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.
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.
The Half Ton Classics Cup competitors have attended their daily briefing in Nieuwpoort and are all set for three further races today. The race committee intends to start with two windward leeward races and finish with another short inshore race. The forecast is for more overcast skies and rain showers with westerly winds in the high teens and low twenties.
The North Sea was throwing some interesting shapes today off Nieuwport as the 23 strong Half Ton Classics Cup 2015 fleet got their regatta underway in big confused seas with a practise race followed by the first two races of the championship series. With racing being run by the Koninklijke Yacht Club Nieuwpoort (KYCN) and the Bruxelles Royal Yacht Club (BRYC) the race committee was on time and on the case with both a tricky north easterly breeze, which was shifting up to 25 degrees and varied from mid teens to low twenties, and the cross course tide which turned during racing.
First up they ran a practice race, followed by a windward leeward and then a short inshore race around the cans. A general recall in the practice race confirmed that the fleet was eager to go, but fortunately they managed to start at the first time of asking for both championship races, although three boats fell foul of the “U” flag in race two and were disqualified.
Richard and Ursula Hollis’s X98 Crakajax got two super starts, creating space at the committee boat end so she could tack off for clear air right away. Minimising the number of tacks was a clever way to go, as those who became embroiled in tit for tat tacking battles in the middle of the course discovered to their cost. Whilst the sea state remained lumpy throughout the day the wind dropped off a little in the afternoon meaning the trimmers and helmsmen has their work cut out to keep traction.
Having acquired the 1985 Humphrey designed MG HS30 Checkmate from friend Nigel Biggs over the winter and spent time preparing and tuning her at home in Ireland, David Cullen was keen to see how she would go in the hurly burly of serious Half Ton competition. Checkmate happily delivered and her well drilled crew never really put a foot wrong, although they certainly didn’t have it all their own way. In race one they narrowly scraped victory by just 13 seconds from Paul Pullen’s 1986 Andrieu designed Miss Whiplash from Cornwall, while local hero Philippe Pilate sailing the 1978 General Tapioca, designed by Berrett, took third and Finland’s Toni Stoschek 1988 Andrieu designs, carbon built Superhero fourth.
The second race, a short inshore race attracting a scoring coeffecient of 1.1, was almost as close and it was only on the final beat that Checkmate secured her second victory of the day by 32 seconds from General Tapioca with Albert Pierrard’s A+, a 1985 Nissen design which came second in the 1985 Half Ton Cup in Italy and third a year later in Finland, in third and Miss Whiplash fourth. Superhero stormed the pin end at the start and almost achieved domination, but sadly her timing was just off and she fell foul of the U Flag so was one of those disqualified for being over the line.
In the overall standings Checkmate now has a 3.1 point lead over General Tapioca with Miss Whiplash 1.2 points behind in third. With two fifth places, Nicolas Spilleboudt’s 1989 Blue Berret drops into the scoreboard in fourth place overall,
Back ashore Philippe Pilate summed up the day saying “Today was not easy. The level is very high and getting higher. The boats are all well prepared. We gave everything, 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.
Tomorrow’s forecast is for a little more wind and possibly further rough seas. The regatta committee has confirmed it intends to run at least three races tomorrow with the first start scheduled for 11.00. The regatta continues until Friday 21 August.
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.
The Provisional Results have been posted and reveal that David Cullen’s Checkmate won both of today’s opening races to lead the regatta overall. Philippe Pilate’s General Tapioca is lying in second with Paul Pullen’s Miss Whiplash in third.
At this evening’s prize giving the special Harken custom winch handles, which have a specially created Half Ton Classics Cup 2015 handle, were presented. The first went to Checkmate and, since a boat can only win one handle per championship, the second went to General Tapioca.
The teams are now enjoying a convivial BBQ dinner at the yacht club as the sun sets.
Full report to follow shortly.
We know how you all love to check out what people have done to their Classic Half Tonners so here are some dock shots of the boats after racing today.
A rough and tumble day on the water as you can see from our photos!
