RB Sailing: Titus Canby (Farr Half Tonner)

Back to the boat that signalled the start of a new era - Bruce Farr's first keelboat, the Half Ton design Titus Canby. This yacht was designed in the early 1970s for Auckland sailor Rob Blackburn - he required a yacht around 8m in length that would have a low building cost. The basic design concept heralded something quite new - light displacement married to broad aft sections, and fine for'ard sections for cutting through the Hauraki Gulf chop. A modest length of 8.1m allowed a fair and easily driven hull that would not require a large sail plan. The idea was to achieve a boat that would have enough weight for stability but still be light enough to plane and surf downwind.Titus Canby looked very different to the types of boat popular at the time, and was relatively high wooded and blocky looking, with a long cabin almost equal in height to the yacht's freeboard.

Farr designed a fractional 7/8th rig for Titus Canby with a small headsail and, for the times, a relatively large main. At the time that the design was being conceived the RORC rule was being phased out in deference to the new IOR. Small adjustments were made to the design of the yacht so that it could be made into a Half Tonner. This led to a little more beam amidships and more depth in the midship area. A careful arrangement of the for'ard girth stations around the stem knuckle allowed the FIGS measurement point to be pushed slightly aft relative to FGS which helped the Forward Overhang Correction measurement.

Titus Canby in her original white colour scheme in 1972 (photo DB Yachting Annual)

The stern of Titus Canby was cut off almost vertically to achieve a lower rated length. But to achieve a Half Ton rating Blackburn had to cut some lead out of the trailing area of the keel and replace the missing area with wood, and place 8kg of lead under the foredeck.

Tohe Candu on her way to winning the 97-mile short ocean race during the South Pacific Half Ton Trophy series (DB Yachting Annual)

The formula worked and the performance of Titus Canby in the 1972 South Pacific Half Ton Championship exceeded all expectations, and a five minute win in the opening 40-miler was a stunning first effort by a crew that were still learning the yacht's idiosyncracies. A 14 minute win in the 180 mile ocean race cemented an overall victory. She was later bought by Ian Gibbs, who renamed the yacht Tohe Candu (the name meaning "I try harder"). He campaigned Tohe Candu in the 1974 South Pacific Half Ton Trophy series in a fleet of 33 boats, clinching victory with a nail-biting fifth place in the light airs of the long offshore final race to win the Trophy (series places of 1/1/3/5).

Titus Canby as Tohe Candu (Farr Yacht Design website)

Tohe Candu sails to weather on the Hauraki Gulf

Gibbs had set himself and his crew a target in the series that if they could win the South Pacific Trophy he would take steps to have the boat shipped to La Rochelle for the world Half Ton Cup in August and September 1974. Having indeed won the series, Gibbs had her shipped Tohe Candu to Europe. Although Tohe Candu was dominant in a warm-up series in Cowes against some forty English Half Tonners, she finished eighth overall in the Cup itself which was held in generally light conditions. However, the campaign was significant in that it represented the first New Zealand design to compete in international competition.

Tohe Candu competing in the 1974 Half Ton Cup (photo Beken | Farr Yacht Design website)

Tohe Candu returned to New Zealand and survived several rule changes to remain extremely competitive in local racing even five years after the lines were first put to paper. This was helped by a new taller 3/4 rig for the 1976 Half Ton Championship, which extracted a little more potential from the boat. Tohe Candu almost won the series, initially finishing just over one point ahead of Peter Spencer's S&S design Cotton Blossom, but was relegated to runner up after a controversial points award by the race committee that went in favour of Cotton Blossom.

Tohe Candu with her larger 3/4 rig during the 1976 Half Ton Championships (photo DB Yachting Annual)

Titus Canby in early 2010s (Farr Yacht Design)

The yacht has now reverted to her original name and until recently was sailed out of the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club in Wellington (with a PHRF of 0.685).

Titus Canby during the March 2017 Port Nicholson Line 7 Regatta (photo Chris Coad/SailWorld)

Titus Canby in recent times (photo Facebook)
Titus Canby has recently returned to Auckland, and since early 2022 was undergoing a thorough restoration at The Landing in Okahu Bay.