1969

Excerpt from THE ADMIRAL'S CUP by Bob Fisher

Clarke's Quiver V. It was to be the last Cup series run under the RORC Rule and Arthur Slater took advantage of the benefit of the scantling allowance to build his Sparkman & Stephens-designed Prospect of Whitby in steel in Holland. The boat was fast and rated well. So, too, was Dave Johnson's and Mike Hurrell's Casse Tete III, a production glassfibre Swan 43, making the point that a well-sailed standard boat could be good enough for inclusion in the team over more expensive one-off boats.

There were other changes in thinking that year. The RORC found a sponsor to help maintain the standard and bear some of the costs. Dunnhill, who had been involved in Olympic sailing for some years, blended happily into the scene. Team managers began to appear. The Aussies had always had one - Gordon Reynolds took the role this time - and now it was deemed necessary even for the British.

Left: Red Rooster. Click for larger image.

When racing began in 1969, with a Channel Race that served up very changeable weather, the Australians made their point. They were in Britain to defend the Cup and wanted to take it back to Sydney. Ragamuffin lived up to her reputation to win by a minute from Red Rooster, while Mercedes III and Koomooloo were fourth and seventh to give Australia a 38 point lead after just one race. Prospect and Phantom were third and fifth but Casse Tete III was disappointingly twenty-eighth. Italy were ten points ahead of both Britain and the USA.

The Britannia Cup was Britain's race. Prospect, by taking the mainland shore on the beat westwards against the tide, won the Cup and, with Casse Tete and Phantom eighth and tenth, took top team points. Nevertheless, the Aussies with sixth, seventh and thirteenth for Koomooloo, Ragamuffin and Mercedes, stretched their lead to 41 points. And it grew two days later when Red Rooster won the New York Yacht Club Cup for America and the Australian trio scored third, fourth and ninth and went up 44 points.

The individual battle was definitely between Ragamuffin and Red Rooster with Prospect in with a chance.

The Fastnet was a gloomy affair. After a bright start under shy spinnakers in a briskish south-easterly, the wind tailed off and made it a slow race. The Americans found it much to their liking and hammered home their superiority. Red Rooster won the Fastnet Cup by 68 seconds from Sir Max Aitken's Crusade and the argument still bubbles about the timing discrepancy which may have robber Sir Max of victory. But Carter's win with Dick Nye's Carina third and Palawan eighth gave the Americans 252 points, taking them from fourth to win the Admiral's Cup.

Australia's hopes evaporated with the wind and, while Ragamuffin was second, the calms ensured the other two staying out longer and they finished nineteenth and twentieth. With Phantom fourth, Prospect eleventh and Casse Tete fifteenth, Britain closed the gap but had to be content with third place. How galling it must have been for the Australians who had done so well in the first three races and were still leading in the Cup as they rounded the Bishop Rock on the way back from the Fastnet, to see it all disappear so close to the finish. But that, as anyone will tell you, is ocean racing.

RESULTS

		CHANNEL RACE	FIRST INSHORE RACE	SECOND INSHORE RACE	FASTNET RACE
		Pts.	Pts.	Pts.	Pts.	Total Points
U.S.A.	CARINA	48	18	24	87	177
	RED ROOSTER	60	29	31	93	213
	PALAWAN	12	14	8	72	106
		120	61	63	252	496
AUSTRALIA	RAGAMUFFIN	62	25	29	90	206
	KOOMOOLOO	50	26	28	36	140
	MERCEDES III	56	19	22	39	136
		168	70	79	165	482
GREAT BRITAIN	PHANTOM	54	22	26	84	186
	PROSPECT OF WHITBY	58	31	27	63	179
	CASSE TETE III	8	24	23	51	106
		120	77	76	198	471
ITALY	LA MELORIA	32	28	13	42	115
	MABELLE	52	30	30	81	193
	LEVANTADES	46	-	19	78	143
		130	58	62	201	451
GERMANY	RUBIN	42	-	20	66	128
	SUCA	36	17	17	33	103
	KLAR KIMMING	28	21	25	30	104
		106	38	62	129	335
FINLAND	LYGAIA	34	23	12	12	81
	RUNN	38	27	21	54	140
	GABRIELLA	24	-	5	48	77
		96	50	38	114	298
FRANCE	ORYX	22	-	14	6	42
	PACHA	40	15	16	60	131
	CORIOLAN	26	-	10	75	111
		88	15	40	141	284
HOLLAND	STORMY	30	11	9	57	107
	TONNERRE DE BRESKENS	18	13	7	21	59
	PIERRETTE III	16	9	6	3	34
		64	33	22	81	200
ARGENTINA	FORTUNA	20	-	3	69	92
	KUENDA	6	10	11	24	51
	FJORD V	14	-	4	18	36
		40	10	18	111	179
BERMUDA	QUEST OF PAGET	4	-	-	27	31
	WIZARD OF PAGET	10	20	18	45	39
		14	20	18	73	124
SPAIN	ARTAKO	44	16	15	15	90
	EL MONJE	2	12	2	9	25
		46	28	17	24	115