The 4-5 knots held reasonably well up the first beat but it was hard work picking the shifts and patches. First round was Superhero followed by Checkmate and Per Elisa. But as they came around the wind has dropped to just 2-3 knots so it’s going to be a very long leg 2.
The wind is still light but we now have about 3-5 knots across the course and the tide is slack so the race committee is going for race 1. We’re going into photo mode now so more later.
We are out in the race area but the wind is very light. Tempting bands of light wind roll down the course periodically but between them it’s very light and extremely shifty. The race officer and his team are constantly monitoring and hoping we can get racing today (first start scheduled for 14.00). At the briefing he advised the teams that if there was no sign of wind by around 15.30 he would make the decision to call off today’s race. We’ll keep you posted but keep your fingers crossed everyone.
Good morning everyone and welcome to the opening day of racing here in Nieuwport. Unfortunately summer has deserted us and today we have grey skies and very little wind – even the famous wind socks sculpture at the entrance to the marina is drooping this morning!
There is a slight breeze here in the marina but not currently sufficient to sail. All fingers are crossed however and the competitors are none the less getting their boats ready to race and completing their final tweaks and tuning.
We will have an official competitors briefing at 12.00 in the regatta centre and the race officer hopes to be able to get racing underway at 14.00 as scheduled
Despite the weather everyone is in high spirits. Last night’s welcome reception rolled into a fun and somewhat raucous dinner in the yacht club and today much coffee is being drunk as everyone recovers.
Stand by for a further update after the briefing.
Saturday 19 August – Nieuwpoort, Belgium – The 2018 Half Ton Classics Cup was officially opened this evening with a wonderful champagne reception at the Koninklijke Yacht Club Nieuwpoort where Commodore Baudouin Meyhui welcomed the competitors and paid tribute to all the volunteers for the huge amount of work done behind the scenes to make the event possible. He also thanked all the event sponsors (see logos at right) for their most generous support of the regatta.
Half Ton Class Secretary Bert Janssen in turn thanked the host club for their ongoing support of the Class and for hosting the event once again this year. The regatta has attracted a significant number of overseas competitors and flags and gifts were exchanged with representatives of the Half Ton Class Italia and with Half Ton sailors who have come all the way from Hobart in Tasmania.
Today’s planned warm up race had to be cancelled due to strong winds and big seas, but tomorrow racing begins in earnest with a briefing at 12.00 and the first of the championship races scheduled to start at 14.00. Unfortunately the forecast for tomorrow is for very light winds so we will all have to keep our fingers crossed for some sea breeze so that sailing is possible. The good news is that the wind returns from Tuesday so the rest of the week should provide glorious sailing conditions.
This year’s fleet has some interesting new entries as well as several familiar faces who have undergone extensive restoration work recently so the regatta is well and truly up for grabs. As the conditions will be quite varied we can expect a variety of winners and hopefully a very close regatta.
You can also follow the regatta on our Facebook Page
Nieuwpoort, Belgium – 9 August 2018 – The Half Ton Class makes a welcome return to Nieuwpoort in Belgium for the 2018 Half Ton Classics Cup, which will take place from 20 to 24 August 2018 and will be hosted by the Koninklijke Yachtclub Nieuwpoort.
The event will see some 20 vintage yachts built to the IOR Half Ton Rule compete over five days of racing for the prestigious Half Ton Classics Cup and a number of additional special trophies. New for this edition is the introduction of a Vintage IOR Class open to all non-modified Half Tonners (except mast and keel). Among them eleven boats from the local fleet (A+, Fantasy, Half Duke, Petit Izoï, Envol, Skippy’s Ton, Farther Bruin, Spip, Ballerine, Red Cloud and Waverider) are already confirmed as competing in this division which is expected to provide some exciting and challenging competition.
As always, the event will attract teams from across Europe to compete and this year an Italian crew will be joining the fray for the first time. Sailing the 1989 Berret designed Blue BerretPi/Team Italia, Jérôme Spilleboudt & Massimo Morasca and their crew come to the event as reigning Italian Half Ton National Champions and are expected to give the fleet a good run for their money.
Many of those competing are old friends of the class. From Ireland Dave Cullen will be bringing the 1985 Humphreys designed Checkmate XV and Jonny Swan will be racing Harmony, an earlier Humphreys’ design from 1980. From the English west country comes Robbie Tregear’s 1992 Ceccarelli designed Per Elisa, whilst Toni Stoschek & Janne Tukolas make the trip all the way from Finland with their 1988 Andrieu designed Superhero.
The Belgian home fleet are putting up a good showing with Philippe Pilate’s General Tapioca (1978 Berret) leading a strong team that includes Waverider skippered by Jacques Lemaire (1977 Davidson), Ian Van Burm’s Fantasy (1980 Humphreys), Maël Danis’ Envol (1980 Joubert) and Thibaut Martin’s Spip (1984 Humphreys).
It is always a delight to see one of Ron Holland’s legendary Golden Shamrocks taking part in the Half Ton Classics Cup and this year Half Duke will represent the class with a very special all girl crew aboard, who will be racing to represent the NGO “Mothers & Midwives Support” which is gathering funds to finance an ambulance boat for the Monvu Hospital and Idjwi Island in the Democratic Republic of Congo. On Wednesday evening of the regatta the team will present their project in the yacht club, where they will be joined by Olympic Laser Radial Bronze Medalist Evi Van Acker, who is a “godmother” to “Mothers & Midwives Support”.
Registration for the event will open on Sunday 19August andthere will be practice racing that afternoon. Championship racing runs from Monday 20 to Friday 24 August inclusive and will feature a mixture of windward/leeward, short coastal and long coastal courses, with a maximum of three races being sailed each day.
Further details including the Notice of Race, online Entry and Sailing Instructions can all be found atwww.halftonclasssicscup.com, where daily news updates will also be posted. You can also follow the regatta on the Half Ton Class Facebook page.
Media wishing to attend the event should contact Press Officer Fiona Brown on fiona.brown@fionabrown.com or +44 (0)7711 718470.
With the overall regatta decided on the penultimate day, the Euro Car Parks Half Ton Classics Cup was presented to Phil Plumtree and the crew of Swuzzlebubble at Kinsale Yacht Club, Ireland on Friday night.
A single ‘round the cans’ final race earlier in the day also delivered a full eleven race programme despite losing a day to strong winds.
Swuzzlebubble’s series ended on Thursday after ten races of mostly first and second places confirmed their pre-event favourite status and this year’s win is the third victory in the 40-year old boat’s modern record adding to previous wins with Peter Morton and Greg Peck.
The battle for second place went down to the wire and the outcome of the eleventh race which was won by Nigel Biggs on Checkmate XVIII and he succeeded in beating David Cullen on Checkmate XV by a half point margin to take the first runner-up place.
The Half Ton True Spirit trophy, the other major award for the week was presented to Paul Wayte and the crew of Headhunter in recognition of their camaraderie within the fleet both afloat and ashore but especially for their sportsmanship. Wayte loaned a spare mast to Superhero after their own rig was badly damaged en route to Ireland that enabled the Finnish entry to start the regatta last weekend.
Tributes were paid to Principal Race Officer Anthony O’Leary and Regatta Director John Stallard of Kinsale YC with their team of volunteers who delivered a memorable series.
Class President Philippe Pilate on General Tapioca was best of the continental entries in fifth overall in the 21-strong turnout. At the prize-giving ceremony, he confirmed that the 2018 championship will be held at the Royale Koninklijke Yacht Club (KYCN), Nieuwpoort in Belgium from the 20th to 24th August where a team of volunteers are already planning a week of great racing and hospitality.
The 2017 event was sponsored by Euro Car Parks together with AGK Displays, MF Services, Windward Hotels, Provincial Floor Coverings, Martin Reilly Motors and our good friends at Harken UK.
With an enviable scoresheet of mostly first and second places for the series, Phil Plumtree’s Swuzzlebubble won the Euro Car Parks Half Ton Classics Cup at Kinsale, Ireland with just Friday’s eleventh race remaining. A breezy penultimate day ended with a short coastal course in which the British boat placed fifth but was still good enough to confirm the overall win.
Plumtree’s ten race series saw him dominate the 21-strong fleet from the opening race on Monday in spite of an eighth place in race three. However, four races on Tuesday left little room for doubt with all first and second places for the day while the event discard took care of the high score from the opening day.
Another first and second place on Thursday saw Swuzzlebubble start the coastal course with a commanding nine-point advantage. However, the race around the scenic approaches to Kinsale and the finish off the historic Charles Fort carried a 1.5x multiplication factor and several wipe-outs in the heavy conditions at sea saw Plumtrees team place fifth.
Their nearest challengers were second placed David Cullen on Checkmate XV and Nigel Biggs on Checkmate XVIII but both had sixth and fifth places earlier in the day that effectively decided the regatta in Swuzzlebubble’s favour as the former Kiwi classic ended with a three point advantage and a worst race discard of second that allows Plumtree to sit out the Friday’s final due to an unexpected crew personal commitment.
The regatta now returns to what had been suspected all week given Swuzzlebubble’s pre-event favourite status after two previous titles: that the series is a battle for second place.
Cullen’s lead over his Checkmate’s former owner is just 1.5 points and while the Howth Yacht Club skipper equalled Plumtree’s win count for the series so far, a make or break final race could be all the opportunity Biggs needs to push his newly launched Checkmate XVIII ahead of his friend and take the first runner-up place.
As has been the case all week with one day lost to high-winds, the forecast for Friday morning is for near gales but with a possible weather window to allow for an earlier starting-time of 0955 for a one hour windward-leeward course.
Elsewhere in the fleet, Mike and Ritchie Evans’ The Big Picture is assured of fourth overall, ahead of class president Philipe Pilate on General Tapioca. The third host country boat – all three hail from Howth – in the top six has a battle to keep the standing as Jonny Swan holds a slim 0.75 point lead over seventh placed Paul Pullen on Miss Whiplash.
In a clear statement of intent for the remainder of the regatta, Phil Plumtree’s Swuzzlebubble found form on the second day of racing at the Euro Car Parks Half Ton Classics Cup at Kinsale with two wins and two second places during a long day afloat sailed in ideal conditions.
While there was a building breeze of 12 to 20 knots ending in champagne sailing conditions for day two, a near gale forecast for Wednesday morning may yet mean a lay day is on the cards and a break in the programme could be the best hope for a tight pack of runner-up contenders to break Plumtree’s dominance of the 21-boat fleet.
Two bullets for David Cullen on Checkmate XV edges him into second overall, five points behind Swuzzlebubble and just a single point ahead of Nigel Biggs on Checkmate XVIII, the previous overnight leader. A consistent day for Mike and Ritchie Evans’ The Big Picture, Cullen’s clubmates from Howth, Co. Dublin keeps them in the hunt in fourth overall and just ten points off the leader.
On the water, Swuzzlebubble’s impressive upwind performance is hard to miss and although needing to finish by more than a minute and a half over her nearest rival to win on IRC handicap, Plumtree’s team is absent from the boat on boat tussle for places further astern.
Rollercoaster results across the two days afflicted several crews, notably Paul Pullen’s Miss Whiplash who lost his consistent form of thirds and fourth places from Monday and Paul Wayte’s Headhunter who used both the event discards to drop eleventh and twelfth places.
Class President Philippe Pilatte on General Tapioca also used both discards but also scored a third and fourth places to move up the leaderboard to fifth overall though a distant 19 points off first place.
Meanwhile the forecast of strong winds for Wednesday and possibly again later in the week led Principal Race Officer Anthony O’Leary to set four races for the day with three windward/leeward courses followed by a ‘round the cans’ race finishing inside Kinsale natural harbour overlooked by the historic Charles Fort.
The possibility of the gale blowing through by lunchtime on Wednesday has not been discounted and the intention to hold a coastal course remains – pending a decision by the race committee in the morning. The longer race offers 1.5x multiplier and could prove critical in deciding the final outcome of the championship.
Half Ton Classics Cup 2025 