Half Ton Cup 1982

The 1982 Half Ton Cup was sailed in Mikrolimano, Greece, and was won by local yacht, Georges Andreatis' Atalanti II, a Joubert-Nivelt design skippered by champion US yachtsmen Rod Davis and Chris O'Nial.  This result gave the Michel Joubert and Bernard Nivelt design team their second success in a Ton Cup, and was a prelude to the even greater success they enjoyed with their minimum rater, Diva, at the 1983 Admiral's Cup. The Daniel Andrieu design Cifraline 2 took second place.

Atalanti II - 1982 Half Ton Cup winner

French yacht Cifraline 2 had a successful build-up to the regatta at La Rochelle and was a favourite for Cup honours when she came to Mikrolimano. She was constructed in fibreglass and Klegecell sandwich at the Technicoque. Cifraline 2 was the faster downwind. With a clean hull shape and small keel she was fast downwind. The crew including Daniel Andrieu, Philippe Follenfant, Christophe Cudennec, Jena Baptiste le Vaillant and Michel Geoffrin started badly each race, and as a result put themselves under pressure to challenge the leader yachts. In the last offshore race, she was three hours behind in the first quarter but came through the fleet to win.

Cifraline 2

Philippe Briand was the designer and helmsman of Free Lance, also from France, and she was another favourite for the Cup.  Free Lance was very quick at all points of sailing and all winds, other than  downwind in light airs, this due to Free Lance being a long boat, very light (About 2300 kg when sailing), a very clean shape, as with Cifraline 2, but a correspondingly lower sail area.  However, while Free Lance started strongly, she was disqualified from the fourth race for a startline luffing incident with Greek yacht Jonathan. This was viewed by many competitors as unduly harsh, and was met with some anger by the Free Lance crew. In protest at the perceived unfairness of the decision, the Free Lance crew elected not to start the final long offshore race, resulting in a disappointing 20th place in the final standings.

Free Lance - had a disappointing end to her regatta, but bounced back in the 1983 event

The Germans had two boats in the series, including Play and Loss, designed by Nissen. She was skipped by Berend Beilken, a well-known sailmaker and winner of the 1978 One Ton Cup (with Tilsalg). Although very close to Cifraline 2 regarding measurements, Play and Loss had a very different hull with a reverse waterline below the stern. She was oriented to light airs.

Play and Loss (above and below)

The Italian team included the Fontana-Maletto-Navone designed Pioneer (renamed Pionière to address an issue regarding sponsorship), which had won the Italian selection trials. She was nicely built in cold-moulded wood at the Morri and Para Shipyard, and was very quick in light air, finishing first and second in the first two triangle races. Pioniere was quite different to the French designs, being heavy (2,700 kg), long and wide, with a large sail plan. She finished sixth overall. 

Pioniere (above and below)

Lady F, skippered by Eric Duchemin and Jerome Langlois, was an interesting design, but appeared to be too light for the design of the hull, which affected the way she sailed through the waves and chop off Mikrolimano.  Poor tactics in the first race where she finished 31st affected crew morale, and while they bounced back in the last race to take third, this was too late for a podium finish and they finished seventh overall.

Lady F (above and below) - finished seventh overall

Atalanti II

Play and Loss rounds a gybe mark

Attenti a quei due (placing unknown)

Don Quixote IV - finished tenth overall

Atalanti II

Hazzard (ninth overall)

Pioniere

Atalanti II

The results for the 1982 Half Ton Cup (first ten yachts)

Rating measurements for some of the top boats at the 1982 Half Ton Cup, including the 1983 winner, Free Lance

Atalanti II went on to win the Half Ton Cup again in 1993, after being fitted with a new keel and taller rig and benefitting from an age allowance.

Many thanks to 'Chorus' for his assistance in translating one of the French articles from the Half Ton History site regarding the 1982 regatta.

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

1979 One Ton Cup

My recent post on Pendragon features a number of photographs taken by US photographer Paul Mello who was active in the Newport area in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He has recently released more of his great black and white prints from the One Ton Cup held in September 1979. I have created a gallery from his photographs and I am grateful for his permission to use them here. 

Mello has noted these photographs on the Sailing Anarchy website as being from the North American One Ton series (held shortly before the One Ton Cup proper). Some of these shots feature various European yachts, however, and so could also be from the One Ton Cup itself, unless some of the European boats had decided to contest the North American series as a warm up regatta. 

Startline action, Indulgence leads away to leeward

Hot Flash, a Gary Mull design, built by Goetz Boats, looks good here during the North Americans

Pendragon to leeward of Indulgence

The tortured stern treatment of the defending champion, the Ron Holland design Tilsalg-Flensburg from Germany (finished 10th overall)

The classic Peterson pintail stern shape of the 1975 One Ton Cup winner Pied Piper (finished 12th overall)

 Tilsalg-Flensburg approaches the weather mark in the lead with Indulgence to the right and Pendragon to the left

The fleet heads off on one of the reaching legs, Pied Piper bringing up the rear

 The Farr design Downtown during the North Americans

US yacht the Bill Cook designed Celebration works up in Narragansett Bay in the prestart of the second race in the One Ton Cup that was waived off due to 40 knot plus winds and a forecast for more. Celebration finished sixth overall.