In the Golden Age of Offshore Racing
We recently heard from Henri Jung, an enthusiastic crew from ANAIS (ex-APECIST), who sent us some terrific photos of her racing and cruising. Vielen Dank, Henri! ANAIS was built in 1969 at the one and only A&R. Her current owner, Michael Specht, actually restored her himself. Great job, Michael!! We think ANAIS looks beautiful, elegant and classy! Wunderbar!
OPTIMISTA (the original OPTIMIST – winner of the 1967 and 1968 One Ton Cups) is featured in the current issue of GOOSE magazine. Vielen Dank to the journalist and Editor of GOOSE, Detlef Jens. GOOSE is an oversized, beautifully produced German magazine with fascinating features on maritime life all over the world. And written in both German and English. Current issue? The funky Thames Traditional Boat Festival…Le Tour Du Monde: a famous sailors’ bar in Brest…a wooden cargo ship being built in the Costa Rican jungle….the aristocratic, pre WWI metre yachts…and OPTIMIST, impeccably restored and now for sale. Click below to read:
Brad Everingham, who crews aboard Tim Prophit’s NA 40, FAST TANGO, sent us these jaw-dropping race results for her!
FAST TANGO (NA40, Hull Number 4) 2023 Season honors around the Great Lakes:
We received very exciting news from Will Hubbard about his beautifully restored Tina sister-ship (and 2006 Bermuda Race Winner), LIVELY LADY II.
She raced all summer out of Rhode Island, Connecticut and Long Island, ending up as the Classic Yacht Owner’s Association 2023 Modern Classic District Champion!
Huge congratulations to Will, his family, crew and, of course, the one and only LIVELY LADY II!
We’ve been hors de combat the last several months. Thank you for your patience! Lots to catch up on!
The Dick Carter Cup in La Trinité-sur-mer late last summer was great fun! Our good friend Philippe Jacques-Roux had spent a year tracking down just about every Carter yacht in France, with a few in the Netherlands, Germany and England as well! It was an enormous undertaking, and we are very grateful for Philippe’s hard work. Oh and did we mention he also organized the event itself, with help for many, including local politician and Carter 37 owner, Jimmy Pahun. The event featured Tina sister ships, several Carter 37s, a rare Carter Dingbat ( a 25′) which was transported from the Netherlands, and even a NA 40 sailed from England! The NA40 (North American 40) is a one design cruiser-racer that Dick designed based on a request by two yacht clubs for a new racing class for the American Great Lakes. Jean-Michel Hoarau won the inaugural Carter Cup with his newly renovated navy blue Carter 37, HYLAS.
Philippe Jacques-Roux, Jimmy Pahun, Jean-Michel Hoarau and Dick Carter.
Dick gave a standing room only presentation to the assembled sailors, yachting press and public about the many ways that France had made important contributions to his racing and yacht design career. Jean-Yves Terlain shared a few words as well. He had approached Dick back in 1971 to design a special yacht for the 1972 Single-Handed Transatlantic race: VENDREDI 13.
Merci beaucoup for a truly memorable event! Chapeaux à tout!
YDRA is alive and well in Germany. She won the 1973 One Ton Cup skippered by the great Italian Rear Admiral, Agostino Straulino, and crewed by her owner, Marina Bulgari Spaccarelli. YDRA also won the 1973 Giraglia. Bravo!
Huge congratulations to owners James Bates and Luísa Alpalhão for their beautiful restoration of OPTIMISTA! Their boat is the original steel OPTIMIST, winner of both the 1967 and the 1968 One Ton Cups!!
The 50th Anniversary of the Carter 37 is next year and Carter 37s in Europe are getting ready to celebrate! TOMIRA, owned by Francesco & Mietta Gandolfi, is looking gorgeous in Italy. MUSTANG, owned by Philippe-Jacques Roux and his son François-Xavier, has just undergone a refit and is looking “sensationelle”, as is LINUEN, owned by Thierry Ollat. Jean-Michel Hoarau, the owner of another French Carter 37, HYLAS, is having her beautifully restored in anticipation of launching her next Spring. Skippered by her original owner David Edwards, Commodore of the RORC, HYLAS won Class III in the 1973 Fastnet Race, a prestigious victory for the Commodore and HYLAS alike!
Grazie to Francesco and Mietta Gandolfi for the stunning new photos of their yacht RABBIT racing off Italy’s Ligurian coast. She was Dick’s first yacht design and the boat he skippered to victory in the 1965 Fastnet Race. The Gandolfis have invested much time and effort in her meticulous restoration, and it shows!
The international Admiral’s Cup regatta was for many years known as the unofficial world championships of ocean racing. Held every other year off the south coast of England, the Admiral’s Cup was contested by teams of 3 racing yachts from each participating country.
The Admiral’s Cup consisted of four races with points awarded to boats based on placement: the Cross channel race, Brittania Cup and New York Yacht Club Challenge Cup. The final race, and the only one to award triple points, is one of the world’s most prestigious: the Fastnet, a 650 mile, four day ocean race with a course beginning in Cowes, England, rounding Fastnet Rock off the south coast of Ireland and then finishing in Plymouth, England.
In 1969, eleven countries fielded Admiral’s Cup teams. Selected for the US team was RED ROOSTER (with lifting keel), designed and skippered by Dick Carter; CARINA, a McCurdy & Rhodes design skippered by Dick Nye; and PALAWAN III, a Sparkman & Stephens design skippered by IBM CEO Tom Watson.
The Australian team had won the Admiral’s Cup in 1967 and looked to be heading for a repeat victory in 1969. But RED ROOSTER won the Fastnet in a fleet of 140 yachts. This enabled the US to win the Admiral’s Cup, an achievement not repeated until 1997. It was Dick Carter’s second victory in the Fastnet, having won it in 1965 with his very first design, the revolutionary RABBIT. And RED ROOSTER was the high point boat of the 1969 regatta.
