Admiral's Cup 1993

A stampede of 50-footers during the fourth race of the 1993 Admiral's Cup, with Champosa VII leading Pro-motion VII, Indulgence and Corum Saphir (photo Sharon Green | Ultimate Sailing)

Just as they did in similarly boisterous conditions in 1985, Germany outlasted their opponents to win the 1993 Champagne Mumm Admiral’s Cup for the fourth time. In a series that became a battle of attrition by the end of the Fastnet race, the Germans finished with all three boats – Container, Rubin XII and Pinta - intact, while the early front-runners, Australia and Italy, paid dearly for collisions and gear failure. Germany won by just a quarter of a point, an even narrower margin than the French in 1991. It was a fittingly close result for what was to be the swansong for the IOR in the Admiral's Cup.

Starline action during the 1993 Admiral's Cup, with Nippon to windward (mid-tack), Swing (JPN3553), Indulgence (GBR) and Jameson 3, with the bow of Mandrake to the right (photo Sharon Green | Ultimate Sailing)

The win nevertheless came as a surprise to the German team. Despite having the current One Ton champion Pinta, their team was not considered to be as strong as Australia or Italy.

Pro-motion VII powers along in fresh reaching conditions during the 1993 Admiral's Cup (photo Sharon Green | Ultimate Sailing)

As with the 1991 event, teams were made up of a 50-footer, Two Tonner and a One Tonner. However, the three-class level-rating scoring that had proved so successful in 1991 was dropped. Elapsed times had to be corrected not just into class order, but fleet order too. An age allowance factor was also introduced. However, only two scores from three boats were counted for each race (after it was feared that the series might fail and so two-boat teams were permitted for the first time). Only the Dutch team failed to field a three-boat team. It was therefore impossible to tell the results while racing was underway, and as a windy series, it favoured the larger yachts. This meant that some crews may have sailed well, but were rewarded with no points. A good 50-footer seemed essential for success, since their ability to obtain clear air early in any of the races guaranteed them a better chance than the boats which had to struggle through the disturbed air of one or two bigger classes – indeed, five of the seven races were won by the 50-footers and the other two went to Two Tonners. The One Tonners hardly got a look in, but Germany’s One Tonner, Pinta, that year's World One Ton champion, was essential to the team’s success even though she only recorded a score in two races.

Mandrake leads Jameson 3, with Champosa VII setting her spinnaker and followed by Corum Saphir and Container (photo Sharon Green | Ultimate Sailing)

Australia showed early form – Syd Fisher’s Ragamuffin (ex-Will) in the hands of Peter Gilmour, had looked the best 50-footer on the track. Gilmour constantly proved that, and only the combined attack of his opponents, and hitting a windward mark in the third race, stopped Ragamuffin from winning every race easily. The team’s One Tonner, Ninja, was a touch off the pace but this was made up for by John Calbert Jones’ Great News II (ex-Wings of Oracle), which became a force in the hands of Colin Beashel and it was only when her mast broke off at the deck early in the Fastnet, 20 miles north of the Scillies Islands, that the Australian challenge was lost.

Corum Saphir creates a bit of white water as she rounds a leeward mark (photo Sharon Green | Ultimate Sailing)

The German success was due to the efficiency of the team with back-up support that was ready for almost every eventuality, with New Zealand’s Peter Lester playing a key coaching role.

Jameson 2 rounds a gybe mark ahead of Rubin XII and Swing (photographer unknown)

France had probably had more practice than the rest of the team, but the combined talent never materialised into a winning force until the Fastnet, where once again, the French were the highest point scorers. But by then it was too late. Mistakes were common and Corum Saphir, the team's 50-footer (ex-Springbok), failed to score for her country in three of the inshore races when the big boats were dominant. Corum Rubis, the Two Tonner (ex-Bravura), recorded a solid score in every race and only Ragamuffin and Container were able to do as well. But Corum Diamant, the One Tonner (ex-Okyalos VI) failed to shine.

The aftermath of the Mandrake / Pro-motion VII collision in the fifth race (photo Sharon Green | Ultimate Sailing)

Italy lead into the final race, but were impacted by the loss of Mandrake, the 50-footer, in the fifth race after she had won two consecutive inshore races. Mandrake and the Dutch yacht Pro-motion VII crashed as they approached the windward mark for the second time. After losing her lead at the first mark Pro-motion was caught by other 50-footers, and then slightly over-stood the windward mark on the second time. She was slightly high on Indulgence’s weather hip as Mandrake came across on port. Skipper Francesco di Angelis dipped Indulgence’s stern but when the rudder stalled while attempting to dip Pro-motion and her bow entered the middle of Pro-motion’s hull, slicing to just below the waterline, at the same time breaking off the front four feet of the Italian yacht. For a time it seemed that both would sink, and it was a full minute before they could be prised apart. The crew of Pro-motion immediately put her on port tack to keep the gaping hole clear of the water and headed for Chichester Harbour with pumps going flat out. Mandrake’s crew, meanwhile, covered the hole in the bow with a storm jib, massed their weight and all sails in the stern and settled in for a long slow tow home to Cowes.

The extent of damage to Pro-motion is clearly visible from this photo by Gilles Martin-Raget (Facebook)

The video footage of this incident, including the lead-up and aftermath, can be seen in a Reuters film here, and in the video below (at 33 minutes).

Mandrake’s loss was crucial for the team which had looked so strong on paper. Larouge, the Two Tonner, had just won the Two Ton Cup and was top scorer in the class going into the Fastnet, but on the way back from Fastnet Rock, and 40 miles from Bishop Rock, her runner parted and their rig tumbled with 130 miles to go. The One Tonner, Brava Q8 (One Ton Cup winner in 1992) was seen as a potent performer, but she only produced a good score on one occasion. She was initially lucky in race 3 when after hooking the mooring of the outer distance mark, the race committee delayed the start, but later lost her mast not long after rounding the final leeward mark.

Japan finished fifth. Champosa VII, the team's 50-footer, showed flashes of brilliance but her overall score was not as hoped for. Swing was a regular scorer for her team, but Nippon, the One Tonner, was not as strong, and things were not helped when a crew-member went over the side during the Fastnet, and the yacht subsequently retired.

Britain was a lowly sixth. Indulgence (ex-Juno V) finishing as top yacht in the Fastnet, but other than a second in the opening race, she failed to score in the next four. Provezza Sauce, the Two Tonner, had good speed but this was often wasted. The young team aboard GBE International (ex-Port Pendennis), might have done better but lacked experience of mixed-fleet sailing in a small boat.

"Jameson on the rocks" (photo Sharon Green | Ultimate Sailing) 

The Irish team’s performance were impacted from the first race after the team’s One Tonner, Jameson 1 (ex-Fram XI), hit the rocks off Gurnard Ledge (to the west of Cowes) and lost her keel. Four other One Tonner’s hit as well but Jameson 1 was the only serious casualty. Down to two boats, there was further disappointment when Jameson 3 (ex-Heaven Can Wait) broke her boom at the mainsheet attachment during the Fastnet race. Jameson 2 (ex-Shockwave) was the team’s bright note, finishing as the top Two Tonner overall.

The 35th Fastnet race, the seventh race of the regatta, provided the 20 remaining boats left in the Cup with a proper test of the fleet. Good strong winds, on the wind all the way to the Fastnet Rock, and a fast run and reach back, found weaknesses and, as usual, was the final arbiter of the Cup. At the front of the fleet, it was a battle between Ragamuffin and Indulgence, with Corum Saphir coming into the equation on the way home. Corum Rubis led the Two Tonners at the Rock, 16-minutes ahead of Larouge. Pinta led the One Tonners, ahead of Brava Q8 by 11 minutes, and Ninja another seven minutes back.

Experience aboard Indulgence was a key factor at the Lizard, when in a foul tide navigator Peter Morton took the boat inshore into a countercurrent and this enabled Chris Law to steer her ahead of Gilmour and the Ragamuffin team. She then led Ragamuffin into Plymouth Sound by just 11 seconds, with Corum Saphir a further 12 seconds astern. 

However, Ragamuffin lost a place to Corum Saphir on corrected time, which was crucial for the overall results. After Larouge’s dismasting, the Cup result became a battle between Australia and Germany, and much depended on the One Tonners. Pinta was the difference, finishing seven minutes ahead of Brava Q8 and, more importantly, one place ahead of Jamieson 2 on corrected time. 

A subsequent protest against Jameson 2 by Prevezza Sauce under the Collision Regulations about an alleged luffing incident during the hours of darkness, which would have raised Ninja by one point and given the Cup to Australia, was dismissed by the International Jury and the final result, and Germany’s victory, was confirmed. 

It is noted that without the discard scoring system, Germany's points margin would have been even higher, so at least the 'right' country won under the 1993 system. Ragamuffin was the highest individual points scorer.

An excellent video of the close racing experienced during the series can be seen below.

 

This article (April 2025) is adapted from the accounts within Bob Fisher's article in 'Admiral's Cup Blow by Blow', September 1993 (as printed in Boating NZ magazine) and Timothy Jefferey in The Official History of the Champagne Mumm Admiral's Cup (1994). 

Retaliation (Frers 51)

Retaliation in the 1982 SORC (photo Leutweiler/Seahorse)

Continuing the recent theme of the early IOR 50 footers, the feature for this article is the Frers 51-footer Retaliation, which was skippered by Dennis Conner to overall victory in the 1982 SORC. Like Margaret Rintoul III from the previous article, Retaliation was another development of Frers' earlier Blizzard, but with slightly less fullness in the stern.  

Retaliation was later sold to Swedish yachtsman Victor Forss. She was re-named Carat and went on to compete in the 1982 Sardinia Cup. However, despite her impressive performance in that year's SORC, she was disappointing in Sardinia, finishing a lowly 46th, struggling to save her time in the generally light airs against lower rated boats. She showed some of her earlier form, however, in the 1983 SORC when she finished as top boat in Class B (rating 40.0ft), with consistent class placings of 1/3/3/3/3/1, and was 22nd yacht overall.

Retaliation - above and below, on her way to winning the 1982 SORC

Retaliation (right) arriving at the dock after the final race in the 1982 SORC, the Nassau Cup, with Maxis Windward Passage, Ondine, Kialoa IV and Condor visible behind (photo Facebook)

Carat during the 1983 SORC (photo Sharon Green | Ultimate Sailing)

Carat leads the Peterson 51-footer Artemis on a tight reaching leg during the 1983 SORC (photo Sharon Green | Ultimate Sailing)

Carat was also selected for the Swedish team for the 1983 Admiral's Cup, alongside another Frers 51, Bla Carat, the ex-Acadia, winner of the 1978 SORC and which had finished second in Class B in the 1983 SORC. The third member of the Swedish team was the Norlin 42, Paper Tiger. Carat was one of three 40.0ft IOR "maxi-raters" in the 1983 Admiral's Cup, alongside Ireland's Moonduster, another Frers 51 footer and Bla Carat.

Carat before the 1983 Admiral's Cup

Carat during the 1983 Admiral's Cup

Carat had another disappointing regatta, as did the whole of the Swedish team, finishing in 32nd place (with redress points awarded for an incident in the second race). After two average places in the breezier first two races (23/21), Carat slumped to last place in the wind-less Channel Race, and then bounced back to win the fourth race held in the open waters of Christchurch Bay and in a breeze that was much more suited to the big boats. They were further helped by a windshift that came through just after they reached the first mark and affected the chasing pack, and a dying breeze that then slowed the smaller boats further. But Carat then finished 34th in the Fastnet race finale, and, with similarly lacklustre results by Bla Carat and Paper Tiger, the Swedish team finished in 14th place, of 15 teams.

Carat then went on to compete in the 1984 SORC, in Class B against a newer version of Retaliation (see photo above). With a slightly higher rating of 40.2ft, Carat finished sixth in class and 40th overall.

Carat also raced in the 1984 Clipper Cup as an individual entry, finishing fifth in the 15-boat Class B fleet, with placings of 5/9/3/5/7. She was captured performing an unscheduled gybe alongside US entry Artemis by photographer Sharon Green (Ultimate Sailing) in the two images above and below.

Carat soon after the start of a very windy Channel Race during the 1985 Admiral's Cup, from which she would later retire (photo Phil Uhl | Facebook)

Carat later competed in the 1985 SORC, finishing fourth in Class 2 (placings of 3/5/11/4/6/1, winning the Nassau Cup finale) and then made another Admiral's Cup appearance in 1985 as part of the 13th placed Swedish team.

It is understood that in later years the boat was renamed American Eagle and later on Crazy Horse, and it was raced on the Great Lakes, before it was eventually scrapped. 

Updated May 2023

Phoenix (Beneteau One Tonner)

Phoenix was a Fauroux/Finot/Berret design from Beneteau (a development of Fair Lady and sistership of Coyote), and had a starring role in the 1985 Admiral's Cup. She was sailed by Graham Walker and Harold Cudmore, who had actually started their 1985 campaign with Walker's fourth Indulgence, a Daniel Andrieu-designed One Tonner. However, on Indulgence's first offshore race, the RORC's De Guingand Bowl, they sailed too close to Bembridge Ledge and in the early hours of the morning she hit an old shipwreck (the 1916 wreck of the Empress Queen) - while initially the boat seemed sufficiently intact to sail on, further inspection just half an hour later found that the boat was filling up fast.  The crew were taken off the boat by other competitors, and the boat was written off. 

Walker chartered Phoenix from the boat's owner, an American based in London, and sailed well through the British Admiral's Cup trials. Phoenix joined two other One Tonners, Jade and Panda, to make up the British team for the 1985 series. The boat's owner shared time on the boat with Walker, while Cudmore put together a strong crew, and signed up new British J-24 champion Eddie Warden-Owen to helm the boat. 

The sad sight of Indulgence being lifted from the water after her collision with a sunken wreck off Bembridge Ledge

Phoenix in fresh downwind conditions on the Solent

Hull profile of the Beneteau One Ton design of 1984/85 - the design was relatively short, light, beamy and well-canvassed, and with a high prismatic coefficient

Phoenix

Results in the 1985 One Ton Cup, held in Poole, were perhaps as expected for a crew that were still getting to know the boat, and she finished 13th in a hot 38-boat fleet, including many One Tonners that were using the event as a warm-up for the Admiral's Cup. Her team-mates Jade and Panda finished first and third. Experience from the One Ton Cup was used to tune Phoenix, with adjustments made to the ballast, deck gear and sails to trade some upwind speed for better reaching and running form.

Phoenix crosses behind Australia's Drakes Prayer in light upwind conditions during the 1985 Admiral's Cup

Phoenix in close company with the much higher rating Almagores (ITA, centre) and Jade (inshore) in the stampede to the finish of the first inshore past Cowes Green during the 1985 Admiral's Cup

Phoenix and Jade finished fourth and fifth in the first race of the 1985 Admiral's Cup, giving the British team the early overall lead in the series. That was short-lived, however, after Panda and Jade finished 29th and 35th in the second race, with only Phoenix able to post a decent place of fifth, and the team slumped to fourth, and Germany jumped into the lead. But they bounced back in the fast and fresh reaching conditions of the third race, the Channel Race - Jade, Panda and Phoenix finished first, second and eighth to bounce back into second overall.

Phoenix in fresh conditions during the 1985 Admiral's Cup (photo is possibly before the start of the Fastnet Race)

While the fourth race, inshore on Christchurch Bay, saw the bigger boats into the leading positions, Phoenix took the race win. While Panda was the winner of the Fastnet, Jade lost her rig and although Phoenix finished fourth to take out the top yacht of the series honours, the German team put in a consistent effort to win the series comfortably.  

Port Barcelona comes back into the marina during the 1986 One Ton Cup in Palma de Majorque

Phoenix later became Port Barcelona and finished third in the 1986 One Ton Cup, held in Palma de Majorque (with placings of 4/12/6/5/16/3), and 10th in the 1986 Sardinia Cup (13/15/16/9/11).

Port Barcelona soon after a start during the 1986 Sardinia Cup, with Germany's Diva G ahead and to leeward

Port Barcelona during the 1986 Sardinia Cup

One Ton Cup 1986

The 1986 One Ton Cup was staged in Palma, Mallorca, and attracted a total of 33 yachts from 14 countries.  The host country, Spain, fielded a full contingent of six yachts, as did Britain. Unfortunately, wind conditions were less than reliable during the inshore races, and the regatta did become something of a lottery at times rather than a test of sailing skill. During the Olympic inshore races, windshifts could be anything between 20-60 degrees, and on the second Olympic course the wind actually went around the clock, turning two legs into one. More wind was enjoyed for the duration of the offshore races, although the second race, over a 272-mile offshore course, was the most painful for those who had fought their way to the front of the fleet. On the third morning of the race, while the leaders lay becalmed not far from the finish, the tail-enders sailed around them with spinnakers set.

However, it was generally felt that the best sailors emerged as the winners, and the event proved that Denmark was the current top nation in One Ton racing. After dominating the 3/4 Ton scene for a number of years, they had turned their attention to One Ton size and grabbed first (Andelstanken - above, leading Rubin VIII) and fourth (Aways) in their first attempt at the Cup.

Andelstanken approaches a windward mark during the 1986 One Ton Cup

X-1 Ton profile

The pre-regatta measurement and checking process yielded some discrepancies in freeboard measurements, often due to the manner of storage of gear within the boats, and sometimes through the blatant use of raking rigs forward during measurement.  With an aft rake of around 1.3m on the most extreme yachts, the effect of rake on the trim of the yacht could be considerable, and difficult to compare with actual sailing trim. Heavy aluminium spinnaker poles were used for measurement, and later swapped for carbon-fibre ones. This lead to half the owners delivering a letter to the jury pointing out some of these practices.  Spot checks during the regatta and after the finish of the short offshore race by the inspection and measurement team caught the Spanish yacht Ameldos with rafts and other heavy equipment in an aft windward bunk (the last leg of that race had been a long close reach of 50 miles, with crews on the weather rail the entire way).  The shifting of ballast in this manner was clearly against the rules, but attracted a somewhat paltry 20% penalty for the race (equivalent to seven places).   

Andelstanken - winner of the 1986 One Ton Cup (photo Per Heegaard/Dimension Sailcloth)

The winning yacht, Andelstanken, with places of 5/1/8/4/4/1 (including a win in the long offshore beset with calms at the finish), was one of five standard or slightly modified X-Yachts One Tonners, designed by Neils Jeppesen. The hull shape was based on the design of Euro, the third top performer in the 1985 Admiral's Cup, but with a harder bumping of the mid-depth measurement point, a slightly cleaner run on the buttock lines and a heavily cut-away forefoot. The result was a big, powerful and heavy displacement hull that was good to windward, but a bit sticky when sheets were eased. The X-Yachts were clearly the longer and heavier in the fleet, with the lowest displacement/length factor ratio (1.004).  A 1985 series date avoided being affected by new Crew Stability Factor (CSF) penalties.

Spain's Sirius IV (above and below) - second in the 1986 One Ton Cup

The second yacht was the Farr design Sirius IV, a further development of Farr's One Ton design that began with #136 in 1983, and which finished with placings of 2/16/3/6/1/2. Sirius IV, and her sistership Ameldos, were less full aft than their predecessors, but otherwise retained the Farr signatures of heavily distorted maximum beam and mid-depth stations. Sirius IV was clearly oriented towards light weather conditions with less displacement (5,390kg compared with 6,150kg compared with Andelstanken) and more sail area, while Ameldos had a 1986 hull date and therefore carried a CSF of 0.6%. Despite her light air orientation, Sirius IV excelled in all weather conditions, and was thought by many to be the fastest yacht at the Cup, but her disastrous 16th in the second race effectively ended her chances at overall victory.


The third boat was Port Barcelona (4/12/6/5/16/3), the ex-Phoenix which finished as top individual yacht in the 1985 Admiral's Cup and slightly modified for the expected conditions at Palma.  

Port Barcelona - the ex-Phoenix, finished third (photo Histoiredeshalfs.com)

Rubin VIII was a new Judel/Vrolijk design, which had a poor start to the series but went faster and faster as it went on, finishing seventh with placings of 23/13/5/7/3/6. She could not beat her earlier namesake, renamed Mean Machine, which finished sixth.  The new Rubin VIII was slightly longer and narrower, with notably less beam aft to avoid any CSF-related penalties, and sported a semi-elliptical keel which was very fat at the bottom but maintained a low wetted surface.  

Rubin VIII displays her elliptical keel during onshore preparations for the 1986 One Ton Cup (photo Seahorse)

Another interesting boat was Regardless, from the USA and the Nelson/Marek design team. Following European trends, she had relatively clean and undistorted lines other than the normal crease at the aft girth station. She had a lot of volume in the afterbody, and without a lot of bumping she carried some additional displacement that she was not credited for, thus being a bit heavier than her actual rated displacement figure (5,796kg) would suggest. Her series was marred by a poor result in the long offshore where she was badly caught by calms within sight of the finish line, but she proved to be a good all-rounder and was particularly impressive upwind. She finished ninth overall, with placings of 8/23/11/3/7/9. Designer and skipper Bruce Nelson was happy enough afterwards, feeling that the results of such a weird series were not too important, but encouraged by the way Regardless competed with the highly-touted European boats.

Andelstanken

A video of the series (of average film quality unfortunately) can be seen here:

Lobo and Sidewinder (Reichel/Pugh 43)

Sidewinder was the debut boat for the new design duo of Jim Pugh and John Reichel - they had left Doug Peterson's office to branch out on their own, and Sidewinder was owner Randy Short's first boat of any sort after he had sold his supermarket business in Australia to Safeway. Sidewinder, a 43-footer, shared some characteristics of the Peterson-designed Serendipity 43, of which Scarlett O'Hara was one of the most notable - she was the winner of the 1983 SORC, and top inshore boat of that year's Admiral's Cup. 

Reichel/Pugh adopted some of the Serendipity 43 parameters for their new design but gave Sidewinder slightly more sail area, as well as a considerably greater righting moment (RM), by 11%. The increase in RM was due to a number of factors - she initially had 800lbs less internal ballast than Scarlett O'Hara, much of which was in her keel instead; her up-to-date hull and deck construction, including two full-length longitudinals, which saved weight up high; and had 3.5 inches less freeboard than Scarlett, which lowered the weight of the deck and hardware. Sidewinder initially rated 33.6ft, slightly more than Scarlett's 33.2ft, but this was brought down for the 1985 US Admiral's Cup trials to 33.0ft.

Sidewinder rounds a top mark ahead of High Roler during the 1985 US Admiral's Cup trials (photo Sail magazine)

Sidewinder was the stiffest boat of the 1985 SORC group of Class D 43 footers, with a low tenderness ratio of 96, and her race results in her first season in 1984 bore this out. She won her class in that year's Clipper Cup in Hawaii (8th overall), edging out New Zealand's Shockwave, and was overall winner of the Round the State Race. She was third in class (even as the smallest boat) in the breezy 1984 Big Boat Series in San Francisco (again, just ahead of Shockwave). From her deck plan (below), it can be seen that Sidewinder was the most symmetrically-balanced between bow and stern, with narrower aft sections than was becoming typical at the time, this being an effort to provide a more easily driven hull form in confused seas.  

Lobo powers upwind during the 1985 SORC

A second boat to the Reichel-Pugh design was launched in December 1984 for owner Roger Livingston, being the silver hulled Lobo. This later boat is thought to have been constructed with a more advanced layup, and carried a slightly lower rating than Sidewinder, at 32.8ft. Livingston attracted a star line up for his boat, with Dennis Conner on the helm and Tom Whidden as tactician. 

Sidewinder (left) leads Lobo (centre) and Mokuahi and Mandrake (right) during a light air race in the 1985 SORC (photo Paul Mello)

Lobo takes her slip at the St Petersburg Yacht Club during the 1985 SORC (photo 'cadee' Sailing Anarchy Forums)

Both boats competed in the 1985 SORC, in a year where unusual weather conditions caused some upsets in the overall results. The SORC was more of a build-up event for Admiral's Cup hopefuls that year, with the team to be decided later in May in a trials series held in Newport, Rhode Island. After the fourth race, Conner reported that they "were hanging on by their fingernails", noting that Lobo is a "good windward-running boat not best suited to these reaching conditions". He proved this point by subsequently finishing top boat in class in the final 23-mile upwind/downwind Nassau Cup Race, to finish third yacht in Class D, and tenth yacht overall. Sidewinder was less impressive, finishing 11th in Class D, and 25th overall.

Lobo running downwind during the 1985 SORC

The message that small boats were required for the Admiral's Cup was well understood by 1985, and the US selectors had imposed a 33.7ft rating ceiling for their trial series. The rating ceiling meant that one of the stars of the 1985 SORC, the Farr 43 Snake Oil (34.1ft) could not compete in the trials. Still, the US trials attracted no less than 39 boats, including a big number of One Tonners. Held in May, it held some tests for the crews due to temperatures so cold that crews could see their breath - perhaps a good practice run for British weather. "Here I was", said one crewmember later, "out there in the middle of the night in the pouring rain trying to qualify for something worse".

Lobo during the 1985 Brenton Reef Series and US Admiral's Cup trials (photo Phil Uhl)

The comparative deck layouts of the US Admiral's Cup team yachts - note the narrow stern sections of Sidewinder

The Nelson/Marek 43 High Roler was the best performer, posting a consistent set of results with a third, two seconds and a sixth. Sidewinder bounced back from a disappointing SORC effort to be back on the pace in Newport with Paul Cayard as the new helmsman. Steve Taft and Skip Allan, with a successful Imp campaign behind them, also joined the boat. After the SORC, 640lbs of lead was removed from her keel and 140lbs put back as internal ballast. 

Sidewinder

Lobo

High Roler and Lowell North's Nelson/Marek 42 Sleeper established themselves as front runners for the US team places, Sidewinder and Lobo were left to fight it out for the third spot. Lobo had performed erratically - while she was the only yacht to win two races, she also posted a 27th in the first windward-leeward. But she effectively eliminated herself in the second distance race with a 22nd. Conner had wanted to the dodge the tide soon after the start and headed between rocks known as the Dumplings, through a gap which looked close on any chart. In Tim Jefferey's account in the official history of the Admiral's Cup, tactician Whidden was reported to have muttered "This is one of the stupidest things I've ever been involved in", moments before impact at a full six knots. Livingston also called it a "dumb stunt" - Lobo finished fourth overall and lost her place to Sidewinder.

Denmark, France, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea joined the British in selecting an all One Tonner line-up for the 1985 Admiral's Cup. Indeed, 34 of the 57 boats in the fleet were rated at or near the 30.0ft minimum. Against that trend, the US team was comprised of three boats rating near the maximum limit set by the selectors. It did not prove to be a winning combination.

Sidewinder had a dismal start in the first race in the first race of the Admiral's Cup, after she hit Canada's Amazing Grace when the tiller came apart in the skippers hands as he tried to duck her stern, and had to take a 50% penalty, as did Sleeper when she clipped the stern of a One Tonner.

Sidewinder at the start of the Channel Race in the 1985 Channel Race (photo courtesy Jonathan Eastland/Ajax)

Another photo of the Channel Race start, with Sidewinder to leeward of Sweden's Carat (photo Phil Uhl | Facebook)

While High Roler had a fantastic second race, winning by two minutes on corrected time, Sleeper and Sidewinder came unstuck after leading early on the Island shore when the breeze faded as they tried to come back to the mainland. The Channel Race was a small boat benefit with plenty of fresh air reaching. On the leg to France, Sidewinder watched a One Tonner hitch a lift on her quarter wave for a free tow, but then break off to sail on her own - faster. Sidewinder, rating a full 2.5ft higher, promptly latched onto the quarter wave of the smaller, faster boat.

High Roler

The fourth race, in Christchurch Bay and away from the variable breezes and capricious tides of the Solent, was more to the US team's liking, and they finished as top team of the day, by a full 50 points over Germany. High Roler was third, Sleeper fourth and Sidewinder sixth. The team's efforts were, however, subsequently undermined by a poor showing in the Fastnet, another windy affair. Before striking out across the Irish Sea, the Sidewinder team decided that enough was enough - with no chance of winning they retired to Plymouth. Sleeper boxed on and was performing well, in second place, when her mast broke after a shroud jumped out of the spreader tip. Only High Roler went on to finish, but that effort could only salvage a lowly ninth place for the US.

Lowell North's Nelson/Marek 42 footer Sleeper

High Roler and Sidewinder were both rushed back to the US for the 1985 Big Boat Series, where they joined Lobo for this prestigious, and typically windy, event. High Roler won her division, racing for the Atlantic Perpetual trophy, ahead of Shockwave and Sidewinder. Lobo sailed in a different division, and she sailed with her second keel and, with Tom Whidden on the helm, demonstrated such upwind speed that she handily won three races and took the Keefe-Kilborn Perpetual trophy. 

Lobo - this photo is possibly from the 1985 Big Boat Series

Owner Livingston was encouraged to take a spot in the US Southern Cross Cup team, but he had his eye on the 1986 SORC. With Conner on the helm again, and a lower rating (32.5ft) Lobo finished third in Class D (and 10th overall) - beaten by a new Irwin 42 Slick and Sleeper. Lobo's series included such highs and lows as a loss by just one second to Sleeper on corrected time in the Nassau Cup race, and an eighth and 15th in class in the St Petersburg to Ft Lauderdale and Miami to Nassau races, yet posting a class win and two seconds in other races. Lobo had the better of High Roler and Sidewinder however, who finished sixth and 11th in the same class.

Lobo (left) during the 1985 Big Boat Series

Lobo at the start of the Ocean Triangle race during the 1986 SORC (photo John A Glynn | Facebook)

Livingston had a new Sidewinder commissioned for 1987, again designed by Reichel/Pugh but longer at 44.6ft and fractionally rigged, with a rating of 35.18ft. She sported a fairly aggressive elliptical shaped keel, as had become fashionable at the time and was described as a relatively long boat with a moderate sailplan. Interestingly, she had started as a 42-foot design, but it then became clear that a 45-footer would better round out a competitive Admiral's Cup team who at that time also needed a good One Tonner on the squad. The 42-foot hull and deck built by Esprit Yachts sat around until picked up by southern Californian Don Hughes, who finished it and named her Quintessence, and went on to dominant SoCal big boat racing in the late 1980s with help from Dave Ulman in Newport Beach.

Livingston's new Sidewinder (photo John A Glynn | Facebook)

Sidewinder lost her rig during the 1987 SORC but competed in the Brenton Reef Series which formed the basis of the US Admiral's Cup trials, where she joined Insatiable and Blue Yankee. For the Admiral's Cup the rating was trimmed to 34.99ft, and she performed strongly in the inshore races, winning the Nyrea Trophy for the top inshore yacht, and finished fourth on overall points with placings of 3/20/5/2/14. 

The Sidewinder crew line the rail during the 1987 Admiral's Cup - complete with pink wet weather gear to match the yacht's spinnaker (photo Seahorse)

Sidewinder during the 1987 Admirals Cup (photo Seahorse)

Sidewinder during the 1987 Admiral's Cup (photo Seahorse)

Sidewinder (left) and Camouflage approach a windward mark during the 1987 Big Boat Series (photo Phil Uhl | Facebook)

Both Lobo and Sidewinder went on to compete in the 1987 Big Boat Series and Sidewinder then formed part of the US team for the 1987 Southern Cross Cup, alongside Jubilation (Frers 60) and chartered Australian yacht Drakes Prayer. The US team had a dramatic and inauspicious return to the series. Drakes Prayer was T-boned by Australia's Venture One in the first race, and the team was the centre of controversy after officials boarded yachts after the second race and cited the Hong Kong yacht Switchblade and Sidewinder for incorrect measurement figures. Switchblade accepted a 10 percent-of-placings penalty, but the US team, incensed by the citing that related Sidewinder's measurement discrepancies (what skipper John Bertrand called "nitpicking") to the blatant cheating that had been exposed in the I-Punkt scandal several months prior, threatened to withdraw from the series. Fortunately, after a flurry of talks, postponements, press conferences, and a public apology from the host club, the Cruising Club of Australia, the matter was dropped and the US team returned to the racing. However, Sidewinder was later dismasted during the Sydney-Hobart race finale while leading the 150-boat fleet, and the team slumped from third place to finish fifth in the team standings.

Lobo seen here rounding a weather mark during the 1987 Big Boat Series, just ahead of the former New Zealand yacht Equity (Farr 43) (photo Phil Uhl)

Sidewinder competing in the 1987 Big Boat Series (photo Sharon Green/Ultimate Sailing)

The original Sidewinder sailing in Mexorc, 2016

The second Sidewinder went on to become Scamp, seen here in more recent times (photo Facebook)

It is understood that Lobo went on to race on the Great Lakes (Lake St Claire and Lake Huron) during the late 1980s and through the 1990s, and after conversion to IMS won the Audi Quattro award as Boat of the Week at the 1991 Key West Race Week. Unfortunately she was lost in a marina fire in Michigan in January 1998, along with a number of other racing yachts. The 44-foot Sidewinder was relocated to Mexico in the late 1980s, and competed in the Mexorc regatta in 2016 (photo above).

Article updated April 2026