Seldén Half Ton Classics Cup 2026

It’s not that windy out here but it’s pretty rough seas. The practice race is underway and the boats are having great racing.

We have 23 Classic Half Tonners registered,  briefed and ready to race here in Nieuwpoort. It’s a bit overcast and damp this morning but the forecast for the week ahead shows plenty of sun and good winds. Right now the competitors are preparing to leave the dock ready for the practice race at noon and then the first championship races which will start at 14.00.

This weekend the Classic Half Tonners are converging on Nieuwpoort in Belgium for the 8th edition of the Half Ton Classics Cup, which is being organised in association with the Koninklijke Yacht Club Nieuwpoort (KYCN) and the Bruxelles Royal Yacht Club (BRYC). Registration for the regatta will open at noon on Sunday 16 August and racing is scheduled to get underway on Monday morning with a practice race planned to start at noon and the first championship race programmed for 14.00.  The schedule provides for a mixture of windward leeward and coastal races and the  regatta will conclude on Friday 21 August.

This year’s entry list includes many old friends and some exciting new additions too.  All the way from Ireland comes old friend David Cullen with his new boat Checkmate XV. A Rob Humphrey designed MG30, Checkmate XV was fully restored by John Corby in 2013 and won that year’s Half Ton Classics Cup in Boulogne under the ownership of Nigel Biggs.  David brings a strong crew to this year’s event and clearly has his sights set on victory.

Another new pairing for this year will be Manon Vatlet and his crew of teenagers aboard the 1978 Joubert designed M’Half Raz, which Manon purchased earlier this year.  M’Half Raz has been maintained in near “as original” condition and with her enthusiastic team of young dinghy sailors she could surprise a few people this week.

It is wonderful to see so many young sailors enjoying the Classic Half Tonners.  As part of it’s ongoing youth development programme Ostend’s Royal North Sea Yacht Club sent a delegation to Brittany with instructions to “bring back the best half tonner available”.  That delegation brought back the 1981 Gahinet designed “North Sea Three” which is being sailed by a young team from the RNSYC who have already put in many hours both racing and training and are determined to learn and perform in Nieuwpoort.

Among the old friends attending will be Richard and Ursula Hollis’s Jeppersen designed X98 Crakajax from Cowes, Philippe Pilate’s 1978 Berret designed General Tapioca, which is based in Nieuwpoort and will be hoping to gain some home advantage, and Robby Tregear’s 1992 Ceccarelli designed Per Elisa, the last Half Tonner ever built which showed moments of brilliance at last year’s Half Ton Classic Cup and will be hoping for great things this year.

With twenty-two teams already registered its going to be a strong field and we can expect some fantastic sport from these historic little ships and their enthusiastic owners and crews.

Alongside a great racing programme the Half Ton Classics Cup is also famous for its social programme and this year is no exception.  The fun will kick off with Welcome Drinks on Sunday evening and will include daily prize giving gatherings, the traditional HTCC Fancy Dress Party on Tuesday evening (Générale Tapioca’s crew has already confirmed they will be dressed as characters from Tintin), the Half Ton Classic Cup Gala Dinner on Thursday and the final Prize Giving and “See You Next Year” drinks and dinner on Friday.

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 8th edition of the Half Ton Classics Cup will take place in Nieuwpoort, Belgium, which since 2002 has been the new historical homeport of the Half Tonners. After the excellent Half Ton Classics Cups in Cowes (2011), Boulogne-sur-Mer (2013) and Saint-Quay-Portrieux (2014), the Half Tonner fleet will meet again for a week of sailing and celebrations.

After the first edition of the Half Ton Classics Cup in 2003, which started the Ton Cup revivals across the world, a growing interest in Half Tonners has been noticed, causing quite a rush by various teams to acquire a good boat. Some of them have travelled as far as some isolated Greek islands in order to resuscitate an old abandoned boat (but one with a good pedigree). A well maintained Half Tonner easily keeps its value throughout the years and can be raced at the fraction of the cost of a new boat with a crew of 6 to 7. The Half Ton regattas attract a variety of teams : youth teams, teams of older sailors who sometimes remember having sailed in the IOR-era, mixed teams.

This growing interest in the Half Tonners is particularly evident in Belgium, where a fleet of almost 20 boats is frantically preparing to welcome the foreign visitors. Latest additions to the Belgian fleet are The Red Duke (Golden Shamrock), M’Half’Raz (Joubert/Nivelt 1977 prototype), Farther Bruin (Farr 1977 design) and North Sea Three (Gahinet 1981 design). This last boat is a club boat bought in France by the Royal North Sea YC from Ostend for their ‘Start2Race’ program. The boat will be sailed by a team of young club sailors for a period of 3 years.

The organising team is counting on a 35 to 40 boat fleet to line up alongside the pontoons of the Koninklijke YC of Nieuwpoort, who already hosted the event in 2003 and in 2009. The KYCN is one of the only clubs in the world to have hosted an edition of all Ton Cups : Quarter Ton Cup, Half Ton Classics Cup, Three Quarter Ton Cup and One Ton Cup.

As in previous editions the local fleet will meet a growing foreign armada from Ireland, France, the UK and Finland. This year it is likely that for the first a Dutch team will enter the series. The strongest contenders for the much coveted Half Ton Classics Trophy, awarded to the series winner, are the Irish team from Dave Cullen sailing on the newly acquired Checkmate XV, the French teams of Jean-Philippe Cau on Sibelius, Nicolas Nadaud on Half Red, and finally Finland’s Toni Stoscheck & friends on Superhero. The biggest surprise however could come from a well sailed series boat, in the shape of David Evans’ venerable Stephen Jones’ designed Hullabaloo, which in 2009 was a very strong runner-up.

However the main prize of the Series is not going to the best overall on the water performer, but to a team selected just because it is best representing the ‘True Half Tonner Spirit’, which is quite undefinable but well known to the attending teams. This year the winner of the Half Ton True Spirit Trophy will be decided by the organisation’s shore crew team.

The Half Ton Classics Cup can count on the support of various partners, like the KYCN, the Brussels Royal YC, the City of Nieuwpoort, and commercial sponsorship from Ecover, Patagonia, Kleen Kanteen and Euro Car Parks. Other agreements are in the course of being finalised.

The Notice of Race and Entry Form can be found here.

The 2015 edition of the Half Ton Classics Cup will take place in Nieuwpoort, Belgium from  17-21 August 2015.  With new faces, new boats, old friends, brilliant racing and all the fun that you can handle it’s going to be another fantastic event so put the date in your diaries and stand by for more news soon.

This week we’ve all seen how wonderful Swuzzlebubble looks now she has been restored (see above). But when Peter Morton first found her she was in a very sorry state. He kindly shared the pictures below showing the state she was in when he found her in a yard in Greece last year.  It just goes to show that a Half Tonner is never beyond restoration!

Video interview with Bernard Fournier Le Ray of second placed Brittany Drizzle – in French with English subtitles (our thanks to Fabrice Peineau for his assistance in producing this interview)

The 2014 Half Ton Classics Cup came to a sparkling conclusion today with one final thrilling race off the beautiful North Brittany coast and a delightful prize giving on the waterfront of Saint-Quay-Portreiux.

With the breeze a little lighter at around 10-14 knots we saw some different faces at the front of the pack today and the finish was incredibly close, both on the water and on corrected time. Robert Tregear’s Per Elisa (1989 Ceccarelli), the last one off half tonner ever built, came into her own and gave Swuzzlebubble a run for her money, although they couldn’t quite save their time and Swuzzlebubble won by 23 seconds. Third place went to Frederic Waniart’s diminutive Maeva (1974 Mauric) who beat General Tapioca for third by a mere 0.16 seconds! Also much happier in today’s lighter airs was Checkmate XV who took fifth, beating The Big Picture by 0.53 seconds!

Our winner, Peter Morton’s Swuzzlebubble (1978 Farr), had already been confirmed yesterday, but still came out to race purely for the joy of it.  And our remaining podium positions were confirmed as Bernard Fournier Le Ray’s Brittany Drizzle (1978 Berret) evaded one final challenge from her sister ship General Tapioca, owned by Philippe Pilate, to claim second place with General Tapioca taking the third step on the podium.

At the prize giving each of the skippers was invited to the podium to receive an invitation to the 2015 Half Ton Classics Cup, which will be held in in Nieuwpoort, Belgium, from 17-23 August, and to say a few words about the regatta.  They were universal in their praise of the Sport Nautique Saint-Quay-Portrieux for their organisation of the regatta, of the Half Ton Classics Class for their work behind the scenes, and of their crews and fellow competitors for the incredible competition, fun and camaraderie they have experienced this week.

Winner Peter Morton not only paid tribute to the organisers and his crew, but to his fellow owners and the incredible work they do in keeping these historic boats in such outstanding condition.  He especially highlighted his closest challenger Bernard Fournier Le Ray, who he has known since Bernard built Indulgence, the boat in which Peter won the Three Quarter Ton Cup in 1986.  Peter highlighted that Bernard built Brittany Drizzle himself in his garden in 1978 and has raced and maintained her personally ever since, giving Peter much good competition over the years.  That she is in outstanding condition some 36 years later and still raced with great success at the highest level is a true testament to Bernard’s skill as a builder and sailor and to the longevity of the Half Tonners.  Peter concluded by saying he looked forward to racing with the fleet again at next year’s event in Nieuwpoort.

Alongside the overall prizes there were a number of special presentations.  David Evans’ Hullabaloo XV, a 1978 Stephen Jones designed Hustler 32, won both the Production Boat Trophy and the Corinthian Trophy.  A special presentation was made to Alexandre Neuilly and his crew of Turbidite (1983 Fauroux) who may have come last in the rankings this week, but who truly embody the spirit of fun, enthusiasm, determination, tenacity and humour that typifies the Half Ton Class.

And finally we came to the most important presentation of all, The Half Ton Spirit Trophy, which is awarded to the team, which, in the opinion of the Class and the Regatta Committee, truly embodies the extraordinary spirit of the class and the event.  For their commitment and incredible personal hard work in keeping their beautiful boat in 100% as original condition, for sailing with great success with an entirely Corinthian crew and for racing her, runners, checkstays, titanium fittings and all, to an incredible ninth place overall, the 2014 Half Ton Spirit Trophy was awarded to deafening applause to Concorde (1989 Andrieu) owned by Francis Marshall and crewed by Robert Libby, Matt and Ivan Jacock, Peter Greenwood, Dick Jackman and Jack Spree – a bunch of Enterprise sailors and fishermen from Loo in Cornwall.  A very moved Francis and his entire team came to the podium to accept the trophy and the recognition of their fellow sailors.

With the formalities complete a delighted but exhausted Philippe Pilate, President of the Half Ton Classics Class, summed up his feelings about the regatta; “The landscape, the weather and the technical aspects of the regatta were outstanding, but for me the quality of our welcome in Saint-Quay-Portrieux has been the highlight of the week.  The members of Sport Nautique Saint-Quay-Portrieux and the people of the town have not only welcomed us as friends, but have made us feel like family.  It has been quite extraordinary and we are sad to leave.”

And so we say farewell to Saint-Quay-Portriuex and look forward to seeing the Half Ton Classics family once again in Nieuwpoort from 17-23 August 2015.

Review the coverage of the event on the Half Ton Classics Cup Blog and Facebook.

For further information about the Half Ton Class please visitwww.halftonclasseurope.net

Results

Photographs

Video 

The prize giving for the Half Ton Classics Cup will take place at 14.30 at the podium erected on the Quai de la Republic, which is on the waterfront at the head of the old harbour – in front of the main town.

Race 8 was another wonderfully close race and with the breeze initially lighter we saw some different faces at the front of the pack. It was incredibly close both on the water and on corrected time. Per Elisa shone today and gave Swuzzlebubble a run for her money, although they couldn’t quite save their time on her and Swuzzlebubble won the race by 23 seconds. Third place went to the diminutive Maeva who beat General Tapioca for third by a mere 0.16 seconds! Also much happier in today’s lighter airs was Checkmate XV who took fifth, beating The Big Picture by 0.53 seconds!

In the overall standings the final results are now confirmed as:

1: “Swuzzlebubble”, Peter Morton – 7 points
2: “Brittany Drizzle”, Bernard Fournier le Ray – 17 points
3: “General Tapioca”, Philippe Pilate – 21 points
4: “Sibelius”, Claude Charbonnier1 – 34 points
5: “Checkmate Xv”, Nigel Biggs – 42 points
6: “Superhero”, Toni Stoschek – 46 points
7: “Hullabaloo Xv”, David Evans – 52 points
8: “King One”, David Cullen – 52 points
9: “Concorde”, Francis Marshall – 63 points
10: “The Big Picture”, Richard Mickael Evans – 63 points
11: “Miss Whiplash”, Paul Pullen – 63 points
12: “Port de Perros Guirec”, Nicolas Nadaud – 64 points
13: “Maeva”, Frederic Waniart – 67 points
14: “Per Elisa”, Robert Tregear – 82 points
15: “Scorpion”, Geoff Davies – 94 points
16: “Harmony”, Jonny Swan – 102 points
17: “Trastada”, Angus Roddy – 115 points
18: “Crakajax”, Richard Hollis – 122 points
19: “Spip”, Thibault Martin – 124 points
20: “Fantasy”, Ian Van Burm – 124 points
21: “Melchonenn”, Pierre Emmanuel Guillerm – 132 points
22: “Turbidite”, Alexandre Neuilly – 133 points