Half Ton Classics Cup 2025

With the sun finally shining the atmosphere out on the KYCN Terrace is fantastic as everyone kicks back and enjoys a relaxed afternoon with great friends.

The Trastada crew are kicking back with the best of them and they have plenty to celebrate as crew member Peter Currie, multi-championship winner in the GP14, 505 and Laser Classes, is celebrating his 71st birthday today.  Happy Birthday Peter!

Trastada are also celebrating two top ten finishes in today’s races and success has clearly gone to at least one crew members head!  Nice tiara and pout!

You give the Half Ton Classics Cup fleet an afternoon off from championship racing and what do they decide to do? They run model boat racing instead!  Great fun was had by all in a special competition to race spirit burner driven boats along drain pipe canals on the boules pitch outside the clubhouse. Check out our little video below of the final between Skippy’s Ton and Half Capone and congratulations to winners Skippy’s Ton.

We are now managing to get the full photo galleries updated with images from the first day.  The fancy dress party and day 3 are uploading as we post this message.  Unfortunately the internet connection isn’t super quick so it’s taking a while, but you can check out day 1 now at www.fionabrown.phanfare.com and the others will be available over the coming hours/days.  All galleries should be fully updated by Monday of next week.

Good morning and welcome to day 3 of the Half Ton Classics Cup 2015 in Nieuwpoort where at last the weather gods have remembered that it’s actually high summer and have sent us some sunshine!

We also have a really nice moderate sailing breeze so we are all set for a great day on the water.  At the briefing the race committee confirmed that it plans to run just two windward leeward races today so all the crews will be back on the dock in time for a late lunch and some well deserved R&R.

The dock is a hive of activity this morning as everyone finishes drying kit after the last two very wet days, makes last minute preparations and repairs and searches out the sun cream.

There are also plenty of rig checks going on this morning – probably in response to the sad loss of General Tapioca’s rig yesterday.

This morning Philippe Pilate has confirmed that it will not be possible to replace General Tapioca’s rig in time to race again this week.  It was the port V1, one of the main rod rigging stays, which broke just below the spreader.  “There was a huge bang and then on the next wave the mast just went.” he explained.

Philippe is the Half Ton Classics Class Chairman and General Tapioca has been a mainstay of the Half Ton fleet and one of its most successful performers so she will be much missed for the rest of the week.  Fortunately for us Philippe will still be with us overseeing things and acting as master of ceremonies.

For the second day running the Half Ton Classics Cup fleet in Nieuwpoort faced strong winds and big seas as they completed races three to five of their series. The forecast promised grey skies and regular rain showers, which it delivered, but it somewhat understimated the 20-25+ knots that came with them.  Going afloat the crews had anticipated winds in the mid to upper teens so the heavy conditions came as something of a surprise.

Fortunately the historic little yachts held up well against the elements and there was only one significant casualty in the shape of the rig of Philippe Pilate’s General Tapioca, which failed at the spreaders going upwind during the fifth race. There were three other retirements from that race due to minor gear failure, but otherwise everyone was able to complete all races.

The first two races of the day were windward/leeward format and produced more incredibly tight racing with packed mark roundings and constant place changes.

Race three proved to be a Celtic showdown and was decided by a mere two seconds with Roddy Angus and Dan Challis’s Trastada, from Fairlie Yacht Club on Scotland’s Clyde, just pipping David Cullen’s Checkmate XV, from Howth, Ireland, to the post. Fellow Howth Yacht Club member Johny Swann sailed Harmony into third, a mere six seconds behind Checkmate.

In a Half Ton trivia moment it is of interest to note that Checkmate’s tactician Mark Pettitt helmed the 1980 Humphrey designed Harmony to victory in the Irish Half Ton Championship of 1983 for original owners Tony Allen, of Holt Allen fame, and Mike Holmes, now one of the UK’s top Dragon sailors.

Local boat General Tapioca claimed victory in race four by a relatively comfortable 44 seconds from Checkmate with Paul Pullen’s Miss Whiplash from Cornwall third and Tom Florizoone’s Red Cloud, a 1980 Joubert design also based in Nieuwpoort, fourth.

Race five was to be something of a contrast using an inshore course with long beats against a rapidly building ebb tide.  In the big waves the beats seemed to last for ever, whilst by contrast the downwind legs were over in moments. With the wind strengthening further it was a race for the heavy airs specialists and Toni Stoschek’s Superhero lived up to her name and roared to victory by almost half a minute on corrected time.  Miss Whiplash follwed her home with Checkmate coming in third. General Tapioca had looked good for another podium finish, but as her rig came tumbling down her hopes for both the race and the rest of the week were dashed.

With a minimum of three races required for a series the first of two possibls scoring discards has now been applied and in the overall standings David Cullen’s Checkmate XV, a boat that is supposedly optimised for lights airs but which none the less seems to be relishing this week’s big winds, has jumped into the lead.  Philippe Pilate’s General Tapioca discarded their Did Not Finish score in race five so tonight hold second overall, but sadly are very unlikely to race again this week.  Paul Pullen’s Miss Whiplash has moved into third place, just 0.4 of a point behind General Tapioca and 5.5 points behind the leader, with Toni Stoschek’s Superhero 6.5 points back in fourth.

Apres racing the crews enjoyed a fabulous fancy dress party at which crews were asked to dress on a theme relating the name of their boats.  There were some brilliant outfits including the entire crew and shore team of Charles Jacob and Bargibant’s Ballerina dressed in white dance tights and pink tutus, Jean-Luc Courbon’s crew from Half Capone in twenties gangster gear and David Cullen’s Checkmate team in bishop’s mitres and prawn hats.  When asked for an explanation of the prawns David replied that they had been aiming for bishops and pawns in line with their boat’s chess themed name, but pawn outfits were hard to come by so prawns had to do – a very Irish play on words if ever we heard one.

Tomorrow the forecast promises sun and lighter winds at last and the race committee has indicated that it intends to give the sailors a shorter day.  It will run one or two windward leeward races in the morning so that the crews can be back on the dock in time for a long lunch and a relaxed afternoon sampling the delights of this lovely town and it’s surroundings. The regatta continues until Friday 21 August.

Today’s sailing photos are courtesy of guest photographer Bernard Catry. Keep up with the  latest news, results and photographs from the event via the Half Ton Classics Cup Blog and the Half Ton Class Facebook page.

FULL RESULTS

PHOTO GALLERY

Tonight the legendary Half Ton Classics Cup Fancy Dress Party is taking place and as usual the crews have gone all out to meet the brief of dressing on a theme relating to your boat’s name.  Even the bar and organising teams have joined in with the fun.  Check out our photo gallery!

The day 2 results for the Half Ton Classics Cup 2015 have been published and reveal that the winners of today’s three races were Roddy Angus and Dan Challis’s Trastada, Philippe Pilate’s General Tapioca and Toni Stroschek’s Superhero.  But with a fabulously consistent scoreline of two seconds and a third the overall lead is now taken by David Cullen’s Checkmate XV.

Click here for full results

This evening it’s the infamous Half Ton Classics Cup fancy dress party, where the crews are asked to come dressed in “the character(s)” they most associate with their boat. The fantastic volunteers here in Nieuwpoort are already getting into the spirit as you can see from this shot of Anita who is distributing Belgian waffles to the crews and their friends on the dock.  The party kicks off at 20.00 but before that will be the daily prize giving at 19.00.

Some crews can’t wait though and A+ are already in the party spirit down on the dock celebrating surviving today’s heavy weather.

For others there are repairs to be done, boats to be bailed, sails to be folded and ropes to be coiled.  Aboard North Sea Three the mainsail is coming off as it needs to go into the loft to have the top part of the bolt rope reattached after it parted company with the sail.  And for everyone the inevitable washing and drying of clothes after a day where the rain and waves seemed to be competing for the right to soak the sailors to the skin.

But the spirits of the Half Tonners are never dampened for long so standby for some fancy dress pictures soon!

It’s been a seriously tough day on the water here in Nieuwpoort at day two of the Half Ton Classics Cup 2015.  With more big seas and winds up into the mid 20s the boats have completed three gruelling races and are just returning to the dock (16.30pm).

Sadly one piece of news we can confirm is that General Tapioca broke her mast during the latter part of the day and had to be escorted back to the dock.  The good news is that all onboard are fine.  Right now they are surveying the damage to the rig and seeing whether they might be able to repair/replace the rig and race again tomorrow.

We hope to have results for you shortly but in the meantime here are some photos from guest photographer Bernard Cantry.

Roving Reporter Bert Janssen Chats To Philippe Pilote, Chairman of the Half Ton Class and owner of General Tapioca

BJ – So Philippe – are you happy to be in NP again?

PP – Yes of course, it’s like coming home for the Half Tonners. After all these years, we started this here in 2003 and it’s like seeing your family come back. It started 12 years ago. It is a big adventure and the adventure is getting more exciting and richer with each running of the event.

BJ – How do you see the development of the Half Ton Class?

PP – To create a Half Ton Classics Class was a good idea from the beginning, all the boats have a history, they have marked the development of yachting, many of today’s naval architects started by drawing half tonners. These boats are worth investing in, they are full of charm. Finally the years go by but the passion remains intact. The boats are not only beautiful but they speak to us, they have hearts and that’s nice.

BJ – You have a beautiful boat full of charm so tell us how your day went today?

PP – Today was not easy. The level is very high and getting higher. The boats are all well prepared. We gave everything, the day was very hard, the wind was over 15 knots with a big sea, but the day was very positive. We sailed to our potential, we are in the top three overall and that’s where we would like to stay. The windier conditions of today suit us very well, tomorrow we will see. If the wind drops it will be more open. We are satisfied to have come and satisfied to be able to share this with many friends, which is always good and indeed the most important.