Jamarella - Farr One Tonner (Part 2)

 This post features some photographs by Guy Gurney featuring the Farr-designed One Tonner Jamarella (UK) during the 1987 Admiral's Cup, and in close quarters racing amongst other yachts in this closely fought series. Jamarella finished as second placed yacht overall, behind New Zealand's Propaganda, and an earlier article on Jamarella can be seen here.

Jamarella rounds a leeward mark in close company with Australia's Swan Premium II, another Farr One Tonner that finished in tenth place overall (photo Guy Gurney)

Jamarella (K-180) seen here in the middle of the pack soon after a start during the 1987 Admiral's Cup, with (left to right) Insatiable (US-41241), Swan Premium I (KA-2), Diva (G-2994), Caiman (H-36), Juno (K-505), Blue Yankee (US-41110), Royal Blue (S-10010) and Swan Premium III (KA-3000) (photo Guy Gurney)

Jamarella on a reaching leg during the 1987 Admiral's Cup (photo Guy Gurney)

Jamarella in a different view from an inshore race, just to leeward of Val Maubuee (F-9229) and ahead of CGI (F9213) and Propaganda (KZ-6191) and Insatiable (US-41241) - Mean Machine (H-189) is visible to the left (photo Guy Gurney)

Jamarella crosses on port behind Mean Machine - Irish Independent Full Pelt is ahead on port and Container (G-1909) can be seen to windward on starboard tack (photo Guy Gurney)

Article dated November 2024

Fastnet Rock 1987

This gallery of photographs were taken during the 1987 Fastnet Race by Michael Mac Sweeney, most of which feature the iconic Fastnet Rock, the turning mark for the race which sits just off the southern coast of Ireland. The Fastnet Race formed part of the famous Admiral's Cup event, which was won by the New Zealand team in 1987, spearheaded by the top individual boat in the series Propaganda. 

Irish Independent/Full Pelt, winner of the Fastnet Race after sailing a fast rhumb-line course to the Rock (photo Michael Mac Sweeney)

Propaganda, finished in fourth place in the Fastnet (photo Michael Mac Sweeney)

The Andrieu-designed Two Tonner Indulgence, part of the second placed British team, finished in 25th place (photo Michael Mac Sweeney)

The 45-foot US yacht Insatiable designed by Nelson-Marek, finished 31st (photo Michael Mac Sweeney)

The Briand-designed Two-Tonner Mandrake-Krizia, sailing for Italy, finished 28th (photo Michael Mac Sweeney)

Turkish Delight, a Castro-designed Two Tonner, sailing for Ireland, finished 23rd (photo Michael Mac Sweeney)

Irish entrant Jameson Whiskey, a sistership to Full Pelt and also sailing for Ireland, seen here heading back upwind after rounding Fastnet Rock, finished 13th (photo Michael Mac Sweeney)

Australia's Swan Premium II (Farr One Tonner) finished 16th (photo Michael Mac Sweeney) 

I-Punkt, finished 33rd (photo Michael Mac Sweeney) 

30th Anniversary of New Zealand's Admiral's Cup Win

In the early hours of 12 August 1987 (UK time), and 30 years ago today, New Zealand's team of Propaganda, Goldcorp and Kiwi finished in fourth, 11th and 20th in the Fastnet Race to win the coveted Admiral's Cup for New Zealand for the first (and only) time. The New Zealand team had amassed 1,365 points to hold out the British team of Jamarella, Juno and Indulgence by some 84 points. They had gone into the Fastnet Race, the final race of the five-race series, with a lead of 109 points, and just needed to stay close to their British rivals to secure their win. They did this to near perfection, with Propaganda just one place behind Jamarella, and Kiwi pushing Indulgence into 25th. Juno had an impressive 2nd place, but this was not enough to overcome the overall Kiwi dominance.

From the RORC History page:

1987 was the year when the New Zealanders achieved what they had long threatened since their first challenge in 1971; the double - the Cup and the top-boat slot with Propaganda (below) sailed by 'Billy' Butterworth and his boys.'

Propaganda

Their effort was uncommonly like the German bids of 1983 and 1985 - a home grown-effort based around a small group who had all the right skills. New Zealand yachting was, and remains, an illusion. Although in the 1980s the Kiwis won virtually everything worth winning, this giant in sailing is actually a country of only three million people. And while the Kiwis are boat-crazy, having one of the highest per capita ownership rates in the world, there is scarcely any grand-prix IOR sailing at home to speak of.

Goldcorp (finished sixth yacht overall)

On a roller-coaster of success, the Kiwis had won the World Youth Championships, five medals at the Los Angeles Olympics, had made the Whitbread Round the World Race their own, won the Kenwood Cup and made an indecently impressive debut at the America's Cup. In 1987 at Cowes, they beat the Germans and twelve other nations at their own game. They came with the best-prepared team; their boats had excellent speed and the sailors were good enough to sail a textbook series which minimised risk and maximised points. Only Propaganda seemed to have an extra cutting edge with her phenomenal upwind form. Don Booke, the team manager from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, was not exaggerating when he said: 'We believe we won the cup twenty-four months ago. We sat down and got contributions from everyone who had been involved in the Champagne Mumm Admiral's Cup and had monthly meetings at the Squadron. Our big job was to change the triallists from enemies into friends.'

Kiwi, the "big boat" of the New Zealand team, finished seventh overall

So the Kiwis put in a full twenty days practice in Auckland's Waitemata Harbour before coming to the UK, and then had another twelve days sailing in British waters, with video analysis to bring crew technique and sail shapes to race-readiness. They even sailed a practice overnight race in the Channel, something few teams had contemplated before. The squad were coached by Californian Rod Davis, who by then had put his roots down in New Zealand through marrying the sister of ace sail designer Tom Schnackenberg. He prepared their programme, advised on sails, suggested new gear and moved crew around. John Clinton, the sail designer for the KZ-7 12-metre, came over to England to re-cut the sails, though Rick Dodson thought the Kiwis had anticipated British conditions pretty well. Dodson, who had been Swuzzlebubble III's mainsheet trimmer when she'd been top Admiral's Cup boat in 1981, was now skippering Mal Canning's Laurie Davidson-designed One Tonner Goldcorp (ex Mad Max).

Propaganda - the fastest One Tonner at the 1987 Admiral's Cup, and the top individual yacht overall

No mean sailor himself, with five America's Cups and an Olympic gold and silver medal to his name, Davis was worth listening to. 'I am the catalyst to help them figure out how to do things. You win the Admiral's Cup by putting three boats in the top ten or twelve places in every race. You do that by not breaking anything, by not doing anything stupid and by staying outside the protest room - no bogies, no double bogies, no sand traps!' Admittedly, Davis had good ingredients with which to work. Goldcorp had been re-vamped stripped out by Dodson and Davidson, to be turned into the winner of the New Zealand trials.

The video of the 1987 series can be seen here, and more photos from the series can be seen here.

A podcast by Yachting New Zealand issued in October 2020 about New Zealand's historic win can be listened to here. It features Peter Lester and Ross Field reminiscing about the brutal nature of the New Zealand trials, racing in the Solent and the famous Fastnet Race, what the win meant to sailing in this country and what it did for the careers of those involved. They also look back on the personal rivalries, like the one between Brad Butterworth and Lawrie Smith, and controversies, particularly over allegations of cheating by the British team, and also tell the stories of their worst wipeouts ever.

Full Pelt (Dubois One Tonner)

Full Pelt was a One Tonner, designed by Ed Dubois and built by Neville Hutton for Stephen Fein in 1986, with that year's Sardinia Cup and later, the 1987 Admiral's Cup, in mind. The design featured an aggressive approach to the IOR, with an apparent close attention to minimising weight and maximising any hull shape advantages available under the rule.  

Full Pelt during the 1987 British Admiral's Cup trials (photo Rick Tomlinson | Seahorse)

While those were traits employed on most of her serious competitors, Dubois took it further, with flat decks (presumably to lower the overall centre of gravity of the boat) and a minimum sized coachroof, that finished just aft of the mast. With no windows, halyards and other control lines were led aft along the side of the cabin, while halyard winches were mounted on the deck to lower their centre of gravity. As with many IOR boats of that era, Dubois extended the maximum beam at the deck aft and between the 'BA' and 'BAI' measurement stations so as to maximise the leverage of crew weight. This was a response, in part, to changes to the IOR in November the previous year regarding the effect of crew weight on stability ('CSAF'), which encouraged reductions to maximum beam ('BMAX').

Full Pelt alongside the Tony Castro designed Maiden Hong Kong in 1986, both showing distinctive kinks in the deckline between the BA and BAI measurement points (photo Seahorse/histoiredeshalfs.com)

Dubois was quoted at the time (in Yachting magazine) that the IOR incorporated a "silly rule" that produces such slab-sided yachts, but if the ORC hadn't changed the rule to try to control beam he would have designed even wider yachts for the 1986 season. Structurally, Full Pelt was simple but strong. Her flat deck (weighing just 0.6lb/sq.ft.) effectively resists compression forces where shroud tention tries to pull the sides of the hull together, while longitudinal members inside do a similar job for and aft, creating a light but rigid hull. To meet minimum headroom requirements, a boxy, windowless doghouse of flimsy construction is perched between the cockpit and the mast, its sides forming a convenient site for cleats to hold control lines that don't involve high loads.

Full Pelt during the 1986 Sardinia Cup (photo Bruce Banks Sails/Seahorse)

Full Pelt proved her pedigree and the designer's approach when she emerged as the top individual yacht in the 1986 Sardinia Cup. In a regatta where One Tonners filled seven of the first ten places (and comprised half of the fleet), Full Pelt revelled in the typically light airs. She displayed a boat speed advantage attributed to her small keel and low wetted surface area that provided good acceleration when puffs would arrive and allowed her to get out of trouble in difficult moments, while pushing her to the front when unopposed. Jo Richards and Geoff Meek worked together to make a formidable team, with Meek seeming to give the boat an injection of new life after a very disappointing showing in the 1986 One Ton Cup where the boat never featured in the results.

Full Pelt during the 1986 Sardinia Cup (photo One Ton Facebook page)

Full Pelt won both the short offshore and third Olympic race to boost her impressive individual performance for the British team, winning by 20 points over Germany's Rubin IX (with placings of 5/1/2/1/3). Supported by Marionette (15th) and Pocket Battleship (17th), Full Pelt led the British team to victory in the series over second-placed Germany. 

Full Pelt rounds a leeward mark during the 1986 Sardinia Cup (photo Seahorse)

The photographic record is unclear, but it seems that Full Pelt may have been altered after the Cup, with her original sloping transom remodelled and made more upright, but retaining the measured transom and deck intersection (the AGS measurement point) in the same position.  This would have allowed crew weight to be moved further aft when required. Many other yachts, such as the New Zealand One Tonners Propaganda and Fair Share, made similar amendments for the 1989 series.

Full Pelt during the 1986 Sardinia Cup (photo Bruce Banks Sails/Seahorse)

Full Pelt narrowly missed selection for the British team for the 1987 Admiral's Cup, with Flying Dutchman helmsman Joe Richards at the helm. After good early season performances, she lost impetus after losing her mast in the De Guingand Bowl event, the first race of the trials, allowing Jamarella and Juno to make the running. 

Full Pelt during the 1987 Admiral's Cup, as Irish Independent Full Pelt (photo Seahorse)

However, after sailing the Irish selection trials in the the chartered Irish Independent (ex-Mean Machine, ex-Rubin 85), Tom Power quickly negotiated a charter of Full Pelt when it became apparent that she was not going to make the British team. Power organised sponsorship with the Irish Independent newspaper, with the boat renamed as Irish Independent Full Pelt, and she joined another Dubois One Tonner, Jameson Whiskey and the bigger 34.2ft rating Turkish Delight (ex-Itzanotherpurla). She was skippered by Tim Goodbody as helmsman, but kept the bulk of Fein's original crew, including Dubois, Joe Richards and Graham Deegan.

Full Pelt in light airs and sporting her near transparent Banks no.1 genoa (photo Sailing Year 1987-88)

Irish Independent Full Pelt rounding Fastnet Rock during the 1987 Admiral's Cup - she made good time to the Rock and went on to win this ocean racing classic (photo by Michael Mac Sweeney)

Full Pelt had a somewhat average Admiral's Cup series overall, with results during the inshore and Channel Race of 13/15/18/31. However, she found her legs in the Fastnet race finale - Full Pelt two-sail reached to the Fastnet Rock along the rhumb line, while those who went west looking for a forecast windshift sailed needless additional miles. Unfortunately, as the main prizes were not at that time awarded to sponsored yachts, the Fastnet Trophy was awarded to second-placed Juno. Nevertheless, this result lifted her final placing to fifth overall, and elevated the Irish team to fourth overall. An interesting and recent postscript to Full Pelt's Fastnet Race achievement, and a late award of first place, can be seen here.

Irish Independent Full Pelt seen here in Queen Annes Battery Marina in Plymouth after winning the 1987 Fastnet race (photo Shockwave40 blog)

Full Pelt seen here in Sandhamm, Sweden, before the 1988 Gotland Runt offshore race (photo Facebook)

Full Pelt seen here racing in Kiel in 1989 (photo Bateaux magazine)

Full Pelt was acquired by Swedish yachtsman Bo Bernholm for the 1989 Admiral's Cup, sailing alongside the former New Zealand 43-footer Kiwi and Greve Duckula. The boat underwent a major refit, with a new mast and rigging, keel, rudder and deck layout for the series, but despite still being fast in light airs, she had a disappointing regatta, finishing in 38th place (of 42), with placings of 14/39/35/25/37/39. The Swedish team finished 12th overall.

Full Pelt was chartered for the Swedish team for the 1989 Admiral's Cup, seen here leaving Lymington Marina (photo Shockwave40 blog)

Her history from that time onwards is undocumented, but she has been featured recently on the One Ton Class Facebook page, and appears to have been upgraded and is now looking like new.

Full Pelt as seen in 2016 and following a recent upgrade, and below sailing off Denmark in 2017 (photo One Ton Facebook page)

As seen in July 2022, lying in Faaborg, Denmark (photo Facebook)

Full Pelt - May 2024 (photo Facebook)

Article updated June 2024

Jamarella (Farr One Tonner)

After sailing the three-year old Daniel Andrieu design Cifraline 3 to a very creditable fifth place in the 1986 One Ton Cup in Palma, Alan Gray commissioned Jamarella, a new Farr One Tonner for the 1987 Admiral's Cup and One Ton Cup. The boat was similar to the New Zealand yacht Propaganda (Design #182), but was a slightly different design (#184), optimised for racing in large fleets in UK conditions, and was particularly fast upwind in light and medium airs. This performance was helped by a deep draft fin keel with a fibreglass tip to avoid the boat becoming too stiff (under the onerous 'centre of gravity factor' measurement of the IOR), but still taking a draft penalty.  

Jamarella was skippered by Rodney Pattisson, who helmed the One Ton Cup champion Jade in 1985, and teamed up with Lawrie Smith (who helmed Panda to her Fastnet win in the 1985 Admiral's Cup), to create a very strong force at the back of the boat. Jamarella was built by Killian Bushe with Nomex honeycomb core. She carried a Sparcraft mast, which was held up with cobalt rigging, and flew a combination of Banks, Shore and Sobstad sails. 

Jamarella during the 1987 British Admiral's Cup trials (photo Seahorse)

Jamarella sailing downwind during the 1987 British Admiral's Cup trials (photo Seahorse/Histoiredeshalfs website)

Jamarella proved to be the most consistent of the new British One Tonners that lined up for the 1987 British Admiral's Cup trials, with three first places in the series, and she joined team Juno and Indulgence in the British team in a determined campaign to wrest the Admiral's Cup back from the Germans, who had triumphed again in 1985.  

Jamarella showing her upwind form (photos Histoiredeshalfs website)

Another view from astern of Jamarella sailing upwind in moderate conditions, with the topmast backstay showing plenty of ease! (photo Seahorse)

Jamarella on a downwind leg during the 1987 British Admiral's Cup trials (photo Seahorse)

She sailed the 1987 Admiral's Cup with a slightly lower rating than Propaganda (30.54ft, to 30.59ft IOR), and the two boats, both sporting the fastest shapes of 1987 and expertly sailed, had a series-long duel, with Jamarella outscoring her Kiwi rival in the first inshore and the Fastnet race, and in the latter demonstrating a slight edge downwind in light airs. The two finished first and second in the Channel Race, separated by just 16 seconds. In the end, Jamarella finished the series second overall, 30 points behind Propaganda (with placings of 14/2/4/24/3), and supporting the British team to second overall in the Cup proper. She was also the top offshore yacht in the series. More photos of Jamarella during the Cup can be seen here.

Jamarella showing her upwind form during the 1987 Admiral's Cup

Jamarella in close fleet action during the 1987 Admiral's Cup (photo Rick Tomlinson/Seahorse)

Jamarella rounds a windward mark during one of the inshore races on Christchurch Bay (photo Sailing Year 1987-88)

The boat went on to win Class II in the 1987 RORC series, and was named the RORC Yacht of the Year. 

Jamarella - RORC Yacht of the Year 1987 (photo Sailing Year 1987-88)

Jamarella (photo One Ton Facebook page)

She then went to Kiel for the 1987 One Ton Cup, where she finished sixth overall, although she had initially finished third overall following placings of 8/17/5/3/3, but was slapped with a "2 x 30 point" penalty, because of the discovery, on two occasions, of an unsecured five gallon fuel tank. The crew insisted it was spare fuel carried for seamanship reasons in case of a long motor home in a dismasting situation or water in the fuel tank. This became an issue of whether it was a tank under rule 202.2 of the IOR, or 'ship stores' under rule 109.4. In this respect she was perhaps an innocent victim of suspicions of cheating that had come to the fore as a result of allegations (later proven) against the German yacht i-Punkt. 

Jamarella in action during the 1987 Admiral's Cup, and crossing the stern of US yacht Blue Yankee

Rush, ex-Jamarella, during the 1988 One Ton Cup

Jamarella became Rush for the 1988 One Ton Cup in San Francisco, where she finished 11th overall. Alan Gray went on to commission a new Jamarella, a bigger Farr 50-footer, for the 1989 Admiral's Cup and to contest the burgeoning 50-foot circuit. 

Hitchhiker III ex-Jamarella during the 1989 Admiral's Cup

It is understood that the original Jamarella was chartered by Australian yachtsman, Peter Briggs, of Hitchhiker fame, for the 1989 Admiral's Cup, and the boat became the third yacht to wear the Hitchhiker moniker. Her stern was altered in response to the 1989 IOR rule changes, but Hitchhiker III didn't make the Australian team, and sailed for Ireland instead. A shadow of her former self, she finished in 32nd place (with results of 22/32/34/35/32/28), but was the best placed of the lowly 13th placed Irish team.


In 1995 Hitchhiker III was relocated to Holland and was optimised for the IMS rule - her bumps were removed, the stern was faired and a new keel was fitted. She was renamed ACE, and she went on to become the Dutch National IMS Champion in 1997.  

ACE is presently located in Muiderzand, Holland (photos above and below).

ACE seen more recently (2020) in Boorn, Netherlands (photo Facebook)

ACE in 2022 (photo Facebook)