12 September 2020

Admiral's Cup 1979 - Part 3

This selection of photographs by renowned photographer Sharon Green were taken during the 1979 edition of the Admiral's Cup and featured recently on the Sharon Green/Ultimate Sailing Facebook page. Sharon has kindly allowed me to reproduce her photos here - this second set are those that appear to be in the fresher conditions experienced in the second race of the series (2 August 1979), an inshore 28.5-miler. The breeze was up from the first race with the official results recording winds of force 4-6 gusting to 7, and the spring tides running with more vigour. The wind angle enabled use of the Royal Yacht Squadron's line for the start of a long uphill climb to the Delta buoy off Lymington. Ireland had a strong showing in this race, with the Holland 40 Regardless taking first place and her bigger Holland team-mate Golden Apple of the Sun taking second, but overall honours for the day went to Australia, with Police CarImpetuous and Ragamuffin taking third, fourth and ninth. 

Startline action with Argentina's Red Rock IV to leeward of Germany's Rubin, with Williwaw (blue bow) appearing to tack away

Rubin leads Eclipse and Imp (US-8990) with spinnakers and bloopers set

Australia's Ragamuffin thunders down the Solent with a fully powered spinnaker and blooper

Britain's Blizzard which is remembered in this race for a catastrophic navigation error when she headed off to the wrong mark halfway through the race, giving up a winning position and plummeting to a lowly 42nd place

Sweden's Midnight Sun, a Holland 50 rolls downwind, on her way to 28th in this race

Midnight Sun continues her roll as she passes by the photographer's boat - this may be shortly before another famous photograph of this yacht which can be seen here

Belgium's Indigo sailing upwind and on her way to 24th place

Above and below: Rubin (26th in this race) follows Canada's Magistri (52nd) and Australia's Impetuous (fourth)




A close up of the Evergreen crew as they work their way to windward (46th in this race) - note the bank of hydraulic switches used to control the complex rig

The Dubois Two Tonner design Winsome Gold (British yacht sailing for Brazil) begins a calamitous broach on the flat run - Evergreen can be seen in the distance in the process of dousing her blooper
Things start to get worse for Winsome Gold....
Just before the crash gybe...
Note the S-bend in the rig just after the gybe
Endgame for Winsome Gold, with quite a mess to be sorted - the broach and resulting damage to her rig forced her retirement from the race and the rest of the series
Midnight Sun sails upwind
Spanish yacht Campsa (the earlier Midnight Sun) puts her bow down on her way to finishing 14th in this race, with Golden Apple of the Sun (right, 2nd) and Jan Pott (20th) alongside
Holland's Formidable (18th) sails downwind with spinnaker and blooper in perfect trim

Other photographs from the second race can be seen in 'Part 1' here with other photos of the series available by clicking the 'Admiral's Cup 1979' label below.

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