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

Smir-Noff-Agen - The Rebuild (Part 2)

Here are some recent photos from the re-build of the Farr One Ton centreboarder, Smir-Noff-Agen. As readers may recall from a previous article, Smir-Noff-Agen was found in a parlous state in Australia in mid-2016, and has been shipped to Dubai where she is in the process of being upgraded to have a second life as a modern IRC race yacht.  Her wooden hull has been saved, and she is due for relaunch in September this year. She will be re-named Oro Nero, and will feature a black and gold colour scheme. 

Update November 2021 (MKF, Sailing Anarchy): "Still refurbishing the old Farr 1 tonner Smir-noff-Agen here.... should have it in the water next season. What was amazing is that all the plywood has rotted away, but the Kauri wood was as robust as new, amazing wood".

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

Smir-Noff-Agen: Saved!

Smir-Noff-Agen, one of five centreboarders designed by Bruce Farr for the 1977 One Ton Cup, has been rescued from an uncertain future in Australia's Gold Coast. She was loaded onto a ship in September 2016 for transport to Dubai, where she is receiving a complete restoration and upgrade to have a second life as a modern IRC racing yacht, with a similar approach to that given to the Half Tonner Swuzzlebubble.

Smir-Noff-Agen seen here sailing as part of the victorious New Zealand team during the 1977 Southern Cross Cup in Sydney

The Farr centreboarders of 1977 were very fast yachts, and featured some of the cleanest hull shapes of the IOR era, and considered long for their rating (27.5ft IOR). As with Swuzzlebubble, this combination, along with a modern rig, sails and foils, should mean that the boat will be very competitive under IRC.

In somewhat of a sad state following a stalled refurbishment effort in the Gold Coast

Smir-Noff-Agen was later named Vanguard, then Scallywag II (and won the 1982 Sydney to Hobart race), and then Best by Farr - her history can be seen here. She will be re-named Oro Nero, and will feature a black and gold colour scheme.

Being loaded onto a cradle (above) and truck (below) for her long voyage to Dubai

The effort to give Smir-Noff-Agen a new lease of life means that four of the five boats built to this design are still sailing and/or racing (see Jenny H, Mr Jumpa and The Red Lion), with only the whereabouts of the Australian boat Hecate unknown (but thought to be located in Darwin).

Update here.

Heatwave (Jim Young One Tonner)

Original profile drawing for Checkmate

Heatwave, a Jim Young designed One Tonner, started life as Checkmate, making her racing debut in the New Zealand One Ton Nationals held in early 1977. Checkmate was a fairly radical looking yacht, with a very upright bow profile and waterline sections based on Youngs' earlier NZ37 design, plus flared topsides to maximum crew leverage and some hull distortion for a favourable IOR rating. Contrary to the strong wind orientation of his earlier Half Tonner Mama Cass, Checkmate tended to be overpowered in a breeze and performed better in the light. While she showed some potential, she was never an all-round threat and finished a disappointing 11th in the Nationals (with placings of 8/13/6/9/11/DNS).

Following that performance, Young carried out some major surgery to Checkmate, to the extent that the fiberglass yacht was cut in half, retaining the bow sections while long hours were spent fitting a new after section. Also discarded was the keel which was substituted by a 800lb weighted centreboard that, originally, was able to automatically gybe three degrees to weather and gave a definite advantage when beating, particularly in a breeze. The old name was also discarded, and the yacht emerged as Heatwave.

Checkmate during the 1977 New Zealand One Ton Nationals (above and below)

The bow sections were not left completely untouched, however, with the introduction of a new sharp upward curve in sheerline, combined with a 'stepped' concave stem profile (similar to Stephen Jones’ English Quarter Tonner Odd Job) – an approach that appeared to allow the forward girth station to be moved aft while retaining maximum waterline length for’ard. Her rig utilised a swept-back spreader concept, with a small set of spreaders for the lower inboard stay, and did not appear to be as sophisticated the in-line set up used on her Farr competitors, nor, in the end, as robust.  

Heatwave featured the longest rated length and widest beam aft of all the top boats that entered the 1977 One Ton Cup trials, which suggested high theoretical speed. However, in a fixed rating class length had to be paid for, and was offset in Heatwave's case through a more voluminous underbody and significantly greater displacement, and a relatively modest sail plan. 

Heatwave during the 1977 One Ton Cup trials (photo Maritime Museum)

Heatwave did go on to be the surprise performer of the New Zealand trials for the team to contest the 1977 One Ton Cup. While she was generally considered to be the fastest boat on a tight reach, she suffered a broken mast in the first race, and had to scramble to put a new rig in the boat in time for the second race, in which she finished a lowly tenth. However, Heatwave recovered to finish in third place In the medium offshore race - she was the only boat to head Smackwater Jack in the outer Gulf, leading from Groper Rock to Channel Island, but she was headed by the superior capabilities of Smackwater Jack and Jenny H to windward, and suffered from damage to her cockpit instrumentation. She then backed that up with a second in the fourth race and a modest sixth in the final race.

Heatwave during the first race of the 1977 One Ton Cup, behind Result (KC2998) and Rockie (US2900)

Heatwave opened her One Ton Cup scorecard with an eighth place, last of the centreboarders and edged out for sixth and seventh by the Farr keelboats Country Boy and Rockie. However, Heatwave bounced back strongly in the second race to lead at the first mark, after working the favoured left hand side of the course, but gear problems caused her to fall back. A mainsail slide jammed as the crew went to reef the sail for the second beat while closing on the bottom mark. The crew ended up late getting the spinnaker down and by the time everything was sorted out they had dropped to third place.  

Heatwave then had a disappointing 11th in the medium distance offshore race, which got underway in light airs, but recovered in the stronger conditions in the fourth race with another third.

Heatwave leads Mr Jumpa and The Red Lion around the first mark in the second race of the One Ton Cup

Heatwave on a downwind leg during the 1977 One Ton Cup



Heatwave powers along upwind during the 1977 One Ton Cup (photo Facebook)

With near gale conditions for the start of the long offshore finale, there were hopes that Heatwave may be able to put in a strong performance to lift her up in the overall standings.  However, trouble started before the race even got underway when Heatwave suffered a collapsed spreader. She ended up starting half an hour behind the fleet after tying up to Orakei Wharf to effect repairs. Heatwave finished the long race in fifth place, and she finished the series in sixth place overall.

Heatwave sails up the Rangitoto Channel during the 1977 One Ton Cup (photo Maritime Museum)

Heatwave arrives back at Westhaven after a race in the 1977 One Ton Cup

Heatwave leads Export Lion around a gybe mark during one of the inshore races during the 1978 One Ton Cup

Heatwave during the 1978 One Ton Cup

Heatwave was bought by a Danish sailor in time to compete in the 1978 One Ton Cup, which was sailed in Flensburg, Germany. With her long length, heavier displacement and moderate sail area, was in her element upwind in a breeze, which was in good supply for the series, and she benefited from some new sails from the Fogh loft. While Heatwave was sailed at least 8 to 10 degrees lower than anyone else, her boatspeed was so good she more than made up for this lack of height. But she was not endowed with particularly good speed downwind, mainly managing to live off whatever buffer she had earned on the upwind legs. 

Heatwave may well have won the series had she not met such light airs in the first race. In that race, and although she was faster in light airs than she had been a year earlier, she finished a calamitous 16th. But Heatwave followed this with a second, sixth and a first, for fourth overall, and in three of the four races, including both offshore races, she led around the first weather mark.  

Heatwave has since been based in Europe, and more recent photos from circa-2003 are shown above and below.

The Red Lion (Farr 37)

The Red Lion, the Bruce Farr centreboarder that won the 1977 One Ton Cup, is still going strong! I recently heard from the current owner of The Red Lion, an Italian yachtsman (Marco) who bought the champion yacht in 1980 from her previous owner in Punta Ala. This was a couple of years after the 1978 One Ton Cup series in Flensburg, Germany, where she finished in ninth place.

The Red Lion has been maintained by Marco in excellent condition in her current home port of Salerno, Italy. She undergoes a complete refit every ten years to ensure her wooden hull remains sound. After experiencing some problems with the centreboard, The Red Lion was fitted with a Farr-designed fixed keel in 1984. The new keel and added stability has also allowed for a new and taller mast. For her most recent upgrade the owners made use of the photos attached on an earlier article on the history of The Red Lion, and the name and lettering is now faithful to her original appearance. 

I am grateful to the Marco and his family for providing these more recent photographs of The Red Lion, showing her competing in many regattas in the Mediterranean seas of Italy over the years, including the Italian Championship off Capri in 1986 (where the stunning Bert Richner photograph at the top of this article was taken). Photos like this shows that the fears of yachting officialdom in the late 1970s that boats like The Red Lion would fly to pieces were unfounded.

The Red Lion racing in Capri, 2000 (above and below)

The Red Lion racing in Gaeta, 2002 (above and below)

The Red Lion following her most recent 19-month long refit