Seldén Half Ton Classics Cup 2026

As regular followers of the Half Ton Fleet will know the sailors have a wry sense of humour and love nothing better than gently taking the Micky out of each other. This week we have a very special daily award, which for the purposes of this column will be know as The Richard Of The Day Award.  Each day the competitors are asked to nominate their favourite snafu of the day and a secret committee (OK – its actually regatta chair Dave Owens) selects the winner.

The awards are “sponsored” by Fat Willy’s Surf Shack and the winner is presented with a pair of stickers which must be displayed on the boat for the duration of the regatta and the orange Fat Willy’s T-shirt which must be proudly worn by the responsible crew member for the day.

At last night’s daily prize giving in the marquee the award for the first two days of the regatta were presented.  Day one’s Richard went to King One for their spectacular failure to check their lifeline lashings resulting in four of the crew getting an early bath just off the start line of race one.

And in an astonishing coincidence day two’s Richard also went to King One for their spectacular effort in firstly leaving their spinnaker ashore in the car when then set off from the dock, forcing them to come scurrying back in a panic to collect it, and then for blowing it out just after they hoisted it on the first run.

After the Mylor Yacht Harbour Coastal Race we spoke to Mike Relling, trimmer aboard second placed Swuzzlebubble, race winner Paul Pullen or Miss Whiplash and Robbie Tregear of Per Elisa who lost her rig during the race.

As you can see from our photo, sadly Robbie Tregear’s beautiful Per Elisa lost her rig in today’s Coastal Race. Fortunately no one on board was injured and the boat is fine but their regatta is over. Interview with Robbie to follow shortly. 

With today’s coastal race having a points weighting of 1.5 Paul Pullen’s Miss Whiplash now leads the regatta by 1.5 p0ints from Greg Peck’s Swuzzlebubble with Jonny Swan’s Harmony third and Philippe Pilate’s General Tapioca fourth.

Click here for Overall Results

The 40 mile coastal race Mylor Yacht Harbour Tuesday at the Henri Lloyd Half Ton Classics Cup came down to a nail biting finish with Paul Pullen’s Miss Whiplash claiming victory over Greg Peck’s Swuzzlebubble by just six seconds after more than five hours of racing. In third place by just 25 seconds was Jonny Swan’s Harmony.  Click here for Full Results

To say that David Evans, owner of Hullabaloo XV, is committed to the Half Ton Class and attending the Henri Lloyd Half Ton Classics Cup 2016 is an understatement. David sailed his boat 380 miles single handed to be here this week on a trip that included a force eight gale, so we spoke with him about his epic adventure from Walton Backwaters in Essex to Falmouth.

It’s Coastal Race day sponsored by Mylor Yacht Habour here in Falmouth and the Half Tonners are preparing for a 40 mile romp around the Cornish coast.  The forecast is for easterly winds up to force five and although we have grey skies at the moment they promise that the sun will be back soon. If the forecast is accurate it’s anticipated that the boats will finish at around 4pm, although the race committee may shorten if the wind goes lighter.

Immediately after racing A2 Rigging will be hosting beers on the dock and then it will be onto the Regatta Marquee for the daily prize giving at 19.00.

At today’s briefing race officer Jack Pentry announced that today he will use the Z Flag penalty (20% scoring penalty for anyone over the line at the start) instead of the Black Flag. After discussion with competitors it was agreed that the first start for the race will be run under the P Flag and the Z Flag will only be imposed after an initial general recall.