Flirt of Paget - sailing again

After an incredible five year restoration, Flirt of Paget, a Holland 40ft ex-Admiral's Cupper (ex-New Zealand yacht Spritzer) has been relaunched during the past European summer. Congratulations to Lars Klingstrom who has applied an incredible level of workmanship to this project. That work can be seen in Lars' updates through Sailing Anarchy, and on the Swedish website blur.se. The earlier history of Flirt can be seen here.

Flirt of Paget's kauri timber topsides are gleaming after a painstaking restoration effort

Indulgence V (Andrieu Three-Quarter Tonner)

The Daniel Andrieu designed Three-Quarter Tonner Indulgence V was another in a long line of yachts to the same name owned by British yachtsman Graham Walker. Andrieu designs were typically very attractive yachts, and Indulgence was no exception, featuring a slightly curved sheer, rounded transom line and a distinctive cabin window. Her French design origins were complemented by her construction, carried out to a very high standard by B&B, located in Trinite-sur-Mer.

Indulgence was designed and built for 1986 Three-Quarter Ton Cup (24.5ft IOR), which was organised by the RORC and raced in Torbay, and which she rounded out as winner, albeit by a close margin. She was skippered by Eddy Warden Owen, one of the British 12-metre helmsmen of the time, and carried sails by the British Banks loft. 

Perspective view of the lines of Indulgence

Deck plan of Indulgence

At the time, the IOR was facing increasing criticism for being over-complicated in its concept, over-expensive in its application and for producing ratings that were sometimes unable to be repeated in subsequent measurements. But for the 1986 Three-Quarter Ton Cup, the inherent strength of the rule became evident on the basis of the number of entries (26 yachts from ten nations), with the top five boats coming from the boards of different designers, and the racing being as close as in a one design series.

Indulgence under construction at B&B, Trinite-sur-Mer (above and below)

So despite Indulgence's high powered crew and 'no expense' spared construction, she didn't have it all her own way, being pushed to the very end by the Niels Jeppesen designed production X-3/4 Ton Frontrunner, steered by sailmaker Ib Anderson, who's firm Diamond Sails also provided her sail wardrobe. This all Danish team, who also formed the backbone of Andelstanken's win in the One Ton Cup that year, were no strangers to the event having won in 1985 in Green Piece and twice before that in the X-3/4 Ton predecessor, the X-102.

Indulgence on her way to winning the 1986 Three-Quarter Ton Cup

Indulgence chases Frontrunner around a wing mark

Whilst Indulgence and Frontrunner were the most consistent fleet leaders, often by an enviable amount, there were three others who were not far off the pace. One of them, the new Humphrey's Decasol, skippered by David Howlett, at times looked like a possible candidate for second place overall. Decasol won the short offshore race but otherwise she took third place too often and that was where she finished overall, followed in fourth by German yacht Flurshaden, which had placed second in 1984 and third in 1985.

The Humphreys designed Decasol - third overall

Indulgence went on to race in the 1987 edition of the series, held in Nieuwpoort, Belgium (contested by 15 yachts from seven nations). She had been sold to an Italian yachtsman (skippered by Vittorio Codesca), but still showed plenty of speed one year on and her crew had high hopes of retaining the Cup. The regatta was held in a wide range of conditions, from mirror-like seas which saw yachts kedging in  the tide to a full gale in the short offshore race which ended in retirement for five yachts and damage on three others. 

Indulgence during the 1986 Three-Quarter Ton Cup

The first race was in light airs, and had to be shortened, and Indulgence V finished 7th, which would prove to be her best placing. The long offshore race was also shortened, prior to the start, simply by deleting the first and last marks from the course to reduce the distance from 240 miles to 190. This caught out a few navigators because they failed to cancel the last buoy's waypoint from their Decca sets. After a long and trying race in light airs, they sent their yachts off on a needless 24-mile leg only to come into the finish line from the wrong direction. One of the yachts was Indulgence, which had led at every mark, so the subsequent disqualification from the race was a huge disappointment, and essentially put her out of the running for overall honours.

Indulgence during the 1986 Three-Quarter Ton Cup

The Indulgence crew bounced back from their error by sailing a faultless third race, the second Olympic triangle. As before, she led the whole way round, ahead of second placed Ramasjang from Denmark. A consistent series thus far by Ramasjang saw them into the lead overall.

The winner of the 1987 Three-Quarter Ton Cup, Jelfi-X, passes behind team-mate Escapade (6th overall)

A lack of wind delayed the start of the short offshore race, and when it got underway it still took an hour to sail the mile to the first mark, where the fleet kedged to avoid being taken back to the start in the strong tide. But when the wind arrived it did so strongly, a Force 6-7 north-westerly which built into a Force 8 gale. Series leader Ramasjang was soon dismasted when her backstay failed. Race leader Prudential Bache was under pressure from Indulgence V who was threatening as night fell. But her series came to an end when her mast collapsed without warning. The latest X-3/4 Jelfi-X (representing the Netherlands) took up the running to stake her claim to the series, and a third in the final race secured the Cup. Indulgence V, forced to retire from the short offshore and unable to start the last race, finished 13th overall.

Sources for this article are based on articles held on the Histoire des Halfs website (where you can read more articles in French) and Sailing Year (1987-88)

Maxis at the Big Boat Series 1978

This short clip is a review of Offshore Production's 1978 award winning documentary on the St Francis Perpetual Regatta (Big Boat Series) of that year. It would be good to find the full length feature, but in the meantime enjoy the sight of some of the big maxis of the era such as Kialoa III, Ondine and Windward Passage sailing downwind in nice breeze in San Francisco, and trying to pull off their gybes...

2269 - Sailing Again

The restoration of the Farr Half Tonner 2 Farr (the ex-2269 from the 1977 Half Ton Cup series, and sistership to Gunboat Rangiriri and Swuzzlebubble), has recently been completed and she was re-launched in early October 2014.

The restoration of 2 Farr has been a long project for her Australian owner Will Baum, who saved the yacht after she was wrecked on a Melbourne beach.

2 Farr had her first sail in October 2014 (the 'G' on the sail denotes the Royal Geelong Yacht Club).

A more recent photograph from 2021 (via Facebook) is shown below, indicating a new mast has been fitted (higher forestay and no jumpers) and a new set of sails.

The history of the yacht can be seen here.

Two Farr, racing in Ireland in 2024 (photo Robert Bateman | Afloat magazine)

More recently, Two Farr has been sold to Irish sailing interests, and has now joined other refurbished Half Tonners, including Swuzzlebubble, in local racing. With an IRC rating of 0.955, and still retaining her original '2269' sail number (with Irish registration), she finished tied on points (but second on countback) to Swuzzlebubble in the IRC2 division of the Wave Regatta, hosted by the Howth Yacht Club in late May 2024.

Two Farr and Swuzzlebubble - back on the same race track again after some 46+ years (photo 'cill123', Sailing Anarchy Forums)

Article updated May 2024

Halfton Class Italia

After the 2014 Laser Masters Worlds in France I travelled to Rome and had the opportunity to have a look at a few Italian Half Tonners, while my family and I enjoyed the hospitality of the Massucci family (Claudio and Roxana) who own the ex-New Zealand Farr Half Tonner Gunboat Rangiriri.

Gunboat Rangiriri - October 2014

Unfortunately Rangiriri's engine was being repaired, having developed a serious fault just before I arrived, so I wasn't able to get out for a sail on this iconic yacht. However it was great to see this Rangiriri in largely original condition, with some adaptations for cruising but otherwise looking almost as she did when she won the Half Ton Cup in 1977. She still sports the name of the Royal Akarana Yacht Club (Auckland) on her transom, and the owners are keen to reinstate the Maori 'tiki' emblem that was also originally painted on the other side of the stern.

Further down the coast, in Anzio, a couple of other Half Tonners had assembled at the marina off Anzio Yacht Club, being the Farr 31 Loucura, winner of the Italian Half Ton Nationals in 2013 and looking in immaculate condition, and the Ceccarelli designed Stern (ex-Stern Weber which finished third in the 1987 Half Ton Cup) - a replacement for Massimo Morasca's 2014 winning yacht Elana Celeste. Other Half Tonners were expected to arrive over the week for an upcoming regatta off Anzio.

Aboard Loucura with Claudio Massucci (left, Gunboat Rangiriri) and owner Fabrizio Gagliardi (right)

Aboard Stern with her new owner Massimo Morasca

While at the Anzio Yacht Club I had the unexpected honour to be presented with a burgee and other official mementos of the Halfton Class Italia, by Massimo Morasca (Class President) and  Marina Maffei (Class Secretary, Prydwen), in appreciation of the coverage of the Association's national regattas on this website. I look forward to seeing the Italian fleet develop further and will watch their results with interest.

Stern competing in the Half Ton Cup in 1987

The Halfton Class Italia burgee

Sovereign (Pedrick Maxi)

Sovereign was a Maxi-class yacht designed by David Pedrick, which was built and launched in Sydney in 1986. She was commissioned and owned by Bernard Lewis, who had formerly campaigned the 12-metre Gretel and the smaller maxi Vengeance (ex-Siska). Lewis wanted a yacht that could take the line and handicap double in the Sydney-Hobart race and be competitive in the maxi world circuit.

Pedrick's design, at 83ft, was then the largest maxi in the world. Pedrick had earlier designed Nirvana, generally considered a beautiful yacht that was reasonably competitive while also having a comfortable fit-out below (and can be seen in this video of the 1983 SORC). This met part of Lewis' criteria for a yacht that could be raced successfully while also suitable for entertaining guests aboard.

A building team was assembled around aluminium boat builder Paul Kelly and Sovereign was launched in late November 1986. She went on to win everything she competed in, except for the Sydney-Hobart of that year when she was forced to retire due to the failure of a bolt in the spreader root connection to the mast.

A close up view of the afterguard in action aboard Sovereign (date and photographer unknown)

Sovereign hauled out in Sydney, May 1988 (photo Bob Chapman)

Once this problem was fixed Sovereign bounced back to take line honours in each of the 30 races she contested, winning over half on corrected time. In the 1987 Sydney-Mooloolaba race she finished first, some 80 miles ahead of the next maxi, and went on to be selected for the New South Wales team for the Southern Cross Cup. She secured a rare line and handicap honours double in the 1987 Sydney-Hobart (the first Australian yacht to do so), which formed the finale of the Southern Cross Cup and fulfilled Lewis' dream while helping the NSW team to win the Cup.

On-board photo of Sovereign in the Tasman Sea on her way to New Zealand and onward to Hawaii (photo Bob Chapman)



Sovereign in a tight tussle with Il Moro di Venezia during the 1988 Kenwood Cup (photographer unknown)

Sovereign was later chosen to represent Australia at the 1988 Kenwood Cup in Hawaii, where she met with modest success (finishing sixth in Class A and 25th overall, carrying a rating of 71.72ft) against the first of the new breed of carbon fibre maxis such as Raul Gardini's Il Moro di Venezia and Windward Passage II and other famous maxis such as Congere, Ondine VII and Sorcery. Modifications were planned for within the six weeks available between the end of the Kenwood Cup and the San Francisco Big Boat Series.

Sovereign powers along during the 1988 Kenwood Cup (photo Guy Gurney)

Sovereign trails Emeraude and Congere at a wing mark during the 1988 Kenwood Cup (photo Offshore magazine | Facebook) and below, leading Ondine VII, Congere and Il Moro di Venezia

The 1988 Big Boat Series was the last to feature a big Maxi fleet, following a good turnout at the Kenwood Cup, and was a last hurrah for IOR on the West Coast, with a big fleet bolstered by the One Ton Cup that had been held just prior. Sovereign was skippered by Peter Gilmour for the series. Some improvements were achieved, but while lying second overall, a running backstay foul resulted in a breakage to the Sovereign's mast, above the top spreader. A team was assembled within the crew to get the boat racing again within 36 hours, and after an all-night effort the mast was repaired and re-stepped in time for the next race, due to a convenient lay day.

Following the improvements achieved in San Francisco, Lewis ordered a new keel, mast and sails to ensure Sovereign was at her best for the 1989 World Maxi Championships to be held over three regattas at the US Virgin Islands, Newport (Rhode Island) and Palma, Majorca. After winning in both the Virgin Islands and Newport regattas, an offer was made to Lewis in July 1989 by Californian yachtsman Victor Fargo for the boat before she was to be shipped to Europe. It is understood that she was renamed Lady Godiva II, before she was again sold and converted to a cruiser for the Caribbean, and in more recent times was converted to a cruiser in Italy.

Bow work on Sovereign in the early stages of an Olympic triangle race during the 1988 Kenwood Cup, with Matador just astern (photo Guy Gurney)

Sovereign is now known as Shosholoza (photo Facebook)

(Information for this article is based in part on an obituary for Lewis written by David Kellett that appeared in Sail-World.com in 2004).

Article updated April 2026

One Ton Cup 1988

The 1988 One Ton Cup was hosted by the St Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco during 3-15 September. The One Ton fleet (30.5ft IOR) had over the preceding years been the most competitive and best supported class in ocean racing, and the Cup was attracting the most sophisticated boats and best crews around. 

The fleet in San Francisco numbered 25, with the Farr office responsible for the design of ten of the boats. The defending champion, the Crown Prince Harold of Norway, arrived in San Francisco early with his yacht Fram X which had won the 1987 even held in Kiel, Germany, and remained a serious contender a year later. Other top boats included Bravura, a new 1988 Farr design under the direction of Geoff Stagg and a Farr works team. Bravura had taken top honours at the Kenwood Cup in Hawaii a month earlier. Another entrant that arrived from Hawaii was Australian Gary Appleby's Sagacious V, a veteran of the 1986 Southern Cross Cup and 1987 Admiral's Cup.

Propaganda - 1988 One Ton Cup winner

The New Zealand challenge was spearheaded by Propaganda, the top scoring boat in the 1987 Admiral's Cup which was by this time owned by a syndicate of Tim Bailey, Michael Fay and David Richwhite. Propaganda had not raced since the Admiral's Cup and instead had been tuned in Auckland with sistership Fair Share, and had been given a new keel and rudder prior to the series to try to improve downwind performance. Propaganda was skippered by Rick Dodson, and included US sailor John Bertrand who provided excellent local knowledge.

Startline action during the 1988 One Ton Cup

Other notable entries included the 1983-era Pacific Sundance, skippered by Chris Dickson, and local entry Pendragon, a Davidson design skippered by Kimo Worthington.

Part of the 1988 One Ton Cup fleet - Propaganda just to the left of KA-Sm-6 has an average start but will soon be up with the leading bunch.

The first inshore race was held inside San Francisco Bay in typically perfect conditions for which the Bay is known, but working the shore of Angel Island in the adverse tide on the upwind legs was critical. By the second to last beat Pendragon and Propaganda were leading and engaging in a close duel barely feet apart and taking each other into the middle of the course and into the current. Pacific Sundance was able to take advantage and lead around the penultimate weather mark, and it wasn't until the final beat was able to move into the lead, winning by 20 seconds, with Pacific Sundance second and Pendragon third.

Challenge 88 to windward of Propaganda during the 1988 One Ton Cup

Victoria (left) and Propaganda run downwind ahead of the chasing pack

Bravura

The second race, the long offshore, took the fleet under the Golden Gate Bridge and out into light and shifty coastal waters, and on a large ocean triangle course of around 150 miles (with the Farollan islands acting as a wing mark), followed by a smaller triangle of 75 miles and then back into the Bay to finish off the Yacht Club. This proved to be more a test of nerves and frustration than sailing skill. Sagacious V lead the fleet after 50 miles, from Rush (ex-Jamarella) but with Fram X and Propaganda close behind. But during the night Propaganda had played the shifts to perfection and moved up to second, and managed to round the Farollan Islands without coming to a standstill and put a large gap between Sagacious and the rest of the fleet. For the rest of the race Propaganda was on her own, managing to keep moving in the very light air and finishing just before the ebb tide became too strong - Sagacious was shut out and Propaganda finished the race 8 hours ahead. Fram X came in third, followed by Pendragon.

Propaganda heads upwind and avoids a competitor's errant spinnaker

Conditions could not have been more different for the third race, the second inshore, with 25-30 knots blowing against the tide and forming short sharp seas. Pendragon was an early casualty, breaking her boom after throwing a covering tack over Propaganda. The fleet was closely bunched at the weather mark and while Sagacious was in the leading bunch her mast failed soon afterwards. Both Bravura and Fair Share managed to blow out spinnakers on the downwind legs, while top marks for presentation went to British entry Juno for showing her entire keel during a wipe-out at the gybe mark. 

An unknown competitor grapples with its spinnaker

As in the first race, the Angel Island shore was again paying in the strong tidal conditions, forcing a line of port tackers up the first half of the weather legs. Propaganda had an immense tussle with the Takai design Victoria, just taking the lead after the final bottom mark and stretching away to win by a minute after Victoria broke her boom. Skedaddle, a Reichel-Pugh design, came in second, followed by Bravura and Fair Share.

After three races Propaganda was the clear leader going into the fourth race, the 150 mile short offshore. Given the light conditions for the long offshore, the race committee elected to reduced the length of the race to 139 miles, but with just 70 miles outside the Bay, and the remainder within the Bay, taking the competitors right up into the container areas and the eastern end of the Harbour, where there were still light and shifty breezes, and periods of total calm. In fickle conditions Fram X (left and below) and Propaganda finished 11 and 12th respectively, although Propaganda had been lying in 15th for a time.

Fram X on a downwind run and to leeward of Pacific Sundance (photo One Ton Class Facebook page)

Sagacious loses her mast in the third race

Despite the trials of the offshore races, most competitors were happy to this point with the organisation of the regatta. The checking of yachts was conducted on a random basis both before and after races, and involving checks of sails, freeboards and the internal positioning of gear by very thorough measurers - the race committee working hard to prevent a repeat of issues in Kiel the year before. However, most thought this thoroughness went too far when both Sagacious and Black Jack were precluded from installing their spare rigs following their breakages, and forcing the crews to repair the broken ones. Pendragon was unable to fix their boom in time for the short offshore and so had to miss the race.

The final race was again held in 18-20 knots, and saw Fair Share jump out to an early lead. Skippered by Russell Coutts, Fair Share was improving throughout the series and was clearly on form by the closing stages. She ended up covering Bravura and Pacific Sundance which let Propaganda sail her own race and go on to win by over a minute. With a 1/1/1/12/1 record, Propaganda won the series by a comfortable margin on 142.25 points, with Bravura second on 121.5, Fram X third (118.5), followed by Team Cirkeline, Sagacious and Fair Share. The first non-Farr boat was Challenge 88 in seventh place, a Bruce Nelson design.

Fair Share sails past Alcatraz

Propaganda's dominance was due to a number of factors. Much care was taken to develop her keel and rudder shapes to provide better all round performance to balance out the blistering upwind speed that she had at the Admiral's Cup. The boat and crew arrived early in San Francisco and spent a full ten days fine tuning the mast and rigging for the conditions and sail testing against Fair Share. Significantly, the crew found that their Sparcraft mast was flexing too much in San Francisco's 25 knot winds, and so extended the jumper struts and replaced the rigging with cobalt rod to limit stretch - the resulting more powerful and stiffer rig showed its worth from the first race onwards. 

Bravura

Missing the Kenwood Cup series allowed the Propaganda crew to focus on the One Ton Cup, and avoided issues such as those that beset Juno which suffered a collision at the earlier regatta, and winners of the regatta Bravura were perhaps left with a false sense of security. Challenge 88 had had to scramble to make it to San Francisco after winning their victory at the Canada's Cup. 

Juno has a spectacular wipe out during one of the windy inshore races during the 1988 One Ton Cup (photo One Ton Class Facebook page)

Sagacious (left) follows Victoria into a gybe mark

The crew work was excellent and all of them had raced with skipper Rick Dodson which allowed fine tuning of the yacht to take precedence over crew work. The combination of John Bertrand as tactician and John Newton as navigator was also a great asset, with the boat sailed on a consistent and percentage basis, with no protests and no close incidents which allowed the crew to keep sailing the boat at its fastest. 

Bodacious (US Farr 40) - under control above, but less so below (with Brazil's Black Jack to the left)

It was, overall, a remarkable performance, equaling the four-win record set by Chris Bouzaid in another famous New Zealand yacht, Rainbow II, which won the Cup in 1969. Afterwards, Propaganda co-owners Fay and Richwhite announced their intention to build a second, larger Farr design to campaign alongside Propaganda in the New Zealand team for the defence of the Admiral's Cup in 1989 - that boat would be known as Librah. Propaganda and Fair Share stayed in San Francisco for the 1988 Big Boat Series, where the ever improving Fair Share turned the tables on the One Ton Cup winner to take second place behind Pendragon, with Propaganda third.

The One Ton Cup

Results (top 10)

1. Propaganda (NZL) - Farr - 142.25pts
2. Bravura (USA) - Farr - 121.50
3. Fram X (NOR) - Farr - 118.50
4. Team Cirkeline - Farr - 114.50
5. Sagacious V (AUS) - Farr - 112
6. Fair Share (NZL) - Farr - 106
7. Challenge 88 (USA) - Nelson - 103
8. Pacific Sundance (NZL) - Farr - 98
9. The Esanda Way - Davidson - 90
10. Skedaddle - Reichel-Pugh - 84