Magic Bus - Relaunched!

After an amazing restoration effort, the Paul Whiting-designed Magic Bus, winner of the 1976 Quarter Ton Cup, was relaunched at Milford Marina in Auckland on 3 November 2018, and recently featured on TV One news. The story of Magic Bus can be seen in earlier articles here, along with part of her restoration here.

Preparing to go back in the water

In the water and floating high at the bow without her internal ballast yet fitted. Magic Bus retains her original lines, appendages and rig

Magic Bus, back in the water at Milford Marina 

The deck and cockpit layout (above and below) remains original, but with new lines and fittings

A piece of New Zealand sailing history - reborn 

Photos from November 2021 (Facebook), with Magic Bus sporting a set of new Evolution sails 

More recently, Magic Bus was lifted out of the water and delivered to a place outside the Ponsonby Cruising Club for a very well-attended Paul Whiting tribute evening held on 15 May 2025.

Magic Bus on display as part of the Paul Whiting tribute evening

Article updated May 2025

Magic Bus - back in New Zealand!

The 1976 World Quarter Ton champion, the Paul Whiting designed Magic Bus, arrived back in New Zealand in May 2015, after a one month journey by ship from Alameda, San Francisco.  Magic Bus was launched nearly 40 years ago, in February 1976, and left New Zealand later that year for the Quarter Ton Cup held in Corpus Christi, Texas. A dedicated team have now brought this famous yacht back for a full restoration, and you can follow their progress here. A feature on the TVNZ news on 15 September 2015 can also be viewed here.

Magic Bus during the 1976 South Pacific Quarter Ton championships on the Hauraki Gulf

Magic Bus as found in Alameda, San Francisco and looking somewhat the worse for wear (photo above and below - Magic Bus Facebook page)

Magic Bus emerges from the container on her arrival back in New Zealand, 9 May 2015

Recent work in progress - March 2017 above, and July 2017 below

Howzat - launching day

The 1976 Whiting Half Tonner Howzat was launched today at Pier 21 in Westhaven, after a long and thorough restoration by owner Allen Walbridge. She sports a gleaming hull finish that reinstates her original red topsides and white stripes. 

Howzat is readied for launch, Pier 21 Westhaven (photo RB Sailing)

Howzat is readied for launch, Pier 21 Westhaven (photo RB Sailing)

The original long sloping transom has been straightened up a little, providing more cockpit space, and a new bulb keel and deeper rudder have been fitted. The new rig is taller than her original, and the boom is longer.

Howzat is readied for launch, Pier 21 Westhaven (photo RB Sailing)

A nice tribute to her designer, the late Paul Whiting, appears on Howzat's cabin sides (below).

Howzat in the water (photo RB Sailing)

The history of Howzat can be seen here. 
 

Howzat - nearing completion

Howzat, a Paul Whiting-designed Half Tonner from 1976, is nearing the end of a major restoration by her original owner. She recently emerged from her temporary shed at The Landings in Okahu Bay, Auckland, sporting a gleaming hull finish that reinstates her original red topsides and white stripes. 

Above and below - Howzat is picked up ready to be attached to her new keel (photos by Giles Grigg)

The original long sloping transom has been straightened up a little, providing more cockpit space, and a new bulb keel and deeper rudder have been fitted. A new rig is also expected to be fitted soon, and will be taller than her original.

Keel and rudder fitted - the transom has been straightened but the original IOR lines of this Whiting classic still remain evident, including the knuckle bow and pronounced 'chines' around the for'ard depth measurement points (photo RB Sailing)

The history of Howzat can be seen here.

Howzat (Whiting Half Tonner)

In 1976 New Zealand designer Paul Whiting was beginning to win world attention as a result of his success at the Quarter Ton level with Magic Bus and his Half Tonner Candu II. Auckland yachtsman Allen Walbridge commissioned a new Half Tonner from Whiting, which was essentially a development of Candu II but with a longer and more cruising-oriented cabin. The 31 footer was named Howzat - not just a cricketing reference but also a representation of the moment of truth when various measurement challenges were overcome in the midst of IOR rule changes and a Half Ton rating of 21.7ft was achieved.

Such challenges included the need to place her 12hp engine not just for'ard of the mast, but actually in the bow. This provided sufficient bow down trim to gain a critical rating benefit, but as can be imagined it made the boat particularly cranky downwind.

Howzat on launching day, Westhaven Auckland (photo Allen Walbridge Collection)

Profile drawing of Howzat (courtesy demi-coques website)

Howzat was raced extensively in Auckland regattas and some of the offshore classics, including the Auckland to Gisborne race. Her first major series was the 1977 South Pacific Half Ton Cup. By this regatta the hot favourite was another new Whiting boat, the centreboarder Newspaper Taxi, which won all but one of the races. Howzat finished fifth overall, with placings of 5/3/11/3/6. 

Howzat during the 1977-78 season (photo Allen Walbridge Collection)

Howzat alongside the Paul brothers' Farcical off the now-demolished Hobson Bay dinghy lockers sometime in the late 1970s (photo Allen Walbridge collection)

Howzat then went on to contest the New Zealand Half Ton Cup trials later that year, a series which was dominated by yet another new generation of yachts, the Farr centreboarders Gunboat Rangiriri and Swuzzlebubble and the Davidson centreboarder Waverider, and Howzat was out of the running for selection but enjoyed close racing with other 'second division' keelers such as Instinct and Farcical. 

Howzat during the 1977 Half Ton selection trials (photo Maritime Museum)

Mast reinforcements after withdrawing from the Tonga Race 1978

Soon afterwards Howzat contested the Southern Cross Cup trials, coming up against her centreboard Half Ton competition as well as their bigger One Ton sisters. Howzat initially gave a good showing in the fourth race, running second on corrected time in the early stages but fell back later after a big wind shift. Still, she had a consistent regatta, just finishing out of team contention in fourth place overall. Howzat went on to race in the 1978 Tauranga to Vila race, and then the 1979 Auckland to Tonga race - in the latter she suffered almost complete rig failure near the Kermadec Islands, but a jury rig arrangement saw them arrive back in Auckland safely.

Howzat inTauranga after a race from Auckland

She nearly made the Southern Cross Cup team in 1979, but after leading the series she was forced to withdraw from the final race after failing to find Groper Rock in fading light, big seas and high winds, and finished the series in fourth place overall.

Above and below - Howzat has been part of the racing scene in Tauranga before being recently transported back to Auckland

Walbridge has recently found his former charge in Tauranga and she has just been transported back to Auckland for a full refit. This will include repainting the yacht in her original colour scheme, and the fitting of a new keel and rig, in a similar manner to her earlier sistership Candu II. I will be following Howzat's refit with interest and will post updates on her progress here.

Howzat on arrival at the Okahu Bay boatyard, August 2013 (photo Heath Walbridge)

Later in August, the keel and rudder are off, the skeg has been cut out and the hull has been stripped back (photo RB Sailing)

More recent photographs (May 2014) can be seen here, being re-launched here, and photographs of her in on-edge conditions during a 2015 race here.

Howzat is presently for sale (August 2023).

Candu II (Whiting Half Tonner)

Ian Gibbs' mounted a series of campaigns to lift the Half Ton Cup in the course of his offshore racing career, commencing in 1974 with Tohe Candu (the former Titus Canby), and ending with Swuzzlebubble in 1979. The Tohe Candu effort was the first international effort with a New Zealand design (by Bruce Farr). 

After a disappointing result in the 1975 Cup with his Ron Holland design Measure for Measure, Gibbs decided to return to the light displacement route for the 1976 series with a new design by Paul Whiting, being a Half Ton version of the 1975 Quarter Ton Cup winner Magic Bus, and a near sistership and forerunner to the New Zealand Half Ton champion, Newspaper Taxi.

Candu II on launching day, note the hollow for'ard sections, long and wide stern and pronounced skeg

Candu II was conceived in the midst of preparations for the Magic Bus Quarter Ton Cup campaign (held in Corpus Christi, Texas), and followed the Whiting template established with his smaller Quarter Tonner, with a pronounced maximum beam, hollow waterline for'ard, offset with deep bow sections at the forward depth (FD) station and a long flat transom. The design also continued the use of a long shallow skeg extending beyond the after inner girth station (AIGS), as a method to shorten the rated distance between this measurement point and the after girth station (AGS). 

This view of Candu II shows her broad and tapered stern

The rig details and deck layout were a scaled up version of the approach used in Magic Bus, with a 102mm tapered tube section, stepped well for'ard and designed to be equally as bendy as the mast on the smaller Quarter Tonner. The rig featured the same big mainsail and small foretriangle ratio as Magic Bus, except that the foretriangle was even smaller on Candu II. In place of the normal inboard engine, Candu II carried an outboard weighing around 120lbs. This was because the increase in weight and drag from a shaft and propeller unit available through the engine propeller factor (EPF) measurement was considered by Whiting to outweigh the sail area advantage on this size and concept of boat.

Candu II was built in nine weeks on a crash schedule to be launched in mid-winter 1976 and in time for the Half Ton Cup series to be held in Trieste, Italy. Gibbs still owned Tohe Candu, and two days after her launching, Candu II was to compete against Tohe Candu to decide which yacht Gibbs would take to Trieste. Candu II was victorious and left soon after for the Half Ton Cup.

The outboard auxiliary solution was put to the test during the pre-contest measurement process. This involved boats having to motor a measured mile and recording their speed against their rated length. Many crews spent a great deal of valuable tuning time on engines - ten boats failed the first test, and three were barred from starting the series. Candu II, with the longest rated length, had to achieve the highest speed, and after a week of work on the engine she passed by just 0.2 of a knot. 

Candu II slipping along in light air during the 1976 Half Ton Cup (photo Bateaux magazine)

Candu II works out to weather of Idro

Whiting had to pay for Candu II's long length by trading off sail area, and the yacht was the outlier on both measurements in the 70 boat fleet. One of the more interesting boats to arrive in Trieste was Tuscany B, a former Quarter Tonner which had been cut in half and 'patchworked' together to give her the additional length necessary to achieve a Half Ton rating (21.7ft, instead of 18.0ft). The weird looking Half Tonner was nicknamed "The Italian Job", and was one of the few boats in Trieste to be lighter than Candu II, although this light displacement had to be traded for both length and sail area. Tuscany B finished tenth overall.

The converted Quarter Tonner Tuscany B, with bowsprit and a style of stern scoop not unlike that of the last of the America's Cup IACC yachts.

Unfortunately the regatta itself was plagued by very light winds and short, choppy seas which proved frustrating for the crew aboard Candu II. Prevailing calms wreaked havoc with the scheduled start time of 10am, and the earliest any race got underway was just after midday. The light weather was a disappointment for all 70 crews, particularly since good day breezes had prevailed before the contest began.

Another light air start in the 1976 Half Ton Cup series - Candu II visible in the middle of the photo to windward (photo Bateaux magazine)

Another light air start in the 1976 Half Ton Cup series

The series was won by the Holland design, the first of a series of yachts named Silver Shamrock, skippered by Harold Cudmore. She was a specially prepared production hull, with 500lbs less weight in her lay-up and a slightly bigger rig, although she was still one of the heaviest yachts, and with the largest sail plan she was undoubtedly the best prepared boat for the light conditions that prevailed, but some doubted that she would have been the fastest boat if the wind had blown. Defending Half Ton champion, Tom Stephenson, from Australia, sailed a sistership named Southern Shamrock, and finished fifth overall.

1976 Half Ton Cup winner Silver Shamrock - her stern sections contrast markedly with those of Candu II below

Candu II was by far the best reaching boat of the series, and no other boat could even begin to match her on that point of sail. Although not fully tuned, Candu II also proved fast on the wind over about 10 knots, with good pointing ability and boat speed. In 5-10 knots she could hold her own but sailed dismally under 5 knots and in the peculiar chop in the area. The light air and flat running conditions that prevailed in both ocean races were thus not Candu II's forte, and Gibbs and his crew did well to finish sixth overall in the 70 boat fleet.

Candu II on a reaching leg in Trieste, her favoured point of sail

The speed of Candu II was acknowledged at the prizegiving when title-winner Cudmore remarked on the untapped potential of the New Zealand yacht in a breeze, suggesting that the experience of sailing Candu II in the light air series "must have been very frustrating, much like sitting on a rocket but unable to light it."

Candu II, likely as Vice Squad, cruising off Torrent Bay (Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand) in early 1982 (photo Rip magazine)

Candu II as Vice Squad, circa early 1990s (est)

 Candu II returned to New Zealand and was the benchmark for Gibbs' new Half Tonner Swuzzlebubble, designed and built for the 1977 Half Ton Cup. She was raced in Auckland and later sold to a Wellington sailor and named Vice Squad, then Can Do Too in the mid-1990s. Extensive modifications in 2000 included a bigger rig, which was moved aft, and a longer keel with a bulb providing improved stability. A Brett Bakewell-White designed rudder was added in 2001 which made the yacht more responsive on the helm. She was renamed Candu II in 2004.

Candu II racing in fresh Wellington conditions in November 2005

Candu II, as seen in July 2024 (photo Facebook)

Article updated August 2025