1989

Excerpt from Champagne Mumm Admirals Cup by Timothy Jeffery

It was in 1989 that the Champagne Mumm Admiral's Cup reached its zenith under the International Offshore Rule. The fourteen-team entry was of exceptional quality, the racing was superlative with just 18 points dividing the Danes from the winning British team, and the decline which was beginning to affect parts of IOR racing had not shown itself among the Admiral's Cup fleet.

An important change for the British was to place one of their best sailors ashore. Harold Cudmore had been a leading light since 1975 for various Irish and British yachts from Irish Mist to Indulgence, but for 1989 he was given the budget and power to mastermind things from the dockside. 'For 1989, the relative sizes of the three boats were going to be decisive, because of the combination of the development of the bigger boats and the changes to the TMFs,' Cudmore explained.

So it proved. To curb the ascendancy of the one-tonners, the RORC shifted the TMF curve again in favour of the larger sizes, because the minimum-raters still appeared to be enjoying a disproportionate level of success. In 1985 it was obvious that an all one-ton size was the way to go. For 1989 the balance of power had shifted so much that an all-50ft team was the ideal combination, but few appreciated that fully before the series - except perhaps the Danes, who fielded two of them in their team.

At first the changes seemed slight. The redrawn TMF curve would give a 50-footer an extra forty seconds per hour over a one-tonner compared to the 1987 values. These would work out at something like an hour during a four-day Fastnet race, whereas in 1987 the top one-tonners had beaten the best 50s by about four hours.

The British team was chosen only after the most acrimonious of selections. It was thought all along that the team would comprise Graham Walker's Andrieu one-tonner Indulgence, Mike Peacock's Castro 45 Juno IV and Alan Gray's Farr 50 Jamarella, for these were the only new, specially built boats and the calibre of the alternatives was moderate. But in reaching the point where the team was named, Cudmore travelled the bumpiest road imaginable.

Gray built Jamarella expressly to try out the newly established 50ft World Cup circuit and because he felt that the TMF changes could produce a 50-footer which was not just a useful team yacht but potential series top scorer. 'Bruce Farr, Morgens Brinks (the Danish manager) and myself were the only three people in the world who thought a 50 could do it,' claimed Gray a London haberdasher, at the end of the series.

Peacock was drawn to the mid-size because it was the vacant slot, for beneath him Graham Walker already had a well-advanced plan to try to win the One Ton Cup in Naples. It was a case of unfinished business for Walker, who had been twice runner-up and once third in the event. Absences in France for tuning up with her hull-sister CGI and for the Italian event meant that Indulgence VII was unavailable until very late in the UK trials.

The selectors told Walker this was risky, but that if Indulgence finished in the top three of the fourteen-nation, twenty-eight-boat One Ton Cup fleet she would probably have earned her place. This caused much hue and cry over supposed secret deals. With Cudmore and Walker close from America's Cup and Admiral's Cup campaigns in the past, it was the simplest charge to level but the hardest one to answer. If people chose not to believe the denial, there was nothing Cudmore felt he could do about it.

RESULTS

Country	Boat Name	Owner	Total (Overall Points)	Overall Total (By Country)
Britain	Jamarella	A Gray	321
	Juno IV	A M Peacock	209
	Indulgence IVV	G Walker	217	748
Denmark	4K	F Thomsen	185
	Andelsbanken IV	V Greulich	263
	Stockbroker's Container	J Host	281	730
New Zealand	Librah	D Richwhite/M Fay	285
	Fair Share	J Benton	203
	Propaganda	T Bailey	179	667
France	CGI	TF/B-Decre	190
	Xeryus de Givenchy	B Trouble	165
	Corum 89	P Briand	267	622
Australia	Madeline's Daughter	P Kurts	201
	True Blue	L Klopper	175
	Joint Venture III	R Elliott	240	617
USA	Great News	Calvert-Jones	226
	Sagaciouso V	D Allen/G Appleby	202
	Bravura	I Loube	171	600
Japan	Will	R Oda	308
	Arecan Bay	Nippon Challenge	143
	Turkish Delight	Nippon Challenge	101	552
Germany	Rubin XI	H Schumann	177
	Pinta	W Illbruck	144
	Beck's Diva	P Westphal-Langloh	215	537
Italy	Madrake Krizia	G Carriero	219
	Bellatrix	Marina Militare	126
	Aria	C Bixio	153	498
Netherlands	Mean machine	P de Ridder	232
	Amsterdamed	J Visser	56
	Pro-motion VI	J Dolk	110	399
Norway	Elkem Yeoman XXVII	T Knutsen	81
	Hydro	P Lunde	128
	Fram XI	HH Crown Prince Harald	178	387
Sweden	Kiwi	A Lonnqvist	132
	Greve Duckula	J Norman	71
	Full Pelt	B Bemholm	77	280
Ireland	Platon Finans II	J Neilsen	102
	Citroen	W Borel	51
	Hitchhiker III	P Briggs	103	256
Argentina	Daphne	G Frers	29
	Jockey Club	A Urani	78
	Tango Too	Schmiegelow/Haymes	96	203