ADMIRAL’S CUP 50TH ANNIVERSARY REGATTA
dinner to make it viable. “Then as the word began to
circulate,” said David Champtaloup, “it became
apparent that a lot of the older sailors who had dropped
out of touch with the sailing community saw it as an
opportunity to have a reunion.” Among this large crowd
were several members of Australian ‘yachting royalty’
including the three patrons of the regatta: Gordon
Ingate, Syd Fischer (six-time Admiral’s Cup captain and
skipper of the Ragamuffins) and Sir James Hardy
(America’s Cup skipper, Olympian and multiple
Admiral’s Cup helm and crew). There were also 1967
crew members from Balandra and Caprice of Huon,
crew members from all the victorious boats in 1979 and
2003, Olympic medallists and representatives of the
1983 America’s Cup winning crew.
But perhaps the most important attendee was
introduced as the surprise guest of honour by compere
Peter Shipway. After a moment of tension it turned out
that the ‘guest’ was the Admiral’s Cup itself – even
though the Australians are the holders, it is kept at the
RORC headquarters in London and was flown out
specially for the occasion. The Cup was carried into the
room by the sons of the three 1967 skippers: Rob and
Tony Reynolds (whose father Gordon sailed Caprice),
Scott Kaufman (Ted’s son) and Anthony Crichton-Brown
(son of Balandra’s owner/skipper Sir Robert). I have to
say that even this Pom correspondent, despite feeling like
the sole representative of the country from whom the
Cup was taken half-a-century ago, found it quite an
emotional moment.
Martin invited me to sail on Mercedes for the second
race and I was in excellent company. He had augmented
his regular crew with two Australian sailing legends,
both 1968 Olympians and subsequent winners of
multiple championships: Scott Kaufman, who was
helming for the whole weekend, and Carl Ryves.
The day was overcast (surely not?) but there was a
reasonable breeze, or at least until we went out through
Sydney Heads into the open sea where the wind dropped
and we struggled to make way through the confused sea.
However, we didn’t seem to suffer from it quite as much
as the boats around us and we slowly progressed
towards the windward mark off Long Reef.
This was my first ever Sydney sail so I had little
perception of where this was, but it did seem to take a
long time to get there, and so I was comforted to hear
that Norman Rydge, 82 years old and helming Lorita
Maria, was later heard to comment that Long Reef must
have moved further up the coast as he couldn’t
remember it taking so long.
The wind filled in during the early part of the broad
reach back down the coast, and we enjoyed some fast
sailing. However, the gybe to take us back into the
harbour was badly timed and poorly executed, as a
result of which the lee shore of South Heads looked
uncomfortably close for a while as the spinnaker flogged
while we tried to head up around the point.
Having relinquished his normal position at the wheel,
Martin was up on the side deck and he later said that he
“didn’t get the insurance policy out, rather the prayer
book”. Once round the Heads all was well and the rest
of the race proved extremely enjoyable. We finished 11th
and were 5th on handicap. Auric’s Quest won line
honours comfortably but on handicap was 17th, with
Sagacious V (1987 Cup boat) first and Wild Oats (trialist
in 1985 and 1987) second.TRICKY CONDITIONS
The sunshine returned for the third and final race, which
was a pursuit race with starting times loosely based on
the results of the previous two days. This time I was on
board Philip Brown’s Anitra V and among my crew
mates were Kari Svenson (the Halvorsen brothers’ niece),
the Commodore of the Halvorsen Association and Steve,
a sheep farmer with 100,000 sheep (although apparently
that isn’t very many).
We were the first to start, but initially the wind was so
light that we barely made any progress during the eight
minutes we had before the next boats started, and so by
the time we had completed the first short leg we had
been overtaken by Camille and the 1965 trialist Mister
Christian. On the next long leg out to Manly, the wind
was frustratingly fickle and this gave us our share of
gains (we briefly got ahead of Mister Christian, for
instance) and losses.
The wind filled in nicely as we broad-reached back
down the harbour, and at one stage Philip took multi-
tasking to new levels by steering, trimming the spinnaker
and eating a sandwich at the same time. Two more
enjoyable but shorter legs followed while a few other
boats caught us up, but when the race was shortened at
Shark Island, we finished in a respectable 12th place just
ahead of Mercedes IV (Ted Kaufman’s 1975 Cup boat).
After this race the prizegiving was held at the
Amateurs where trophies made from refurbished pieces
of equipment from the three 1967 victorious boats, and
named after them, were presented to the race winners.
The overall prize went to Wild Oats while Martin -
representing the Classic Yacht Association of Australia,
the event’s initiators – was presented with one of
Caprice’s 1965 spinnaker guy snap shackles.
This was a wonderfully enjoyable regatta and its
historical significance was clearly recognised by many
accomplished Australian sailors. But what next? Will
other countries celebrate the anniversaries of their first
Admiral’s Cup wins? The Americans have missed the
chance to do so but they could celebrate their second win
and, apart from Britain, the USA and Australia, the Cup
was won by five other nations.
But more to the point, will the Admiral’s Cup itself
ever be held again? There was certainly a great deal of
talk about this in Sydney in December, with many
previous competitors talking about the privilege of
representing their country. Surely that feeling is still
prevalent among younger sailors today.Overall results- Wild Oats (Trialist 1985 & 1987)
- Sagacious V (Cup boat 1987)
- Uptown Girl (Trialist – as Sunburst – 1977)
- Ragamuffin (Cup boat 1969, 1971 & 1973)
- Mercedes IV (Cup boat 1975)
Facing page,
clockwise from
top: Love and
War and
Ragamuffin in
close quarters;
Peter Shipway
presenting Martin
Ryan with a
snapshackle
specially made
from Caprice’s
spinnaker guy in
the 1965 Cup;
regular Mercedes
III crew Mike
Daddo with Scott
Kaufman and
Carl Ryves; Anitra
crew after the
last race; the Cup
is brought in by,
from left, Rob
Reynolds, Tony
Reynolds, Scott
Kaufman and
Anthony
Crichton-Brown