being the first under the new 30.5ft IOR rating limit, that the top Admiral's Cup and SORC yacht of 1984, Diva, finished tenth, and the second Admiral's Cup boat, Sabina, finished 18th.  In addition, series production yachts did reasonably well against the custom boats, with Fair Lady, Coyote and Super Stroumpf, all First 40 Evolutions, finishing fourth, fifth and ninth, and Alliance, a new X-Boats One Tonner from Denmark, finishing eighth. Diva, in German hands for the series, finished tenth.

The Danish X-Yacht Alliance (above and below) - finished 8th overall (placings 10/8/14/13/4)

 

Cifraline 3 rounding a windward mark

Stern view of Passion 2

Entries from England had disappointing results. Jade, the Humphreys masthead One Tonner, won the opening race to raise English hopes, but 11th was her next best result. The new Jade would make amends, however, in the 1985 series.

Jade rounds a windward mark ahead of Coyote

Rubin XI (Judel/Vrolijk Two Tonner)

Rubin XI surfs downwind

This post features a number of photos from a collection contained in a German yachting magazine that followed the design, construction and launching of Rubin XI, a Two Tonner commissioned by German yachtsman Hans-Otto Schumann for the 1989 Admiral's Cup. The German teams had been dominant in the Admiral's Cup during the 1980s, winning the 1983 and 1985 events. However, they had slipped off the pace in 1987, and were keen to re-assert their previous form for the 1989 series.  

Rubin XI was the latest in a long line of Rubin's that had been part of nine previous Admiral's Cups, and Schumann had been part of winning German efforts in 1973 and 1985 (Rubin G VIII).

Computer generated lines plan for Rubin XI

In early November 1988 3:1 scale models of the new yacht are ready for testing, including the latest elliptical keel profile here being attached (photo Heiner Mueller-Elsner).

Rubin XI was designed by the German design duo of Frierich Judel and Rolf Vrolijk, who had delivered most of their country's Cup winning designs throughout their earlier winning campaigns. She was approximately 44 feet in length, designed as a Two Tonner (34.5ft IOR), but her rating was optimised at 34.33ft for Admiral's Cup competition. The hull and appendage designs were subject to extensive computer analysis and tank testing, and construction utilised the latest in carbon fibre technology.

The design is tested in November 1988 in a 300 metre long tank testing facility (photo Heiner Mueller-Elsner).

By December 1988 construction is well underway at Yachtwerft Wedel - the hull is baked at 180 degrees celsius overnight in an aluminium furnace to cure the carbon fibre layers (photo Heiner Mueller-Elsner).

Construction proceeds apace during January 1989 - the mast support structure being put in place (photo Heiner Mueller-Elsner).

Mid-February 1989 - deck fittings and winches are put in place (photo Heiner Mueller-Elsner).

3 March 1989 - construction and rigging are completed, and Rubin XI, weighing approximately six tonnes, is ready for launching in Kiel (photo Heiner Mueller-Elsner).

Rubin XI in trials before the 1989 Admiral's Cup (photo unknown)

Unfortunately, and despite their apparent promise and no compromise approach to preparation, the 1989 German effort did not deliver the results that had been expected of it. In a year where the new 50 footers were dominant, Germany had arrived with 2 Two Tonners (Rubin XI and Pinta) and a One Tonner (Becks Diva) and it was an unsuitable combination. Worse, the capricious breezes of the first race spelt calamity for the German team - by the time a sea breeze filled in the whole German team were well down the placings and Rubin XI finished in last place (42nd). It followed this with placings of 26/12/23/9 and a 17th in the Fastnet race to finish 21st overall. Becks Diva was the best placed of the German team finishing 12th, while Pinta was 26th to give the team a disappointing eighth place in the series.

Rubin XI heads out to race in the 1989 Admiral's Cup (photo Shockwave40 blog)

Rubin XI made another appearance for the 1991 Admiral's Cup, or at least, parts of her did - the deck, winches and rig were married to a new hull to create Rubin XII, but was jokingly referred to as Rubin XI 1/2. The team was again unsuccessful in 1991, finishing fifth (Rubin XII was fourth in the Two Tonner division) but Rubin XII formed part of the team that bounced back in 1993 to win the series by the slimmest of margins, by just 0.25 points.

Rubin XII sails back to the marina after a race during the 1991 Admiral's Cup (photo Shockwave40 blog)

Rubin XII was later bought by a yachtsman from Northern Ireland and she was renamed Hesperia IV.

Hesperia IV ex-Rubin XII

Feltex Roperunner (Farr 40)

Feltex Roperunner (photo Farr Yacht Design)

Feltex Roperunner was designed by Bruce Farr for a syndicate headed by Don Lidgard to contest the New Zealand trials for the 1981 Admiral's Cup. Design #82 was, as noted by Farr, conceived as an all-out Admiral's Cup yacht with no concession to any other style of racing or unnecessary creature comforts. The minimum Admiral's Cup rating of 30.0ft IOR was decided on not only for minimum capital outlay, ease of handling and a size of boat where optimum performance can be gained very easily in a light-ish displacement yacht, but also because over the years minimum rating appeared to have offered the best chance of producing the top all-round performance in typical conditions experienced in the Admiral's Cup (the top individual yacht in the previous regatta was another minimum-rater, the Peterson designed Eclipse).

Feltex Roperunner came up against a range of new boats for the hotly contested trials, but notwithstanding the world championship victories of Farr's yachts in 1977, new rule penalties against light displacement designs had seen something of a change in designer preference amongst New Zealand skippers by 1980. Feltex Roperunner was the only Farr design in the trials, and Ron Holland designs had come to the fore, represented by the minimum raters Swuzzlebubble III, Epiglass New Zealand and Spritzer, and the larger Monique. These yachts came up against the S&S 46 footers Marac and Ngaruru, and the Davidson 50-footer Outward Bound (designed for the Whitbread round the world race).

Feltex Roperunner was built at the Marten Marine yard in a hi-tech Kevlar and Klegecell layup

Feltex Roperunner on launching day at Half Moon Bay, Auckland (photo Murray Buckman)

Despite the changes to the IOR, Feltex Roperunner's hull form remained typically Farr with powerful stern sections (although more conservative than Farr's earlier efforts), moderate beam and a fine bow to handle a short chop to windward, and as light in displacement as the new displacement/length factor of the IOR Rule would allow, consistent with all-round performance objectives. Indeed, Feltex Roperunner was significantly lighter than the Holland designs (12,000lbs compared to 13-14,000lbs), but in broad terms appeared to have traded this for length, being about a foot shorter. The boat featured a large fractional rig, designed to enhance her light weather performance and to give more power out of crowded start-line situations.

Feltex Roperunner on launching day at Half Moon Bay, Auckland (photo Murray Buckman)

Feltex Roperunner on launching day at Half Moon Bay, Auckland (photo Murray Buckman)

Feltex Roperunner during the start of the 1981 Auckland Anniversary Regatta (photo Sea Spray magazine)

Feltex Roperunner sailing downwind in light airs during the 1981 Auckland Anniversary Day regatta (photo Sea Spray magazine)

In response to some initial observations that the hull of Feltex Roperunner looked more distorted than that of the Holland boats, Farr commented at the time that “Our boats look bumpier because they’re wider aft, but really they are fairer than the competition. In fact, the boat is quite sweet at the aft end, the only unfairness being in the topsides where we have rounds and hollows adjacent to each other".

Feltex Roperunner on the wind and approaching a windward mark and displaying reasonably undistorted stern buttock lines (photo Farr Facebook page)

Feltex Roperunner (right) leads Swuzzlebubble III into Auckland Harbour on a tight reach during the 1981 Admiral's Cup trials. Spritzer can be seen to leeward, and Marac ahead

Feltex Roperunner's initial performance looked promising, and she, along with Swuzzlebubble III and Epiglass New Zealand, proved the most consistent in the observation trials. However, in the subsequent selection trials she faltered, and her series results of 3/4=/7/1=/5/4, for fourth overall, were not as consistent as the trio of Swuzzlebubble III, Epiglass New Zealand and Marac that clinched selection. At times Roperunner went like a champion, as in the short offshore race when she tied for first place with Swuzzlebubble III, but on other occasions she didn't seem to handle the chop as well as the finer-sterned Holland yachts. Her campaign was not helped when she hit the rocks off Rangitoto in the second harbour race while she was leading the group of minimum raters.

Feltex Roperunner is set up well to windward of Spritzer and Swuzzlebubble III in a harbour race start off Westhaven (above), but Swuzzlebubble III has soon slipped ahead (below)

Feltex Roperunner sails past Motuhie Island during the 1981 Admiral's Cup trials (photo Maritime Museum)

Gibbs’ faith in Holland was well rewarded with Swuzzlebubble III finishing as the top individual boat in the Admiral’s Cup, although the team itself finished a disappointing fifth overall. The overall demise in New Zealand’s offshore prowess was further underscored later that year in the Southern Cross Cup when the renamed The Roperunner, Ngaruru and a new Davidson yacht, the 38 foot Southern Raider, finished a lowly sixth, of eleven teams. 

The Roperunner to windward of the Davidson-designed Szechwan during the 1981 Southern Cross Cup series (photo Seahorse)

The team was selected following trials in Wellington and appeared sound enough, but in the light breezes and sloppy seas off Sydney it was a failure. The team were further handicapped when Southern Raider was forced to retire from the Sydney-Hobart race following structural problems after heavy squalls on the first night. The Roperunner salvaged what she could, finishing 13th in the Cup fleet (following placings of 12/7/20 in the earlier races), but Ngaruru could do no better than 28th, of 30 boats.

The Roperunner during the 1981 Southern Cross Cup series

The Roperunner did not return to New Zealand, and went on to race in Australian offshore regattas for some years. She displayed some longevity and perhaps improvement following further tuning, and The Roperunner finished a creditable 15th overall in the 1983 Sydney to Hobart race (of 158 finishers), the year that the new generation Farr 40's like Pacific Sundance came to the fore to win the Southern Cross Cup for New Zealand. This effort was no doubt a significant factor that led to The Roperunner being crowned the Blue Water Champion by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia for the 1983-84 season.

The crew of The Roperunner after the finish of the 1983 Sydney to Hobart race (photo Facebook)

The Roperunner was understood to be based at the Lake Macquarie Yacht Club in about 2016, she now (as of December 2023) sits somewhat forlornly on a mooring at Belmont Bay in New South Wales, with an unpainted extension to her cabin top (and much reduced cockpit) and the addition of a steering wheel.

The Roperunner as seen in December 2023 in Belmont Bay (photo Facebook) 

Article updated December 2023