Classic Boat — March 2018

ADMIRAL’S CUP 50TH ANNIVERSARY REGATTA

Facing page,

clockwise from

top: Camille and

Mister Christian

revive their 1965

partnership;

Sydney Amateur

Sailing Club

(pictured) joined

forces with the

Royal Sydney

Yacht Squadron

and the Classic

Yacht Association

of Australia to

make the regatta

happen; the 1973

trialist Kingurra;

Anitra V built in

1956; anniversary

burgee

Mercedes were the only boats to set spinnakers at the

start of the Channel Race. Mercedes, Balandra and

Caprice finished third, fourth and seventh, giving the

Australians the lead, 26 points ahead of the British.

Two inshore Solent races followed, the first for the

Britannia Cup as part of the Royal Yacht Squadron’s

regatta. Yachts and Yachting later described this as “a

race where being a ‘local’ was a definite disadvantage

and the Solent experts came back to the trots tearing up

their rule books”.

The American boat Rabbit II won it with Mercedes

second, or so it was initially thought. But Rabbit had not

sailed the course correctly and, although a French protest

failed because of a lack of protest flag, Rabbit’s skipper

did the honourable thing and retrospectively retired.

Kaufman heard of Mercedes’ elevation to first place

while he was having a shower, and with Caprice now

third and Balandra seventh, the Australians increased

their overall lead by a single point.

In the third race, for the New York Yacht Club Cup,

Rabbit won again, but this time legitimately. Although

the British boat Firebrand was second, the Australian

boats took the next three places, giving them a 44-point

lead with just the Fastnet Race to go.

But ultimate success was by no means assured. To

start with, the Fastnet Race counted for triple points,

giving the British and other countries a great

opportunity to catch up. Furthermore, the race took

place in hugely changing conditions – from calms, to

light and variable winds to gale force gusts – and all

three Australian boats had their share of problems.

Mercedes broke her jockey pole; Balandra damaged

her steering gear and two men had to steer with the

emergency tiller for three hours while repairs were

made using part of an oar; and Caprice’s crew, worried

that they would be pushed into the Fastnet Rock by a

surging sea as they rounded it, turned the petrol on,

ready to start the engine should it be needed.

The Australians finished in third, fourth and seventh

places and in doing so not only won their fourth

consecutive race but also the Admiral’s Cup itself by a

commanding 107 points. Mercedes was the top scoring

individual boat with Balandra second and Caprice third.

Back home the sailors were national heroes and their

victory dominated newspaper front pages.

Australia won the Admiral’s Cup on two further

occasions: in 1979 Police Car, Impetuous and

Ragamuffin triumphed in an event made infamous by the

tragic loss of 15 lives in the Fastnet Race; and the Royal

Prince Alfred YC’s team of Wild Oats and Aftershock

won it in 2003. That was the last time it was held, so the

Australians are the current holders of the Cup.

A CUP REGATTA FOR 2017

“We are organising a 50th anniversary regatta of the

1967 Admiral’s Cup. Keep you posted.” So read a brief

email I received from Martin Ryan last March. Martin is

the President of the Classic Yacht Association of

Australia and the owner, for the past 30 years, of the

1967 victorious Admiral’s Cup boat Mercedes III which

he keeps near his home in Melbourne. He and I met in

Cowes in July 2016 when he, some fellow Aussies and

teams representing nations, until the last one which was
for two-boat teams representing clubs. The first one was
contested by just Great Britain and the USA, but it grew
to peak with 19 teams in the late 1970s before tailing off
to single figures in the 1990s.
The Australians entered for the first time in 1965, at
which time Britain had won three and the USA one, and
they surprised everyone. Their three-boat team, Caprice
of Huon (which was already 14 years old) and the
two double-enders Freya and Camille, finished
second of the 12 teams, with Caprice winning three of
the four races.
After the Fastnet Race finished in Plymouth (the final
round the series), the victorious team manager, Mervyn
Davies, said that two years later Australia’s challenge for
the America’s Cup would take preference. “We’re too
small a country to raise two first-class teams in a year.
We’ll be back but not next time.”
But he was wrong. Among the Australian sailing
fraternity there was a huge appetite to return to the
Solent at the earliest opportunity and try to go one
better, to the extent that 12 boats took part in their
selection trials.
These were completed in time for the Cruising Yacht
Club of Australia’s selection committee to announce the
team in November 1966. Caprice of Huon would return
to Cowes once more and this time she would be
accompanied by two purpose-built boats: Balandra
which was a sister ship of the Camper and Nicholson
Quiver IV which had been part of the winning British
team in 1965, and Mercedes III which was jointly
designed by her owner Ted Kaufman and Ben Miller
(later Lexcen, whose 12-M Australia II would win the
America’s Cup in 1983).

PLANS ALMOST SCUPPERED
But Australian plans were almost scuppered by an
unexpected course of events. With the three boats loaded
on board a cargo ship, a course was set for Britain via
the Suez Canal – only for the Six Day War to break out
in the Middle East, causing the canal to be closed. The
cargo ship diverted to South Africa and it looked certain
that the boats would not make the regatta. Kaufman
flew to South Africa and had them transferred to a faster
ship which arrived in the nick of time.
Meanwhile the Australian crew members had arrived
in Britain and were making the most of their waiting
time. They borrowed boats to get some on-water
practice and, perhaps crucially, they visited
Southampton University where they had the
opportunity to study the Solent tidal model, adding to
the knowledge which the three navigators had shared
during a series of meetings at home.
Some of the team also visited the Guinness Brewery at
Park Royal – “perhaps to build up their strength?”
suggested Yachts and Yachting – while Australian
Seacraft Power and Sail thought that “the greatest
hazards for the Australian sailors during this series were
ashore. British hospitality. Party upon party in the
evenings before the first Admiral’s Cup race”.
The Australians declared their serious intentions from
the beginning of the four-race series when Caprice and