Razzle Dazzle (Irwin 42)

This article is about two of the 42-foot Razzle Dazzle yachts designed by Ted Irwin. The first competed in the 1983 and 1984 SORC regattas. The second was built to make her debut for the 1985 edition. An earlier Razzle Dazzle had sailed well in the 1982 SORC and the design became the basis of the Irwin 41.

Razzle Dazzle sails downwind during the 1984 SORC (photo Larry Moran)

The original Razzle Dazzle was considered to be one of the fastest yachts upwind and close-reaching in a breeze in the 1983 and 1984 editions of the SORC, but didn't manage to finish all the races it started. In 1983 she was forced to retire from two races and couldn't start in a third, finishing ninth in Class E (with race results of 3/DNF/DNS/2/DNF/1) and 53rd overall. In 1984 she finished five of the six races and sixth in Class E (1/DNF/3/5/8/1) and 16th overall. Over that period she twice won the Nassau Cup in the Bahamas and not only topped her class but was the overall winner in the 1984 St Petersburg - Boca Grande race. 

Razzle Dazzle in hard running conditions during the St Petersburg to Ft Lauderdale race during the 1984 SORC (photo Larry Moran)

For 1985 Irwin did not come out with an exact twin of the earlier Razzle Dazzle, as the new boat featured a centreboard instead of a keel. While such appendages became popular for a brief and controversial period in offshore racing in the late 1970s, it was a radical departure from the norm by the mid-1980s. Irwin nevertheless considered that the centreboard would be an advantage in SORC conditions. The board was on the small side (as was the previous Razzle Dazzle's keel), but nevertheless weighed over 5,000lbs, with an elliptical trailing edge. The board was lifted hydraulically about three feet into the hull, and was fitted with a gasket to reduce turbulence around the trunk.

Razzle Dazzle performs a spectacular wipe-out during the 1984 SORC as captured by Guy Gurney

The centreboard's retractability gave a considerable reduction in wetted surface area off the wind, as recognised by the IOR and leading to a 0.3ft rating penalty. As the boat featured a high sail area/wetted surface area ratio already, removing half the foil area suggested the potential for good speeds in light airs downwind. 

The centreboard trunk and hydraulic mechanism of Razzle Dazzle in photo 1 (left) and her complex genoa car set-up in photo 2 (Yachting magazine) 

Razzle Dazzle leads the Italian yacht Almagores in light airs during the 1985 SORC (photo Paul Mello)

Apart from this notable feature, Irwin was focused on retaining the phenomenal ability of the original Razzle Dazzle to go fast to windward in a breeze, and her other distinguishing feature was a chine running along her stern counter. With similar livery and the same sail number as her predecessor (which had since been sold to a New England yachtsman and re-named Mohuaki) it could be a little difficult to outwardly tell the difference between the two boats, although the open transom of the new boat did help in this regard. She was also designed to be eligible for the US trials series for the 1985 Admiral's Cup, and her 31.7ft rating (for the 1985 SORC) fell easily within the 33.5ft upper limit that organisers had set for the team. 

Razzle Dazzle rounds a windward mark in close company with Lobo during the 1985 SORC (photo Sharon Green | Ultimate Sailing)

Compared to other similar-sized entries in the Class 4 division of the SORC in 1985 (e.g., Snake Oil, Sidewinder and Scarlett O'Hara), the new Razzle Dazzle was smaller in absolute terms (shorter and lighter) but had the highest displacement/length ratio, and the smallest sail area/displacement ratio. Similar to the earlier boat, Razzle Dazzle had a large proportion of her total displacement as internal ballast, which was expected to reduce pitching moment and improve her performance in a seaway. However, she was also noted to have the widest beam of her group, which provides a rating advantage but can also be a handicap in wavy conditions. 

Razzle Dazzle follows High Roler and Sleeper during the 1985 SORC (photo Sharon Green | Ultimate Sailing)

In the end, however, Razzle Dazzle was only able to manage eighth in the 21-boat fleet in Class 4, with placings of 6/12/11/10/7/17, and 37th overall, in the 1985 SORC. She went on to compete later that year in the US Admiral's Cup trials (presumably with some alterations designed to increase her speed as her rating had increased for that regatta to 32.0ft), but was not successful. 

Razzle Dazzle during the 1985 SORC (photo Paul Mello)

Razzle Dazzle rounds a weather mark during the 1985 Brenton Reef US Admiral's Cup trials (photo Phil Uhl)

Razzle Dazzle with a twisted spinnaker during the 1985 Brenton Reef series (photo Facebook)

A recent photograph (date unknown) shows that the yacht has since been laid up and looks somewhat forlorn.

Article dated March 2024

SORC 1985

This article features some more great photographs from Sharon Green/Ultimate Sailing from the 1985 SORC series, as well as commentary from a Seahorse article at the time. 

High Roler during the Boca Grand-St Petersburg race

The SORC was the premier offshore regatta in the US, and had begun to take on an international flavour, with the Germans attending in 1984 after their Admiral's Cup victory in 1983. They had arrived with Outsider, Container, Pinta and of course, Diva which was top individual yacht overall. For 1985 it was the turn of the Italians, who came in style following the 12m World Championships, with Brava, Gemini, Almagores, Nitissima and Templar's C. Nitissima, Gemini, and Brava all had class wins in individual races, whilst Templar's C took an overall win in the 150 mile Ocean Triangle. It was also the year that brought the early-launched Whitbread race contenders to Miami, and was also unique in that for the first time the US would not be selecting their Admiral's Cup team from the SORC results, which would be held later in Newport, Rhode Island (and limited to yachts rating no more than 33.5ft). 

Matador crosses behind Kialoa 

The 75 boats that lined up for the 1985 SORC did not fail to impress with the high level of construction detail, finish, preparation, rigs and crew. Lightness and stiffness was pursued with high carbon fibre content for compressive and tensile strength, and US mast engineering prowess on show with chemically etched and milled rigs with hydraulic checkstays and rapid 'Farr' style tapers to a 3 inch diameter at the tip. Sails showed a myriad of construction techniques using the latest cloths, such as warp-inserted Kevlar laminates from Dimension and the use of Kevlar tapes to link major load areas without the need for two-plying. 

Smiles, overall winner of the 1985 SORC

Eight different designers were represented in the top ten, with Farr and the Faroux, Finot, Berret-designed Beneteau One Tonners having two of the top yachts apiece. Interestingly, even with all the competitive new custom boats hitting the water, production One Tonners took 1st, 2nd and 6th place, and One Tonners overall took out six of the top ten places, the other places by 42/43 footers. It had traditionally been the Europeans sailing the leading small boats, but this year the three US-sailed One Tonners - Smiles a masthead J41, Glory a Beneteau 40 and Total Eclipse (ex-Geronimo) a Farr - came out on top. In the 1984 series another J41, Dazzler, placed third overall, and in 1985 Charlie Scott demonstrated the good all-round ability of the J41 design to take the overall honours. The second-generation Beneteau One Tonners, Glory and Fair Lady (sixth) were 400kg lighter than the 1984 versions with a more hi-tech layup and greater attention to detail in construction of the ends to save weight. 

Total Eclipse rounds a leeward mark

While Farr had only two designs in the fleet, they took third and fourth overall, and it was unlucky that Total Eclipse, the oldest boat in the fleet and skippered by sailmaker Bill Shore, did not win overall after posting 3/2/4, and then 2nd in the final race before a disappointng 52nd in the Ocean Triangle (race 4) after sailing too long in the Gulf Stream. The other Farr boat, the 43 foot Snake Oil, was leading overall after four races with two class wins. But the final Miami-Nassau race, once again, turned out to be a small boat procession with the fleet results in exactly the reverse order of size. Snake Oil's 42nd in that race pushed her down to third overall.

Snake Oil tacks away from Sweden's Carat

Some of the best competition was in Class B, which was almost a Frers' one design class with Morning Star, Nitissima, Fujimo, Tomahawk, Carat, Springbok and Jubilation battling it out, and John Kolius on Morning Star eventually taking the class win.

Springbok crosses behind Morning Star

In the Maxi fleet the Frers-designed Boomerang continued to dominate with five class wins although at times she was pushed by Matador (ex-Huaso). The challenge from the new Holland-designed maxi Sassy failed to materialise after she lost her rig in the Lipton Cup.

Overall winner of Class A, Boomerang

Sleeper, a Nelson/Marek 42 skippered by Lowell North, took three wins in Class D, one of the most competitive classes, but finished second behind the Irwin 42 Slick. 

Brooke Ann

High Roler leading Sleeper and Razzle Dazzle

Innisfree

Lobo, helmed by Dennis Conner, third in Class D and tenth overall

Jubilation in startline action in Class B

Razzle Dazzle, an Irwin 42, showing her interesting chined stern sections while rounding a weather mark just behind Lobo

Class D boats prepare for a start during the 1985 SORC

Lobo and Sidewinder (Reichel/Pugh 43)

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

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

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

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

Lobo powers upwind during the 1985 SORC

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

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

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

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

Lobo running downwind during the 1985 SORC

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

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

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

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

Sidewinder

Lobo

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

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

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

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

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

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

High Roler

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

Lowell North's Nelson/Marek 42 footer Sleeper

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

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

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

Lobo (left) during the 1985 Big Boat Series

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

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

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

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

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

Sidewinder during the 1987 Admirals Cup (photo Seahorse)

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

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

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

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

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

The original Sidewinder sailing in Mexorc, 2016

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

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

Article updated April 2026