Evergreen and the Canada's Cup 1978

The Canada’s Cup is the ‘other’ match racing event between two nations, commencing as a challenge by the Lincoln Park Yacht Club of Chicago to the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in 1896. Like the America’s Cup, it has employed a variety of boat design types, subject to a deed rule from 1897 that stipulated a waterline length between 25 and 40 feet. It has seen competition in 8-metres (under the International Rule) and then to offshore yachts under the CCA rule, which was replaced by the IOR in the 1970s and 1980s. Under IOR it was raced in Two Tonners (32ft IOR), and later in smaller One Tonners (30.5ft). Following the decline of IOR it was agreed to move to the smaller MORC designs, which brought unprecedented participation to the Canadian challenger’s selection trials. More recently the Canada’s Cup has been contested in the one design Farr 40 class.

This article focuses on the 1978 event, raced in Two Tonners, and which is most remembered for the epic battle between the challenger, Don Green’s radical Cuthbertson & Cassian (C&C) design Evergreen, and the defender, Terry Kohler's Holland design Agape for the US. Green had raced two previous C&C yachts before opting for something more adventurous, and deciding to mount a Canada’s Cup campaign. He commissioned C&C to build a flat-out racing machine, and gave the designers carte blanche to make it happen. The resulting yacht took advantage of every loophole under the IOR, and the stability rule in particular – Evergreen's lightweight carbon fibre and epoxy honeycomb hull weighed approximately 5,500 pounds, and allowed for some 10,000 pounds of ballast to achieve her measured displacement. A centreboard still retained some un-penalised advantages under the IOR, so this ballast was mostly internal, fitted in a ballast plate in the centre of the boat. The 500 pound centreboard was fitted in an angled case, so that it pierced the deck for’ard of the mast. 

Evergreen in the slings, with the tip of her centreboard just showing (photo from Doug Peterson Tribute Page)

Evergreen during the 1978 SORC

Evergreen's structure was augmented by longitudinal bulkheads, which in combination with the centreboard case, made the interior almost unliveable. Her interior was accessed by two flush hatches located close to her rails, and opened inward to aid with sail handling – a dubious proposition from a safety viewpoint. She had an open cockpit, and featured a central control panel for the myriad hydraulic switches to control her fragile, three-spreader five panel mast. The rig and hydraulic systems were designed and built by Tim Stearn, who was also to be the yacht’s helmsman. However, because of Canada’s Cup nationality rules, Green himself took over principal helming duties, with Stearn filling the tactician role.

Evergreen's complex deck layout and side deck hatches

Agape was a development of the highly successful Imp, and also of a high-tech construction, utilising carbon-reinforced fibreglass, with a Bergstrom/Kiwi load carrying aluminium spaceframe as pioneered by Holland with Imp, and the Half Tonner Business Machine. Agape's Bergstrom and Ridder mast featured swept spreaders, something of a departure from the norm for a masthead rig. Unlike Imp, she started life as a centreboarder, but was progressively modified during the summer and became a keeler, and Kohler described the boat that raced against Evergreen as Agape #5. Evergreen had her racing debut in the 1978 SORC, the major US proving ground for offshore racers of the day. She faced an early protest by yachting writer Ted Jones, as her unusual dual hatch arrangement was considered to contravene IOR safety regulations. The protest was disallowed but, despite having both Tim Stearn and Lowell North on board, she had only an average series, finishing 5th in Class C with placings of 6/10/4/9/6/12, and was soundly beaten by the Peterson design Love Machine (1/3/1/4/3/2) and the Holland design Marionette (DNF/1/2/1/1/1). Agape fared far worse, finishing a woeful 22nd after breaking her mast in the first race and missing the next two. She then finished last in class in the Lipton Cup due to poor navigation. 

Evergreen powers upwind (photo Sharon Green | Facebook)

Some changes were made to Evergreen before the Canada’s Cup trials, with her full-ish bow sections being replaced by a longer and finer entry and her stern sections were narrowed. She was given a new centreboard, and her rig was increased in height by two feet, raising her rating from 31.5ft in the SORC to the Two Ton limit of 32.0ft for the Canada’s Cup. Notwithstanding that her existing hatch arrangement was already of questionable safety, she she was given two additional inward opening hatches in the bow to facilitate more efficient genoa and spinnaker handling. This gave the overall deck layout something of a ‘swiss cheese’ appearance. 

Evergreen and Impetus during the trials series for the 1978 Canada's Cup (photo Facebook)

Agape chases Evergreen downwind during the 1978 Canada's Cup

The changes yielded some improvement, however, and Evergreen, representing the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club, saw off other would-be challengers Mia VI, a Kaufman-designed centreboarder, and an older Frers design Impetus to earn the right to challenge the US for the Cup, not held by Canada since losing it in the 1972 series. Agape had a tough fight for selection as the defender against another Kaufman designed centreboarder Black Majic, and the two year old Peterson design Sassy Lee.

Above and below, Evergreen goes into an uncontrolled gybe (photo Sharon Green | Facebook)

The two yachts would go on to engage in the stormiest, most bitterly contested match to date. There were more protests lodged in the 1978 series (seven) than in the entire history of the Canada’s Cup.  

Evergreen and Agape in close battle during the 1978 Canada's Cup (photo Sharon Green | Facebook)

Spinnakers and shooters flying, Evergreen pursues Agape

The first protest was made before racing even began, by the race committee and again over the legality of Evergreen’s deck hatch arrangement. This was again disallowed, and Evergreen went on to win both starts of the first two races, and increased her lead in each by small amounts at every mark of the 17 mile triangle courses on Lake St Claire. The third race, a 75 mile middle distance event, started in winds approaching 30 knots, and saw Agape over the line first and into the lead. An hour later, as the wind increased to 40 knots, both boats were still on the same tack when Evergreen ran out of water, breaking the 500 pound ballasted tip of her centreboard and damaging the rudder. Agape tacked immediately and took off on the long starboard reach to the mark. Evergreen held on for the next two legs before withdrawing, signalling a protest against the race committee regarding the placement of the weather mark and wind strength at the start of the race. The protest was not heard because it was filed outside the time limit. 

Evergreen leads Agape downwind

Evergreen leads Agape downwind with bloopers flying (photo Sharon Green | Facebook)

If the concept of a 75 mile match race seems odd today, then the next race was unbelievable - being a course of some 250 mile distance race on Lake Huron. This race started after a break of two days for repairs. Evergreen was the early leader as the boats ran up the lake in a moderate breeze. She had a substantial lead by the time they reached the first mark, some 40 miles away. However, the mark boat was out of position by five or six miles, and when it finally appeared out of the patchy fog and rain, it was Agape who had a better angle to the mark, and she rounded ahead. A midnight-to-dawn spinnaker duel later ensued, with poles on the headstays and both boats wiping out repeatedly, but Evergreen emerged the leader, sneaking around the third mark, off Port Huron, just 13 seconds ahead. But it was all to no avail, however, when a chainplate on Evergreen broke several hours later in an increasing breeze and her mast went overboard. Evergreen's protest that the out-of-position mark had prejudiced her first position was disallowed, but she was granted another two days for repairs. 

Evergreen sporting her repaired mast (photo Sharon Green | Facebook)

By this stage, Agape led the series 3-2 as a result of Evergreen’s faults and defaults, and she needed just one win to retain the Cup for the US (the record is not clear but the history suggests that the long distance race may have counted for two points).

Evergreen sails over the top of Agape on a reaching leg during the 1978 Canada's Cup

With her new mast, Evergreen crossed the startline of the next race early, and it was Agape’s race until Evergreen rolled her on the second spinnaker reach and went on to win by 57 seconds. Protest flags were flying from both boats as they finished, and the resulting four protests meant that the jury had a marathon overnight sitting before dismissing all of them. The final race, on the 12th day of the series, was a repeat of the fifth race, with Agape winning the start, staying ahead on the beat and first reach, only to see Evergreen power over her on the second reach. Another protest, this time by Agape, was disallowed, but meant the victory celebrations for the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club – long awaited at the time – could not start until midnight. The story of Evergreen’s victory is covered in more detail in a book by Doug Hunter – "Against the Odds". 

From the cover of 'Against the Odds', the story of Evergreen's challenge for the 1978 Canada's Cup

The Evergreen crew celebrate victory as they cross the finish line in the last race of the 1978 Canada's Cup (photo Sharon Green | Facebook)

The next day, Stearn was asked how fast Evergreen really was. “I wish I could take her to the Two Ton Worlds in Rio”, he answered without hesitation. “She’s the fastest Two-Tonner in the world”. Certainly, Canadian Admiral’s Cup team organisers thought so too, and Green and his Evergreen crew were invited to represent Canada in the 1979 Admiral’s Cup series in Cowes (by which time her centreboard had been changed to a keel). She joined another C&C design, Magistri, and Pachina, but Evergreen had a mediocre series, with placings of 37/46/36/53 in the four races before the Fastnet Race finale. 

 
Evergreen and her fellow competitors then found themselves in the middle of the deadliest ocean race in history, the 1979 Fastnet, where they were struck by an unpredicted and very fierce storm. In the end, 15 lives and 30 boats were lost, and it is remarkable that Evergreen survived relatively intact given her reputation for gear failures and her controversial deck hatch arrangement. Evergreen retired from the race safely, and Green later credited his crew’s preparedness for their fortunate survival, and he recounted that “it was a terrifying experience where every wave brought with it the fear that it was the one that would be your last”. 

The Hamilton Spectator newspaper revisited this event in its review of a book based on this event - "Beyond Endurance", written by Adam Mayers. In that article Green comments "(Evergreen) never should have gone to England". Green said he didn't want to do the Fastnet because he was worried about the boat's ability to withstand a North Atlantic storm. When he made the decision to withdraw, "it was a tough decision. I felt we would likely be embarrassed when we pulled into the dock".

Green had decided to call it quits just as the seas were growing ugly and confused. He threw the stern to the wind and made for the coast of England. The pitch black fury of the North Atlantic storm with Force 10 to 12 winds was upon them. "(The race) was the most traumatic experience of my life... It was earth-shaking. Every 60 seconds you'd get hit by those seas and you'd just wonder how much you can take". 

The Evergreen crew for the 1979 Admiral's Cup - from left: Hans Fogh, Alan Jeyes, Jim Talmage, Brian Downey, Al Megarry, John Fitzpatrick, Steve Killing, Don Green, Rob Ball

Somehow, in the black sky, Evergreen spotted a flare shot off by stricken yacht Magic, which had lost its rudder. Green and his crew immediately went to attempt a rescue. The blackness of the night, the howling of the wind and the massive seas made the rescue impossible. "I felt really upset about it," said Green. "I thought they weren't going to make it. It felt very helpless. It was like no one knew what was happening." However, Evergreen's crew managed to tell Magic they would relay a mayday to another yacht, the maxi Condor of Bermuda, to the British Navy, and Magic eventually made it to safety.  

The Canadian team finished the Admiral's Cup 18th of 19 teams, and Evergreen finished a lowly 55th in the individual standings (in the 57 boat fleet).

Green passed away in 2019 and a tribute to him by the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club can be seen here.