Lovelace (Farr One Tonner)

Lovelace, a Farr One Tonner from 1976, returned to New Zealand last year and is undergoing a full restoration in Whangārei. She was originally owned and campaigned by Keith Andrews and Jack Lloyd and was one of a number of yachts produced to Farr’s breakthrough One Ton design from 1976 (Design #51), and was a near sistership of 45 South and Jiminy Cricket which had performed well in the breezier races of the 1976 One Ton Cup. This design was 36’ 9” long and had an IOR rating of 27.5ft, the One Ton limit at that time. Lovelace was constructed in cold-moulded Kauri timber and was a striking looking yacht, with purple and white topsides and a Kiwi decal on the bow.

Lovelace leads Rockie during the 1976 New Zealand One Ton Nationals (photo DB Yachting Annual) 

Lovelace raced in the 1976 One Ton Nationals, where she competed alongside 12 other yachts and a number of variants of Design #51, including Country Boy, Mardi Gras, Rockie and Chick Chack. She was described in the DB Yachting Annual review of the series as "the purple Whangarei budget flyer", and counted Ray Haslar amongst her crew for the series. The regatta was affected by some issues in race management, with two races abandoned and Lovelace's performance was particularly impacted in this respect as she had won races 1 and 4 only to see here victories scrubbed. She eventually finished third overall, losing to the quicker and more customised Country Boy. Second was Mardi Gras. Some problem spots in her performance were evident for which crew work could not compensate, highlighted in a long beat from the Poor Knights Islands in the ocean race, where Lovelace lost touch with the leaders and no amount of trim or tweaking could make any difference. She later raced in the 1976 Auckland to Gisborne Race, finishing 11th of 19 boats.

Lovelace during the New Zealand 1977 One Ton Cup trials

Lovelace competed in New Zealand’s national trials series for the 1977 One Ton Cup that was held on the Hauraki Gulf in November of that year. By this stage the new generation centreboarders had arrived on the scene, and Farr’s fixed keel design from just a year previous, including Lovelace, Rockie and Country Boy, had now been eclipsed. Nevertheless, the trials to select six boats for New Zealand’s team produced some of the finest level-rating racing seen at that time, with 18 boats competing. The five races produced four different winners and, at the half-way stage of the ocean race finale, the four leaders were grouped together off Sail Rock off Whangarei Heads. The Whiting design Smackwater Jack went on to win the race and the series overall (with a DNF/5/1/3/1) record.

Lovelace, seen here competing in the 1978 Clipper Cup (photo Phil Uhl)

Four Farr designs were next – Mr Jumpa (3/1/4/4/3), Smir-Noff-Agen (2/2/DNF/1/2), Jenny H (DNF/4/2/6/4) and The Red Lion (1/3/6/5/5). Sixth was the Jim Young design Heatwave (DNF/10/3/2/6). Lovelace scored a fourth place in the first race, and this was the best that any of the keelers could manage in the series. This result was achieved in a race where three of the centreboarders (Smackwater Jack, Jenny H and Heatwave) were forced out with mast or sail damage. Lovelace was also the first keelboat overall, but was a distant 13 points back in seventh place (4/7/10/14/8). This left the host club, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, with no choice but to select a team comprised wholly of centreboarders.

Lovelace seen here to leeward of Magic Pudding during the 1978 Clipper Cup 

While some of the keelboats were subsequently chartered by overseas teams for the One Ton Cup, Lovelace was not. However, she went on to compete in the inaugural Clipper Cup held in Hawaii in August 1978, which was notable for the tight four-boat scrap in Class C with two other Farr keelboats, Carrie Ann V (US) and Country Boy (NZ) and the Peterson centreboarder, Magic Pudding (ex-B195). Country Boy was part of the New Zealand ‘A’ team (alongside Monique and Gerontius), while Lovelace was in the ‘B’ team (with Anticipation and Inca). 

Lovelace enjoying close racing in Class C alongside another New Zealand yacht, Country Boy (photo DB Yachting Annual)

The four One Tonners were always in a close group minutes ahead of the rest of their division, which was won by Carrie Ann V, with Magic Pudding second, Country Boy third (3/3/4/1/3), and Lovelace fourth (5/2/1/3/4). In overall fleet results, Magic Pudding was third, Carrie Ann V fourth, Lovelace eighth and Country Boy tenth. Lovelace had done well with a first, second and third overall in the Olympic courses, but lost out in the long offshore races to finish ninth overall in the 40-boat fleet. The New Zealand ‘B’ team finished third, behind Australia ‘A’ in first place and New Zealand ‘A’ in second. 

Sailing as Petard, in the US (photo Histoiredeshalfs, date and photographer unknown)

Changes to the IOR in late 1978, including a displacement-to-length formula, that penalised the Farr style of lighter displacement yacht severely impacted the likes of Lovelace, and her rating rose by around 1.5ft, making the design uncompetitive under the rule. Lovelace was however later bought by Alamo resident Keith Buck in 1982 who renamed her Petard (named after the explosive device used to blow down castle walls). He fitted a new Bob Smith-designed rudder in 1992 (with an elliptical shape), and a taller mast (off another version of Design #51, Sweet Okole) in 1994. She was noted in a Latitude 38 article in 2005 to have won well over 100 trophies over the years, and that she performed particularly well in heavy air. Her results recorded in Histoiredeshalfs shows that Buck raced Petard from 1982 before she was advertised for sale in 2022 in San Francisco, by then in a somewhat derelict state.

Lovelace as found in San Francisco, photo circa 2022

Lovelace was found in San Francisco and bought by Kurtis Andrews, son of the original owner Keith. She was found during the Covid era and at the time shipping prices had skyrocketed and it cost a fortune to relocate her to New Zealand. She was shipped to Auckland and then transported to Whangārei where she is being restored by one of her original builders, Ian Mason from Mason Boatbuilders. The last time Ian was on the the boat was in Whangārei back in 1978.

Lovelace seen here enroute to Whangārei 

Kurtis Andrews says “it’s a crazy project to have undertaken and one that would have been far easier not to do. The boat was 10,000 miles away in San Francisco and in a state of disrepair, but something was burning inside to get that boat back to New Zealand, and we did! Keith Andrews (my father) and Jack Lloyd were only 22 when they built the boat on a shoestring budget. Its an amazing feat to have done what they did, including shipping the boat to Hawaii and representing New Zealand in the Clipper Cup. I remember Jack telling me that they used plenty of glue when putting the thing together and when it returned to New Zealand, Ian Mason couldn’t believe the work it had done and that it was still holding together”.  

All going well, the family is aiming to have the boat completed and back in the water by Christmas 2025. 

Article dated September 2024

One Ton Cup 1977

The 1977 One Ton Cup was held on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf in early November (40 years ago at the time of preparing this article). It was won by local yachtsman Stu Brentnall, sailing one of five new Bruce Farr-designed centreboarders, The Red Lion.  While it was billed as a world championship, the series was dominated by New Zealand and Australian yachts, with six entries from New Zealand and four from Australia.  The remainder of the 14-boat fleet was made up of charter entries from France, the US, England and Canada.

The Red Lion - winner of the 1977 One Ton Cup (photo Sea Spray)

The series was made up five races, with three standard Olympic courses, a medium-distance race, and a long offshore race. The Red Lion took the series with placings of 2/1/1/4/3. Second and third places were also taken by Farr-designed centreboarders, Graeme Woodroffe's Mr Jumpa (4/2/3/2/2) and Don Lidgard's Smir-Noff-Agen (1/5/6/DNF/1).  The best showing by a "foreign" boat was B195, a Doug Peterson-designed centreboarder, sailed by former world Half Ton champion Tom Stephenson. B195 was the only non-New Zealand design in the contest, and she finished fourth overall (5/8/2/5/4).

Mr Jumpa - second in the 1977 One Ton Cup

The series was controversial on a number of fronts, with the breed of centreboarders being seen by some to be exploiting the centreboard "loophole" within the IOR rule, that had been so effectively exposed by the winner of the 1976 event, the Brit Chance-designed Resolute Salmon. Compared to Resolute Salmon, however, the New Zealand boat were of decidedly much lighter displacement, resulting in concerns by some establishment figures in the IOR governing body, the International Technical Committee, over both structural integrity and the stability of boats. This would lead to changes to the IOR in the following season that would penalise light displacement for the remainder of the IOR era. 

The shape of light displacement in 1977 - Jenny H is hauled for an inspection and following an incident with a spectator boat after winning the fourth race.

Funding the new boats by young New Zealand crews was also reliant to some extent on sponsorship, and thinly veiled references to the sponsors in the names of the boats also attracted protests before the regatta under Rule 26 of the former International Yacht Racing Union.

The Red Lion - her name survived a protest, but the Lion Breweries insignia was removed from her bow before the 1977 New Zealand trials

The hotly contested self-righting capabilities of the centreboarders were never put to the test, even in the 50-knot winds and big seas that were encountered in the last and longest race (325 miles), but the strength of some of the hulls were. Ray Haslar's Farr centreboarder, Jenny H, and an Australian sistership, Hecate, both retired from the race with hull damage after falling off some big waves, while other boats suffered some minor damage. B195 had split her hull in the rough second Olympic race, which her crew attributed to hitting something.

The top Australian yacht B195 slides downwind during one of the offshore races during the 1977 One Ton Cup

In the first race, an Olympic triangle course, the 18-knot northerly at the start swung to the west necessitating a course change for the final windward leg. The Red Lion led around every mark, in part because of her flying a reacher inside her genoa and spinnaker on the reaches, a sail combination none of the other boats used. On the last beat, the wind dropped to about five knots, and Smir-Noff-Agen, Jenny H and Mr Jumpa were spread across the track, all vying for second. Trying to keep a loose cover on all of them, The Red Lion fell into a flat spot and was passed by Smir-Noff-Agen.

The Farr One Tonners The Red Lion, Smir-Noff-Agen and Mr Jumpa vie for position at a wing mark during one of the inshore races (photo John Malitte)

Jim Young's Heatwave (a keeler converted to a centreboarder) showed plenty of speed in stronger breezes

The second Olympic course started in a 25-knot northeasterly, gusting to 30 knots. It was perfect conditions for the Jim Young-designed centreboarder Heatwave (New Zealand). She rounded the first three marks in the lead, but dropped back with slow spinnaker handling and a jammed slide at the top of the main when she tried to get a reef in after the bottom mark. The Red Lion took the lead and held it to the finish.

Smackwater Jack - seen here during the New Zealand trials series, which she won

During the night of the third race, a 165-mile medium-distance offshore race, the wind dropped, and some boats were completely becalmed for five hours or more.  The Paul Whiting-designed centreboarder, Smackwater Jack (the winner of the New Zealand trials) led narrowly around the most distant mark, Groper Rock, but on the reach back to the finish in light airs she was passed by The Red Lion, B195 and Mr Jumpa.

Smackwater Jack - the most radical of the 1977 breed of light displacement centreboarders (note the pronounced concavity in the bow sections)

The fourth race, the last Olympic course, started in a 25-knot easterly, and it looked like another benefit for Heatwave as she rounded the weather mark again in first place. Jenny H sailed past on the first reach, even with a crew member up the mast, and she stayed in front to win.

The Australian Farr centreboarder Hecate (photo Maritime Museum)

Jenny H to windward of Mr Jumpa in strong conditions during the third Olympic race

The real test of crews and boats was the final long offshore. It started in 30-knot winds, gusting to 35, as the fleet headed into it on a long bash to Channel Island. At this exposed point off the top of the Coromandel Peninsula the wind was blowing 40-50 knots, with very big seas generated by a contrary tide. Jenny H was leading the fleet on the way to Channel Island when she fell of a wave so badly that she had to retire immediately. Hecate and Smackwater Jack soon followed suit. Two other boats which stuck it out probably wished they hadn't. Piccolo, a Farr keelboat, and Result, a Lidgard-designed keelboat under Canadian charter, were both dismasted.  

Mr Jumpa in fresh conditions at the start of the final long offshore race

Smir-Noff-Agen elected to fly a spinnaker on the wild downwind leg and broached heavily, but recovered to take the lead at Sail Rock, in close company with B195, The Red Lion and Mr Jumpa. These four had a close race over the remaining 150 miles to the finish. Five miles from the finish the breeze began to fade, and progress was hampered with a strong ebb tide. The lead changed had several times until Smir-Noff-Agen and Mr Jumpa split tacks near the finish. Mr Jumpa fell into a hole, allowing Smir-Noff-Agen to take the gun, and the White Horse Trophy awarded to the winner of the long offshore.

US charter entry Rockie rounds Flat Rock during stormy conditions in the final long offshore race

Export Lion (Farr One Tonner)

The 1978 One Ton Cup was held in Flensburg, Germany. Stu Brentnall and his crew had won the 1977 series in Auckland aboard their Farr centreboarder The Red Lion, but after the Cup Brentnall sold the champion yacht to an Italian yachtsman.  With the sale of other top local One Tonners to overseas owners, including Jenny H, Mr Jumpa and Smir-noff-Agen, it was apparent that New Zealand would struggle to mount a defence of the trophy.  

Brentnall approached the RNZYS with a proposal to build a new boat for the 1978 series, based largely on the design that was so successful in 1977 but optimised to meet the changes to the IOR. This included several hull and rig alterations aimed to improve performance in the light to moderate conditions expected in the Baltic, being slightly shorter, beamier and lighter and with a bigger rig.  A centreboard configuration was opted for rather than a fixed keel, because at the time the design was drawn this still appeared to be a viable proposition.

Final preparations for the launching of Export Lion, June 1978 (photo Jenny Green/Sea Spray)

Export Lion was built in double quick time by Alexander Boats, who had also built The Red Lion, and Brentnall's earlier One Tonner, Jiminy Cricket. 

Export Lion on launching day at Westhaven, Auckland (photo courtesy of Lion Archives)

Export Lion on launching day (photograph by Jenny Green/Sea Spray)

Export Lion sails downwind along the central Auckland waterfront (photo courtesy Lion Nathan)

Export Lion during sailing trials on the Waitemata Harbour

With the return of the One Ton Cup to Europe, there was a boost in fleet numbers, with 36 yachts representing 13 countries. The Red Lion and Jenny H (renamed Scalawag) remained competitive, despite the changes needed to their centreboards under new IOR regulations. But a series threat also emerged in the shape of two Ron Holland designed yachts, Tilsalg and Bremen, who had engaged in extensive two boat tuning before the series. 

Germany's Tilsalg sails upwind during the 1978 One Ton Cup (photo Peter Montgomery/Sea Spray)

Germany's Bremen sails downwind alongside Britain's Solent Saracen, another Farr design, in the 1978 One Ton Cup (photo Peter Montgomery/Sea Spray)

However, it was Export Lion that held a slender lead after three races of just 0.625 points over Bremen, with Tilsalg a further 2.25 points behind. Scalawag was not far off the pace, and any of these four boats could have gone on to take the series. Export Lion had proved to be more tender than her predecessor, but proved fast in all conditions and points of sailing, and performed best when the breeze was above 5 to 8 knots. She was equipped very lightly, but had minimal problems with gear breakages.

Export Lion in fresh conditions in Flensburg (photo Facebook)

Export Lion 

Export Lion alongside a German competitor in light airs and amongst an enthusiastic spectator fleet (photo Peter Montgomery)

With such a narrow lead, Export Lion took a cautious approach to the start of the last race, the long offshore. But despite hanging back from a biased start line on starboard tack, with sheets eased and waiting for the line to clear, the also-ran Cascabel collided with Export Lion with such force that Export Lion was spun around and was pointing backwards when the gun went. It took some time for the two yachts to disengage, and both were at the back of the fleet at the first mark. Although in a 300 mile race this would not have seemed insurmountable, the mark had heralded the start of the 150 miles of fast downwind sailing, and gave the front runners, sailing at 9 knots, a big advantage over those still trying to get to the first mark at 6 knots.

Export Lion powers along upwind in the 1978 One Ton Cup (photo Peter Montgomery)

Tilsalg prepares for a spinnaker set during the 1978 One Ton Cup

Tilsalg also had some ground to make up as she was in the middle of the fleet at the top mark, but she was able to summon some good downwind speed to work her way up to tenth at the next turning mark. Both Tilsalg and Bremen were able to secure more than a sufficient margin over Export Lion to take the first two places overall. Both were beneficiaries of Export Lion's misfortune - but Export Lion had been sailed as well as any in the series. Even though Farr had - unnecessarily as it turned out - remodelled his 1977 design in anticipation of lighter airs in Germany, Export Lion was still considered the fastest boat there. But in the end Scalawag finished as the best placed Farr boat in third place, while Export Lion finished fifth.

 Tilsalg - winner of the 1978 One Ton Cup (photo Peter Montgomery/Sea Spray)

Export Lion trails Heatwave during one of the inshore races during the 1978 One Ton Cup