Screw Loose (Holland Half Tonner)

With the success of Wild Rose in the 2014 Sydney-Hobart race, and favourable conditions that led to the predominance of the smaller and mid-sized yachts in the corrected time results, it is perhaps timely to recall a much earlier edition of the race when lighter winds had also brought success to those yachts at the back of the fleet. Screw Loose, a production Holland-designed Half Tonner, just 30 feet long (21.7ft IOR), was the smallest yacht to ever win the Tattersall's Cup in the benign conditions that characterised the 1979 Sydney-Hobart race.

MASH leaves the Mundle factory at The Spit, Sydney (photo courtesy Michael Spies/Doug Sharpin)

Screw Loose had started life as MASH, a customised Holland Half Tonner built by Doug Sharpin (from the 'Golden 30' mould) for the 1977 Half Ton Cup. She was built in lightweight vinylester at Rob Mundles facility at The Spit in Sydney Harbour, and was given a taller rig than her production sisterships, with a double spreader spar supported by running backstays. The name MASH was an acronym of Mundle, Anderson (John Anderson, the 1972 Gold Medalist in the Star class and North Sails representative), Sharpin and Holland.

However, by the time of the the 1977 Cup series, held in Sydney, her design features of moderate to heavy displacement, masthead rig and narrow stern, that had been a successful combination in the 1976 Half Ton Cup, had been outclassed by the new fractional-rigged centreboarders in the 1977 series. MASH was well off the pace and finished a lowly 12th place overall (the Cup was won that year by Farr's Gunboat Rangiriri, while a Holland design Silver Shamrock III finished a close second). The boat was considered too light (relative to its designed displacement), and lacked stability and suffered upwind. Some improvements were achieved when the crew carried lots of drinking water in the bilge.

MASH is seen here at Rob Mundle's facility at The Spit, alongside a standard production Holland 30 (photo courtesy Michael Spies/Doug Sharpin)

Tasmanian sailor Bob Cumming bought MASH in late 1978, for just under $30,000, for local offshore racing (and re-named her Screw Loose), but was told by the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria (ORCV) that they would not accept its entry for the annual race across Bass Strait, as ORCV officials did not consider the yacht sufficiently seaworthy for the potential rigours of such a crossing. It is understood that the boat had suffered some gear failures in her early days, and the ORCV may have been aware of this. However, Cumming set out to prove them wrong, and strengthened the hull with additional ring frames and put in his entry for the 1979 Sydney-Hobart. Six weeks before the Sydney-Hobart, and after her entry had been accepted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), Screw Loose developed a serious leak in an overnight club race from Cumming's home club at Devonport (on the north coast of Tasmania). Although the yacht was the subject of a search and rescue operation, she managed to make it to port without outside assistance. 

Screw Loose charges downwind under spinnaker and blooper (photo courtesy Michael Spies/Doug Sharpin)

It is apparent that had the CYCA been aware of some parts of Screw Loose's history, she may never have been accepted as a starter in the Sydney-Hobart, particularly in the period soon after the 1979 Fastnet race disaster. The CYCA was unaware that Screw Loose was the former MASH, nor did they know of the rejection by the ORCV for its entry in the Bass Strait race, nor of the serious leak and subsequent seach and rescue alert during the Devonport club race.  A special committee did screen all entries, but somehow Screw Loose slipped under the radar, although one or two other entries were rejected. As it turned out, light conditions meant that Screw Loose or other yachts avoided any problems, but had there been a blow it could have been a different story (a similar type of oversight occurred with tragic consequences for the yacht Business Post Naiad in the stormy 1998 race).

But as journalist Peter Campbell reported at the time, none of that background should detract from the sailing skill and fine seamanship demonstrated by Cumming and his crew, who sailed Screw Loose brilliantly. They sailed the boat to the limit as the fleet came surfing southwards before a continuing nor'easter which gave them a spinnaker run for almost the entire race.

Screw Loose at the Sydney-Hobart race start (photo Histoiredeshalfs)

It had been the Frers-designed maxi Bumblebee IV that took line honours in the race (against a then record of 147 entries), and initially looked to have no chance on corrected time. But as thick fog continued on the Tasmanian east coast, and the fleet ran into lighter and lighter winds, her prospects for the line and handicap double began to improve dramatically. Bumblebee IV held her time against the bigger Admiral's Cup yachts, then the Two Tonners and One Tonners, until the Half Tonners began to sweep across Storm Bay and up the Derwent before a fresh sou' easter.

Cumming and his crew finished almost a day and a half after Bumblebee IV (in four days, 23 hours and 3 minutes), taking almost 109 hours to complete the journey, with an average speed of 5.76 knots, to claim her Sydney-Hobart victory. She scored a narrow four minute win over Sydney yacht Wheel Barrow, a Carter 30, followed by Tasmanian Half Tonner Apali taking third another six minutes later. In the cold morning hours and through to dawn the Half Tonners kept crossing the finish line and Bumblebee IV slipped further down the list on corrected time, finally finishing 15th overall. Half Tonners took out the first eight places, and 11 of the first 15 places. Such a sweep of the results by small yachts would not be repeated in later editions of the race, although the later Half Tonner Zeus II (Peter Joubert design owned by Jim Dunstans) won in 1981. Screw Loose was also the first Tasmanian yacht to win the race on corrected time since Westward won in 1948.

Screw Loose was later owned by Wayne Brighton in the mid to late 1980s and was the New South Wales Division 3 (displacement) JOG champion. The boat was then sold to Chris Walmsley in 1988, who also campaigned Screw Loose with some success in Papua New Guinea. She made the trip from Cairns to Port Moresby without mishap, but lost her mast during a coastal race in Moresby. The boat was hard running when the rig went over the bow. The rig was retrieved and repaired with an internal sleeve, and the crew were back racing in a couple of weeks.

Screw Loose circa 2010 (photo mysailing.com.au)

The distinguished history of Screw Loose had become a distant memory by 2010 by which time the Hobart champion had became a roost for resident sea birds in the Royal Papua Yacht Club Marina in Port Moresby, and appeared somewhat neglected. Fortunately, it was reported in 2011 that a new owner had decided to refurbish the yacht in Airlie Beach, and fit her out as a comfortable cruising sloop. It is not known if the refurbishment was completed.

Sources:

This article has been compiled from a variety of sources including Peter Campbell's article 'Surprise victory for a Half Tonner', The World of Yachting 1980-81, Editions de Messine, Paris;  'Tiny Sloop Packs Mighty Wallop', The Age, 1 January 1980; Michael Spies and Doug Shaplin; and 'Screw Loose sails again in the Whitsundays', Ian Grant, mysailing.com.au (13 Sept 2010).

Silver Shamrock III (Holland Half Tonner)

Silver Shamrock III was Ron Holland’s first centreboard yacht, designed for the 1977 Half Ton Cup which was held in Sydney just before the Southern Cross Cup series of the same year. Given the pedigree of its designer and crew, which included Harold Cudmore and Butch Dalrymple-Smith, the tiger-striped yacht was expected to perform strongly in the series. The boat was constructed in a highly developed timber and carbon fibre layup, with a fractional rig. Her maximum beam was more amidships compared with her main competition, namely the Bruce Farr-designed boats such as a Gunboat Rangiriri and Laurie Davidson's Waverider. She also carried a degree of tumblehome, and a transom only half the width of the Farr and Davidson boats - the stern was distinctive in the way that it tapered to a narrow rounded tuck. 

Silver Shamrock III racing during the 1977 Half Ton Cup (photographer unknown)

Despite her lightweight construction, she displaced twice that of the Farr and Davidson boats, weighing in at some 7,000lb. Some of that displacement was attributable to last minute additions of ballast to bring Silver Shamrock III up to her Half Ton rating (21.7ft IOR). The crew ran out of time with the boat and the ability to optimise its rating. Approximately 625lb of ballast was added to the boat, and this was considered, not surprisingly, to affect the yacht's reaching performance.

Holland had adopted a different approach to the more upright centreboards of her lighter displacement opposition, with the centreboard case piercing the deck for’ard of the mast and the centreboard angling back at a reasonably acute angle. 

An unusual sight on an ocean-racing yacht - Harold Cudmore and crew fitting the centreboard to Silver Shamrock III before racing in the 1977 Half Ton Cup

As with the preceding One Ton Cup held earlier in Auckland, the Half Ton Cup proved again the superiority of the lifting foil. Within the first 10 minutes of the first race, the 22 boat fleet split into two divisions – the six centreboarders in ‘division 1’ and the keelers in ‘division 2’. With nothing between Silver Shamrock III and her main opposition (Gunboat Rangiriri, Swuzzlebubble, 2269 and Waverider), the 250 mile ocean race finale became the decider - this after Silver Shamrock III had a near disaster in the short ocean race when her mast fell over the side just 400 yards of the finish line.

Silver Shamrock III during the 1977 Half Ton Cup (photo DB Yachting Annual)

Silver Shamrock III needed to finish two places ahead of either Gunboat Rangiriri or Waverider in the long ocean race to win the contest. It was a light wind affair, and Silver Shamrock III gave herself the best possible chance by finding more breeze in the early stages and clearing out to an unassailable lead, leaving the regatta result hinging on the placings astern. Both Swuzzlebubble and Waverider held too close into the windless Botany Bay, which let Gunboat Rangiriri in for the second place she needed to win the title, finishing some three hours behind Silver Shamrock III, and just beating 2269, to take the Half Ton Cup from Silver Shamrock III by the narrowest of margins – just one point, with placings of 5/1/2/2/2 against Silver Shamrock III’s 1/4/3/5/1.

Silver Shamrock III climbs out to weather after a start in the 1977 Half Ton Cup, with Newspaper Taxi (3223) to leeward and Gunboat Rangiriri astern (3426) (photo Ajax)

That Silver Shamrock III dropped her mast in the short ocean race was therefore a deciding factor in the outcome of the regatta, although it was also fortunate that Silver Shamrock III lost her mast so close to the finish and lost just one place. Had it gone a few miles earlier, it would have been very costly. The loss of an earlier mast on Silver Shamrock III before the series also demonstrated the lengths that crews were going to in order to shave weight in all areas, and not just the hull. It was Holland’s view that in the first incident the bottom of the mast was probably due to too much chemical milling. During the contest itself, the toggle system attaching the runners to the mast seemed to have failed, similar to a problem experienced by B195 in the One Ton Cup. Still, Silver Shamrock III was exceptionally well sailed by defending champion Cudmore, and proved to be at her best in light winds, winning the first race as well as the long ocean race finale.

Silver Shamrock III follows Swuzzlebubble out to a start in the 1977 Half Ton Cup

The difference in performance between Gunboat Rangiriri, in the light corner, and Silver Shamrock III, in the heavy corner, or, as Farr put it at the time, “about as heavy as people want to go these days”, was minimal, and showed the IOR was coping with the differences in displacement concept, at least in the light to moderate conditions that prevailed off Sydney. They represented the development of two entirely different boat types to a similar pitch and were very similar in performance, and similar over a wide range of conditions, although Shamrock was faster downwind in the light, while the Farr and Davidson boats were faster downwind in the fresh. Between those extremes, observed Farr "they were so similar they really could have been the same design."

Silver Shamrock III leads the fleet back to port, with Gunboat Rangiriri and Waverider astern

Silver Shamrock III went on to sail for the EEC (the former European Economic Community) team in the Southern Cross Cup series (with Pinta and Variag), while Swuzzlebubble stayed on to compete in the New Zealand team (alongside the centreboard One Tonners Jenny H and Smir-Noff-Agen). Although they had been similar in speed in the Half Ton Cup, in the stronger breezes of the Southern Cross Cup the heavier Silver Shamrock III proved to be no match for the lighter Swuzzlebubble, with placings of 20/6/12 before the Sydney-Hobart race, compared to Swuzzlebubble's 9/4/2. 

Silver Shamrock III battles her way out of Sydney Harbour in light and choppy conditions at the start of the 1977 Sydney-Hobart race

Both boats, however, failed to finish the storm-afflicted Sydney-Hobart race, which saw only 70 yachts finish of the 130 that started. Silver Shamrock III suffered minor damage to her frames and withdrew. Cudmore commented when he reached the fishing port of Ulladulla, “We are not out to kill ourselves – the storm was very bad and we didn’t want to take any risks.” The other two boats in her team managed to finish, and helped the EEC team to a fourth placing overall. 

Silver Shamrock III (photo Peter Cavill)

Silver Shamrock III was sold in Australia (and replaced by a less successful version, Silver Shamrock IV for the 1978 Half Ton Cup held in Poole). She was found on a swing mooring in 1982 in Sydney Harbour by Australian sailor Peter Cavill. She was transported to Brisbane for a big renovation, including shallowing the cockpit to make it self-draining. The original 'mackerel' paint scheme was too difficult to replicate so the Unchu (Clipper Cup yacht) design was adopted instead. With a shortage of time and money the boat was re-launched for the local Gladstone race, with the Stern rig which promptly fell over 1 hour into the race. 

Silver Shamrock III showing good upwind form in the 1980s, possibly with the older Stern mast (photo Peter Cavill)

Cavill then put in a narrower and lighter triple spreader rig and some new North sails and started winning everything he entered, except the downhill coastal races. She was sold in 1985. Some years later it came into the hands of the Hodder family, by which time the centreboard case was falling out. The un-ballasted centreboard was changed for an elliptical keel and the mast was modified to be keel stepped. It was sold in the early 1990s, and her whereabouts are unknown, with some variability in her eventual fate judging by the comments below. 

Silver Shamrock III with a new paint job and new rig (photo Peter Cavill)

Update: Photo below of Silver Shamrock III (April 2024) on the hard at Airlie Beach (photo Facebook)

Article updated May 2024

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

Gunboat Rangiriri (Farr Half Tonner)

Gunboat Rangiriri was the second of Farr's centreboard Half Ton design (Design 65) for the Half Ton Cup held in Sydney in December 1977. The yacht, commissioned by Dr Peter Willcox, was launched on 24 August 1977 following a rush build of just 90 days, and was joined by Ian Gibbs' sistership Swuzzlebubble in the strong NZ Half Ton fleet.

Design 65 was a big Half Tonner, with 380mm more length, 200mm more beam and a rig nearly a metre taller than Farr's previous Half Ton design, the Farr 920. This design was 110kg heavier, but benefitted from cleaner hull lines in the stern area, and these yachts still look fast even today. Although it was often beneficial to place the engine for'ard of the mast on light displacement yachts of this size for rating purposes, Farr opted to place the engine in the centre of the boat in order to optimise the design for better performance in the big waves expected in Sydney. 

Engine placement and driveshaft (Peter Morton photo)

Gunboat Rangiriri and Swuzzlebubble were stand-out performers in the Half Ton trials, but fought out an incredibly close series with the Laurie Davidson centreboard design Waverider. Gunboat Rangiriri, helmed by Peter Walker, finished the first race in third, but bounced back to win the second race. The third middle distance ocean race was a cliffhanger, the three yachts at the head of the fleet descended on the finish line at Orakei Wharf in a bunch, with Gunboat Rangiriri taking the gun two boat lengths ahead of Swuzzlebubble, with Waverider third, just two seconds adrift. 

Above and below - 1977 Half Ton Cup trials (J Malitte)

The finish of the fourth race was even closer, with Waverider winning by only 11 seconds from Gunboat Rangiriri and Swuzzlebubble, who dead-heated for second.  In the 260 mile final ocean race, Gunboat Rangiriri and Swuzzlebubble tussled between themselves for the lead after Waverider retired with a broken rudder. It was a long race, but incredibly Swuzzlebubble led Gunboat Rangiriri home by just 32 seconds, which gave her the overall series win. 

Gunboat Rangiriri being loaded aboard a ship to Sydney (J Malitte)

Gunboat Rangiriri went on to win the Australian trials series which was the ideal build up for the Half Ton Cup itself. For the Cup Gunboat Rangiriri and Swuzzlebubble were joined by their Australian sistership 2269, and this boat, along with Waverider and the Holland design Silver Shamrock III, were the ones to watch. Gunboat Rangiriri scored places of 5/1/2/2, demonstrating excellent consistency, and then it all came down to the 250 mile ocean race finale, with all five top yachts in with a chance. Although Silver Shamrock III won, Gunboat Rangiriri finished in second, which was enough to win the Half Ton title, by just one point.

Gunboat Rangiriri slides downwind in the 1977 Half Ton Cup

Interior photo, centrecase still evident (Peter Morton)

The yacht was sold to Swiss yachtsman Dr Peter Knoblock the following year and competed in the 1978 Half Ton Cup held in Poole, England. Without her original crew she was a shadow of her former self, finishing a lowly 17th overall. Although she demonstrated her potential on occasions, especially in the final ocean race, her crew were new to the boat and unused to the techniques involved in handling a light displacement centreboard yacht, and were unable to do her justice. Further changes to the IOR in 1979 led to a 4.7% increase in her rating, but additional displacement and a new keel meant that she was still able to compete in the class, although her 1980 measurement certificate shows that she carried a Displacement-Length Factor penalty of 1.0239.

The yacht is now located in Italy and is maintained in near original condition by her current owner Claudio Massucci. She races in the Italian Half Ton Cup series held each June, and has a recent IRC rating of 0.945. 

Gunboat Rangiriri - still sporting her original livery, seen here in Italy (Peter Morton photo)

 Competing in the Italian Half Ton series (courtesy Claudio Massucci)