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

Southern Cross Cup 1983

The 1983 edition of the biennial Southern Cross Cup, held in Sydney, Australia, was a memorable regatta for the dominant performance of the New Zealand team that was made up of three 40-footers built to Farr’s latest Design #136: Exador, Geronimo and Pacific Sundance.

Pacific Sundance, top yacht of the 1983 Southern Cross Cup (photo Phil Uhl)

Design 136 was an upsized development of Farr's previous 37-footers (Migizi and Freefall, Design 124) that had shown great speed at the 1983 SORC and were the first of a new generation of IOR designs from the Farr office. The design was finalised in April 1983 and was the first response to the change in the ORC rules that increased the IOR limit for the One Ton class from 27.5ft to 30.5ft. 

Geronimo, second yacht overall, rounds a weather mark during the 1983 Southern Cross Cup (photo Phil Uhl)

Design 136 was pitched to excel in the typical lumpy and windy Australian and New Zealand conditions, with less sail area and more length than boats intended for Northern Hemisphere racing, but it went on to do well everywhere. The boat was considered to be extremely stiff, with small straightforwardly-shaped trapezoidal keels. The design proved a phenomenal performer upwind, and were fast reaching and OK running. New Zealand skippers Tom McCall, Owen Chantaloup and Del Hogg were quick to see the design's potential and commissioned the new boats, while a number were also built concurrently in Australia.

Exador, fourth yacht overall and part of the successful New Zealand team, seen here rounding a windward mark during the 1983 Southern Cross Cup (photo Phil Uhl)

A closely packed fleet in very light conditions during the 1983 Southern Cross Cup - Di-Hard visible to the left, along with Highland Fling (KH-888), Hitchhiker (KA-303) and Indian Pacific (3695) (photo Phil Uhl)

Third yacht overall Di-Hard, seen here after rounding a gybe mark with Geronimo in the background (photo Phil Uhl)

The three New Zealand had yachts all benefited from the one-design nature of their pre-regatta tuning programme, and all secured places in the New Zealand Southern Cross Cup team, edging out the only other real threat in the Hitachi-sponsored trials, from Neville Crichton's Frers 43 Shockwave. Pacific Sundance was the top performer, and Geronimo and Exador finished second equal, and thus the New Zealand team for the Southern Cross Cup in 1983 was comprised of three almost-identical Farr One Tonners.

Britain's Panda seen here to windward of Australia's Sagacious (photo Phil Uhl)

Highland Fling, rounding a weather mark with Taurus II close behind, was a member of the third-placed Hong Kong team (photo Phil Uhl)

Mandrake, a Ken Steinman 50-footer (photo Phil Uhl)

The Frumious Bandersnatch (a Peterson 43), member of the third-placed Hong Kong team (photo Phil Uhl)

The New Zealand team put on a devastating and all-conquering performance in the Southern Cross Cup, taking wins in three out of five races to secure the Cup with 531 points, 111 points clear of the second-placed New South Wales team. The New Zealand boats proved exceptionally fast in all conditions except when the breeze dropped below six knots. Pacific Sundance, skippered by Geoff Stagg and Peter Walker, posted a first, third and fourth among the 27 yachts in the three inshore races to finish as first yacht overall, with 211 points. They also won the 180-miler (short offshore), and the Sydney-Hobart Race which doubled as the final race in the series - in fact she nearly won the Sydney-Hobart overall, but ran out of wind just 40 miles from the finish off Tasman Island and had to settle for sixth place in the 160-boat fleet.

The spinnaker is launched aboard New South Wales' team yacht Hitchhiker (photo Phil Uhl)

Geronimo, skippered by Stu Brentnall, finished as second yacht in the Southern Cross Cup fleet on 182 points (eighth overall in the Sydney-Hobart) and Exador, helmed by Ray Haslar,was fourth (and ninth in the Sydney-Hobart). The New Zealand victory was an even more dominant performance than in 1977 (Jenny H, Smir-Noff-Agen and Swuzzlebubble), and almost as good as New Zealand's first win in 1971 (Barnacle Bill, Inca and Pathfinder).

Australian yacht Black Magic, a Dubois 40-footer, sailed for the Victorian team, seen here heading off on a reaching leg during the 1983 Southern Cross Cup, with Highland Fling close behind (photo Phil Uhl)

An interesting perspective of the Southern Cross fleet making their way downwind in light reaching conditions during the Southern Cross Cup - British yacht Indulgence (Dubois 42) leads the way, with Pacific Sundance (red spinnaker) and Geronimo (green and white) visible on the right (photo Phil Uhl)

Black Magic sails upwind in the light airs and choppy conditions that prevailed throughout the 1983 Southern Cross Cup (photo Phil Uhl)

This second-placed team included two Australian Admiral’s Cup contenders, Bondi Tram and Hitchhiker, both Frers’ 41-footers, and another Farr 40, Indian Pacific (which finished sixth yacht overall). Third was the Hong Kong team of Bandido Bandido (Frers 43), Highland Fling (Dubois 42), and The Frumious Bandersnatch (Peterson 43). Another Frers 41-footer, Di-Hard, sailing for the fourth-placed Papua New Guinea team, finished as the third yacht overall on 167 points.

Hitchhiker in light airs completes a gybe during the 1983 Southern Cross Cup (photo Phil Uhl) 

The Frumious Bandersnatch approaches a gybe mark during the 1983 Southern Cross Cup (photo Phil Uhl)

Australian yacht Too Impetuous, a Holland 42, rounds a leeward mark during the 1983 Southern Cross Cup (photo Phil Uhl)

Di-Hard seen here rounding a windward mark during the 1983 Southern Cross Cup (photo Phil Uhl)

A close up view of the crew of British yacht Jade shortly after rounding a windward mark (photo Phil Uhl)

Indulgence follows Bondi Tram around a windward mark (photo Phil Uhl)

The New Zealand yacht Shockwave - missed selection for the New Zealand Southern Cross Cup team, but sailed in the fifth-placed Australian team (photo Phil Uhl)

The series ended with a controversial protest, which saw the British yacht Panda disqualified for a minor port and starboard incident which occurred as the fleet tacked its way out of Sydney Harbour. There had been many collisions as the fleet had jammed up after a close reach down the harbour and the turn to the south off Sydney Heads. However, few protests had been lodged and no other yachts had been penalised. Panda’s disqualification from the triple-scoring Sydney-Hobart race cost the British team 45 points, dropping it from third place to sixth in the final team standings.

Indulgence seen here amongst the melee of preparations for the 1983 Sydney-Hobart Race (photo Phil Uhl)

Indian Pacific takes a pin-end start during the 1983 Sydney-Hobart Race, with Indulgence (K-959) up to weather (photo Phil Uhl)

Panda, a member of the sixth-placed British team, was unfortunate to be disqualified from the Sydney-Hobart Race (photo Phil Uhl)

Indulgence broaches during the early stages of the 1983 Sydney-Hobart Race (photo Phil Uhl)

Australian yacht Taurus II sails downwind during the 1983 Sydney-Hobart Race (photo Phil Uhl)

1983 Southern Cross Cup team results:

1 New Zealand (531 points); 2 New South Wales (430); 3 Hong Kong (388); 4 Papua New Guinea (353); 5 Australia (350); 6 Britain (342); 7 Victoria (291); 8 Tasmania (191); 9 South Australia (141).

Article updated June 2026

The end of the IOR

I recently came across an article penned by well-known yacht designer Julian Everitt and which had been shared to the One Ton Class Facebook page. Julian has been kind enough to allow me to publish his insightful and thought-provoking article here (to which I've added a few images):

A while back David Macfarlane posed the question: “Why did the IOR die?” The answer is surprisingly simple and has little to do with economic downturns, crazy, escalating costs or the perception that the boats were unseaworthy and slow.

 Australia's Ragamuffin during the last Admiral's Cup under IOR in 1993, not long before the eventual demise of the IOR altogether 

The very people, the members of the International Technical Committee (ITC), who were tasked to protect and develop the rule for the benefit of the owners signed the death warrant some six years before the beast was finally deemed extinct. It wasn’t a deliberate act, by any means, it was just kind of allowed to happen as interests grew in the development of a new ‘super’ rule that would cure all the ‘ills’ of offshore handicapping. It was called IMS. The International Measurement System.

IMS was very much an American based initiative formulated by a burgeoning interest in the power of computers as envisioned by ‘idealists’ at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This belief in a ‘perfect’ system filtered into the ITC who then increasingly believed that IMS could replace IOR as THE rule for Grand Prix Offshore Racing. At a stroke IMS was perceived as a handicapping system that would allow the return of ‘wholesome’ cruiser racers to the Grand Prix level.

ILC40s, as a level-rating derivative of the IMS rule, seen here competing in the 1995 Admiral's Cup

The 1976 French cat rigged Mini Tonner L'Effraie

And so the scene was set for a showdown between the two rules. Funnily enough however, this ‘conflict’ largely took place behind closed doors - the closed doors of the ITC. This erstwhile Group of designers and boffins had done a reasonable job of helping to develop the original, Olin Stephens/Dick Carter created Mk 1 IOR, into an ever more complex Mk III IOR. They had dealt with the slings and arrows of ‘cat’ rigs, unballasted daggerboards, extreme overhangs, bumps, chines and many other rule dodgers thrown at it by a vast army of new, young designers. The rule really was the ultimate mathematical, but organic and holistic challenge imaginable and so it required a lot of policing and an awful lot of tweaking.

The Farr One Ton centreboarder, Jenny H, 1977

At the annual ITC meeting always held in November and euphemistically called The November Meetings informal submissions were invited from the ‘floor’ for what would eventually become IOR Mk IV. But the minds of the powers that be were elsewhere. Despite impassioned pleas from designers including Tony Castro, Geoff Stagg, representing Bruce Farr, the Dubois office, myself and several owners to use IOR as the ‘baseline’ for producing more user friendly designs, the ITC elected to promote IMS as the rule for the future. Gary Mull, chairman of the ITC at this time, seemed to be heavily influenced by a growing love affair from American designers, like Dave Pedrick, Bill Tripp and the ‘scientist’ Jerry Milgram, with IMS. Together they envisioned a new breed of fair hulled, moderate designs, with great stability, proper cockpits and fitted out interiors.

The IOR Mk IV, proposed from the audience at the 1988 November meetings promulgated similar outcomes, but utilising the proven and robust linear formulas of IOR rather than the largely unknown reliance on unproven Velocity Predictions inherent in the IMS formula.

Turkish Delight trying to stay on her feet during the 1987 Irish Admiral's Cup trials

In the proposed revisions to IOR, stability would be unmeasured getting rid, at a stoke, of the dreaded Centre of Gravity Factor - a measurement fraught with inaccuracies and held largely responsible for producing unstable boats and ones overly dependent on crew weight on the rail. CGF was also directly responsible for such undesirable idiosyncrasies as beam waterline bumps.

Gone too would be the ubiquitous 150 percent overlap on headsails which gave unrated sail area. This change would have opened the door to the development of non-overlap rigs.

Victory (left), Hitchhiker and Pinta sporting their big no.1 genoas during the first race of the 1981 Admiral's Cup 

The accursed creases and distortions around the aft girth measurements was to be addressed also. One simple suggestion was to rule out any form of reverse inflection in the aft profile. The days of the bustle were virtually over anyway and of course all of our proposed rule changes could be easily ‘grandfathered’ to prevent the existing fleet suffering too much. In reality small changes to the aft girth stations and most particularly the girth differences between inner and outer girth stations would have produced fuller, wider and fairer sterns in short order, while maintains an element of choice. Choice being a factor missing from today’s rules.

While the outcomes of such changes cannot ever be accurately predicted, cause and effect is highly influential in a formula like IOR. The simple removal of the penalty on stability would have quickly allowed designers to create lighter boats as stability could have been found in low CG keels rather than hull form and brute overall weight. In turn lighter and more powerful boats would have pointed the way to fuller sterns.

Gunboat Rangiriri - one of the new breed of Farr-designed light displacement centreboarders of 1977, showing the relatively clean lines that were possible before the ITC forced an increase in displacement

But the ITC very systematically destroyed these arguments as unworkable and felt IMS was a much more effective way of achieving the same outcomes. In fairness to the ITC a number of designers, including Rob Humphries - a member of the ITC board at the time - had IMS designs out racing that did showcase the rule rather well. But this was to be a short lived moment.

And so the ITC policy was set at that fateful November meeting in 1988. The two rules would run in parallel while the anomalies inherent in the VPP-driven IMS were sorted out and a new era of dual purpose offshore racers would begin.

Work would continue on the development of IOR, but with none of the suggested fundamental changes implemented. A Mk IV Rule was duly drafted, but few in authority had any real enthusiasm for it. As far as they were concerned IOR was dying and IMS was the new kid on the block to be nurtured.

The Whitbread Maxi ketch Steinlager 2 

In an earlier attempt by the ITC to be more inclusive of heavier, more cruising orientated boats an IOR MK IIIA was introduced, but this backfired spectacularly when Bruce Farr, in particular, exploited the carelessly drafted rule by producing the heavier, but much longer Steinlager 2 Whitbread Maxi in 1989. This amazing own goal of a rule amendment created by the ITC finally allowed the creation of the all conquering inshore Maxi Matador2. Far from allowing the development of heavier, more fitted out boats, the Mk IIIA rule simply promoted heavier stripped out boats which in the case of the Maxi’s allowed them to effectively gain 3ft, or so, of unmeasured length. This was one of many misdirections the ITC took in trying to ‘protect’ the rule and it had a seriously deleterious effect on owner confidence.

Matador 2, the biggest and fastest of the IOR Maxis 

But back to the ITC meetings of November 1988. I remember it like yesterday, Geoff Stagg’s final reaction to the ITC intragency. “We don’t really care what you do. Just give us any rule and we’ll go off and design winners for it”.

Gaucho (above and below)

And that is precisely what happened. Within two years Farr had produced the ultimate Grand Prix IMS boat in the form of the 43ft Gaucho. But it wasn’t the beginning of the new era predicted by the rule makers of elegance and internal comfort. Gaucho signalled a very different future. Her overhangs were very short, freeboard was high, the sheer line straight and the interior just as stripped as an IOR boat except for the introduction of a door on the ‘head’ compartment. Other required features like a galley and saloon table were treated with token gestures expensively built in carbon. But much more significantly, in order for velocity predictions to work ‘accurately’, actual stability had to be measured. It wasn’t long before lead was being replaced by wood at the bottom of keels. Not exactly the promised land of wholesome cruiser racers envisioned by the rule makers.

But while IMS continued to be promoted as the solution to ‘fair’ global offshore yacht racing IOR struggled on, shouldering virtually all of the blame for declining racing fleets.

I remember talking to Olin (Stephens) about it all. He was very sanguine - perhaps even a little surprised by the way IOR had developed, but ever the enthusiast for a mathematical solution he liked the theories behind IMS and perhaps felt that the apparent shortcomings in the IOR could be addressed more effectively by the overarching qualities of IMS. It was a mathematically-based theory that wasn’t born out in practice.

With the advantage of a 21st century perspective and taking into account yacht racing developments since the death of IOR in 1994, would keeping IOR been better for the sport as a whole? In terms of continuity and preventing the explosion of multiple, fleet sapping alternative classes, it would assuredly have been beneficial. But it did need a major shot in the arm at the end of the 1980s to reassure an ever more cynical owner base that their worries were being addressed.

Cookson's High 5 followed the Gaucho theme and was dominant in the 2000 Kenwood Cup 

In the rarefied atmosphere of Whitbread sponsored global racing, Bruce Farr, once again, showed the way. As IOR lay on its deathbed - an outcome accelerated by clumsy attempts to update events like the Admiral’s Cup with the proposed introduction of one designs and IMS handicapping - Farr, in tandem with the foresight of the Whitbread race committee who allowed asymmetric spinnakers to be flown, discarded the ‘heavy’ design route he had produced with Steinlager 2 and produced a new Maxi design that was some 7,500kgs lighter. This much lighter design was a great deal quicker around the world and potentially showed a new beginning for lightweight IOR racers. Sadly, however, these three Farr ketches, La Poste, Merit Cup and New Zealand Endeavour, were one of the last throws of the dice for IOR.

New Zealand Endeavour - one of three new Farr-designed Whitbread Maxi ketches for the 1993-94 race 

But back to theorising about where IOR could have led in design terms. Would keeping a highly modified version of the rule kept ocean racing on its feet? Would it have prevented the almost total demise of classic events like the Ton Cups, the Admiral’s Cup, the Kenwood, the Southern Cross, the Onion Patch, the SORC? Who knows? Maybe it was all about economics or personal time management, but what I do know is that the defining legacy of IOR was its success at global continuity in offshore racing. To have made the decision to ditch this in favour of a hugely more flawed IMS was a grave mistake.

Would a boat designed to an updated version of IOR as suggested back in 1988 at the ITC meetings evolved into something equivalent to today’s high performance designs as typified by the IRC racers, TP52’s and Fast 40’s? Yes. Is the simple answer. Advances in lightweight construction, appendage design, carbon spars would have all contributed hugely, but the biggest single factor effecting overall design and concept would have been the removal of attempting to measure stability. Just as is the case today, boats would not have become more stable, but would simply have become significantly lighter and capable of carrying larger rigs effectively. These are the primary elements driving the performance in today’s designs.

To have arrived at this point in the genesis of the offshore yacht within the IOR style framework would have resulted in far more fleet continuity across the globe and possibly allowed the major offshore championships to survive the various financial challenges and rule uncertainties that killed them off.

Julian's article concludes with the above image of his 43 footer Backlash, with the caption "It's not easy to pick a single picture that represents the entire IOR era from 1970 to 1994, but this comes from a high point of the rule in 1985. Fleets were huge and there was enormous variety of design from a multitude of designers".

Article dated August 2019

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