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| Will can be seen here behind Springbok and Carat during a Key West Race Week (photo Sharon Green/Ultimate Sailing) |
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| Will seen here in a 1991 International Regatta, rounding a leeward mark behind Champosa |
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| Windquest follows Container around a mark during the Tortola World Cup series in 1990, with Container going on to win and Windquest finishing fifth |
Will raced in the 1990 Kenwood Cup (by then with a rating of 40.27ft), alongside a new smaller sister, the One Tonner Will, Jr. The series attracted several other 50-footers, including Cyclone, Heaven Can Wait and team-mate Tiger. In the windy final race, the 390-mile Kaula Race, Will finished with only 2 feet of her rudder blade intact and had continued to race so as to gain the vital team points for finishing, and this helped the Japan Blue Team of Swing (ex-Librah), Tiger and Will to win the 1990 Kenwood Cup, beating the Australian team by 17 points.
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| Will (left) and Cyclone during the 1990 Kenwood Cup (photo Offshore Magazine | Facebook) |
Oda then commissioned a new boat, the second Will (hereafter "Will 91") (Design #260) was a development of Farr's earlier 50-foot designs, and the Farr website design notes outline the philosophy behind the new boat:
Design 260 has a higher sail area to wetted surface ratio and lower drag keel and rudder arrangements. She has significantly higher stability and lower displacement. The deeper keel will give a large performance improvement in stronger upwind conditions and without any loss downwind, particularly as refinements in keel shape improve downwind speed.
To illustrate these changes, it can be seen from the published specifications that Will 91 had a keel depth of 2.99m and displacement of 11,570kg, compared to the earlier generation, typified by Carat, with 2.81m and 11,836kg. Further changes included alterations to the deck layout and geometry to reflect efforts to improve crew work and efficiency, and was longer and more open. The mainsheet was moved aft in line with the boom end, behind the helmsman, and the large diameter wheel was placed further forward than usual.
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| Will 91 (Design #260) profile view (Farr Yacht Design) |
These latter features were a noticeable difference from the earlier tiller steered Will, which had her mainsheet further forward and in front of the helmsman. The stern on Will 91 was also of a slightly different design, with the end of the transom being cut off to a more upright angle in the area of the backstay attachment points. Both yachts had the usual narrow cutaway along the aft-most part of the deck, a device that was used to move the measurement point of the transom and After Girth Station to a position further forward and aligned with the corresponding bustle at the rudder skeg position.
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Will 91 at the Admiral's Cup 1991 (photo shockwave blog)
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Construction of the $700,000 yacht was specified to include use of pre-preg intermediate modulus carbon fibre fabrics over Nomex honeycomb cores for improved stiffness without any increase in weight. Tim Jeffery's 'Official History of the Admiral's Cup' (1994) comments that Will 91, built by McConaghy Boats, "was being marked down in the chronicles of yachting as the finest and the last big IOR racing yacht outside of the maxis for the 1993-94 Whitbread Race". Of her construction, he notes that she "was one of the very first yachts to be built from T800 carbon fibre. This made her no lighter but some 25 per cent stronger for an added material cost of some $50,000. The gain those dollars bought was a stiffer structure, allowing 16-17,000lb to be loaded on the running backstay - instead of the normal 12,000lb found on a 50-footer - to produce a straighter headstay for better upwind pointing".
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Will 91 during the 1991 Admiral's Cup
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Will 91's carbon construction went beyond just the hull however. Jeffery goes on to say that "Will was the carbon fibre boat. Seemingly everything was made from the black, magic material, the winch grinding pedestal, the steering wheel, the stern light bracket, the mast collar, the guy blocks, the companionway ladder, the bunk frames...", and that "even the kitchen sink was made from carbon. Not that it was ever going to be used". But as the boat was a fixed price contract, it was just as easy for McConaghy to build the items in carbon as to buy them in. It was suggested, however, that things had perhaps gone too far when McConaghy even built the fuel tank in carbon fibre. |
| Will 91 seen here sailing back to Cowes after finishing a race during the 1991 Admiral's Cup (photo shockwave blog) |
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| Will 91 can be seen here, second from left (to leeward of Container) during the 1991 Admiral's Cup |
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| Will 91 crosses ahead of Corum Saphir during the 1991 Admiral's Cup |
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| IOR measurements of some of the IOR Fifties at the 1991 Admiral's Cup, showing Will 91 to be in the shorter (L and LOA) and lighter (DSPL) end of the (narrow) range, with less sail area (Bateaux magazine) |
Will 91 was once again the star performer for the Japanese team in the 1991 Admiral's Cup, with placings of 3/2/5/1/4 culminating with a close second place in the Fastnet, after chasing down the French 50-footer Corum Saphir in the closing stages, and finishing second overall (to Corum Saphir) in the 50-footer division (a class scoring system was used in the 1991 regatta). Will 91's effort was however not backed up by her team mates Carino (Two Tonner) and Spica (One Tonner), with Carino losing her rig in the second inshore race and Spica failing to fire in the One Ton division, and Japan finished a disappointingly seventh of eight teams.  |
| Ragamuffin (ex-Will 91) leads a fleet of Fifties at a regatta prior to the 1993 Admiral's Cup (photo Sharon Green/Ultimate Sailing) |
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| Ragamuffin (ex-Will 91) in power reaching mode during the 1993 Admiral's Cup |
Meanwhile, both Will and Windquest competed in the Key West World Cup regatta in 1991, finishing 12th and 13th overall respectively. Windquest's overall result was not helped by a calamitous top-mark rounding in the last race. She and Carat approached the mark on port, but Carat was to leeward and tacked first below the starboard tack bunch, hoping to lay the top mark, and also hoping that Windquest would be able to duck her stern. Windquest left her tack as late as possible such that Carat was unable to clear Windquest's stern and hit her transom, locking the two boats together and wheeling Windquest back onto port. Capricorno (ex-Corum Saphir) meanwhile was left with nowhere to go and ran into both boats, with the combined effect of the collision and enormous rig tension resulting in her bow being torn off.
Will 91 was then bought by British sailing interests (sporting the sail number GBR-4681, possibly as Graham Walker's interim Indulgence before he bought Juno V) before being acquired by Syd Fischer, the famous Australian yachtsman who has campaigned numerous champion offshore yachts, and she became the latest boat to be awarded the famous Ragamuffin name. She formed part of the Australian Admiral's Cup team for 1993, and exceeded her earlier impressive form in 1991 to be the stand-out 50-footer in the 1993 series and finish as the top points scorer overall. This effort was almost enough to allow the Australian team to lift the Cup for what turned out to be its final edition, but the loss of Great News II (the former Wings of Oracle) in the Fastnet race finale and team-mate Ninja (ex-Spica) not able to make up the difference saw Australia lose out to Germany by the narrowest of margins (0.25 points).  |
| Ragamuffin (ex-Will 91) |
The original Will was also bought by Fischer and both yachts were campaigned in what I believe was the 1992 Kenwood Cup, as seen in the images above and below. By this time it appears that there had been some changes to both boats, with the former Will 91 now sporting the same deep blue colour scheme, and from the above photograph, which looks like Will 91 (due to the placement of the mainsheet and wheel), the lower part of the transom has been lengthened to match the angle of the rest of the transom. In the photograph below both yachts are rounding a weather mark at the same time, but suggests that Windquest has become the latest Will as she now sports Windquest's sail number and has the same rigging details (perhaps Oda, having sold his previous Will's, wanted to keep racing in the 50-foot circuit so had created a third Will). This sail number remains on the bow of the current Will as seen in the photographs at the end of this article.
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| Ragamuffin (left) and Will rounding a mark during the 1992 Kenwood Cup |
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| Will (above and below) off Diamond Head during the 1992 Kenwood Cup (photos by Phil Uhl | Facebook) |
From here the history of the Will boats becomes even more uncertain, but it is
understood that the original Will lost her outer hull skin in the 1993 Sydney to Hobart race,
100 miles east of Flinders Island and retired to Ulladulla. She became Ragamuffin 95 which was a new 50-foot IMS hull using Will’s deck, and which was
launched in September 1995. Initially it retained the inline spreaders but
these were later converted to swept spreaders. Will 91 later became Ragamuffin 97, with
a new IMS 49 hull under the Will 91 deck, and did the 1997 Admiral’s Cup (held under
IRC) and was then sold to Italy.
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| Ragamuffin during the start of the 1994 Sydney to Hobart race |
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| Ragamuffin 97 (I think) after the 2001 Sydney to Hobart race with the ex-Will 91 deck |
The third Will, the ex-Windquest, had some basic cruising amenities added down below, and arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, along with Champosa, in about 1995. Will was raced in Auckland by Eric Henry for the next seven or so years, and at some point a bulb was added to the keel for additional stability. Following her sale to a new owner she was later moved onto a mooring in the Tamaki River in Auckland, and now looks very forlorn, with her mainsail having been left on the boom (uncovered), and slowly gathering more and more moss on deck, and extensive marine growth on her hull. She was hauled by the local marina operator some 15 years ago to clean her hull, and they pump water from her every so often. It is understood that the bulb has also parted company from the keel, and the interior (including batteries and engine) have been affected by water ingress, although the leather seating is apparently in good condition.  |
| Stern view of Will as seen in 2018 |
My estimation is that this is the original Windquest (sistership to Will), primarily due to the sail number on her bow and the similarity of details to Windquest in terms of mainsheet traveller and deck compass positions, steering wheel details, pushpit design, exhaust outlet location, engine throttle placement and the winch arrangement etc (see deck image of Windquest below).
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| Windquest deck detail (from the Japan 1989 regatta) |
If anyone has additional information that clarifies the history of the Will yachts, and the more recent history of Will / Windquest, please leave a comment below, or use the email address above.
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| Will as seen in 2019 on the Tamaki River in Auckland |
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| Will as seen in 2019 on the Tamaki River in Auckland (note Windquest sail number on the bow) |
