what is it?

[Editor 620]

Well, it ain't fresh off the assembly line, we can tell you that! What ya got?

[longy 497]

One of the Castro designed boats built for a short lived class boat racing series. 50' long. DC had two, some repo yard in South bay has been trying to sell one for ever.

[Mid 2,921]

It's a sloop

what'd I win ?

[Editor 620]

6 minutes ago, longy said:

One of the Castro designed boats built for a short lived class boat racing series. 50' long. DC had two, some repo yard in South bay has been trying to sell one for ever.

i knew this one wouldn't last long!

[longy 497]

So what did they call those boats??

[Matagi 793]

Formula something, wasn't it? 

[shanghaisailor 1,301]

1 hour ago, Matagi said:

Formula something, wasn't it? 

I think you are right - I have some video of them somewhere from when they raced on the Clyde, Scotland

 

[terrafirma 1,079]

Can't find any other pics of this thing but not sure what to look for? 

[shanghaisailor 1,301]

Yep - Formula One - in action

Sorry for the quality of the pics, screen shots and video wasn't quite 4K over 20 years ago. They were pretty awesome boats for their time.

Some real characters involved, last shot shows Cudmore calling the shots and a commentator who actually knew what he was talking about.

If I remember correctly the keels and rudders demounted easily to enable them to be shipped around the place easily

Good to see one of the old girls still alive.

[shanghaisailor 1,301]

2 hours ago, Editor said:

Well, it ain't fresh off the assembly line, we can tell you that! What ya got?

Nice find Mt Editor - they were great boats in their day and just shows that nothing is new - SailGP is just this circuit with newer technology - hopefully it will last longer than this event did.

[statesidehaggis 0]

Was called the World Yachting Grand Prix. I worked at the Scottish one on the Clyde, was good fun to watch. Dennis was there as was Mike McIntyre and Joachim Schumann. They had an international 14 event at the same time - the aim was to attract a non sailing audience but it rained and nobody came.

Bob Fisher was commentating from the top of a nearby chimney (since demolished).

[terrafirma 1,079]

2 hours ago, shanghaisailor said:

Nice find Mt Editor - they were great boats in their day and just shows that nothing is new - SailGP is just this circuit with newer technology - hopefully it will last longer than this event did.

Funny how SailGP is popping up everywhere. SailGP has had more money invested into it and as long as coverage is easy to obtain who knows? You'd think the kids of the world could be attracted to something like the F50 foiling around a race course at close to 50 Knots? 

[ROADKILL666 326]

Looks like a stretched out t-10

[billy backstay 972]

What's with the stainless side pipes, in lieu of lifelines??

[Left Shift 2,764]

43 minutes ago, billy backstay said:

What's with the stainless side pipes, in lieu of lifelines??

Early belly-hiking rail.  What's with the companionway hatch barely big enough for a bag of sandwiches?

Given the oval shape of the wheels, that picture needs a bit of tweaking.  Boats were a lot wider than the pic looks.  

[Snowden 310]

Makes sense that it's a Castro design, because it has more than a passing resemblance to Barracuda of Tarrant (of Howard's Way fame)

[billy backstay 972]

20 minutes ago, Left Shift said:

Early belly-hiking rail.  What's with the companionway hatch barely big enough for a bag of sandwiches?

 

Probably more comfortable for hiking, than lifelines.  I'm not worried about a bag of sandwiches, but how about moving kites in and out of it?  Perhaps the forward hatch is larger for that purpose?

 

[Left Shift 2,764]

2 minutes ago, billy backstay said:

 

Probably more comfortable for hiking, than lifelines.  I'm not worried about a bag of sandwiches, but how about moving kites in and out of it?  Perhaps the forward hatch is larger for that purpose?

 

"Bag of sandwiches" being a bit of hyperbole. 

You mean the 24"x24" Lewmar foredeck hatch in the picture?  Not much bigger, if any, than the companionway, it appears. 

[billy backstay 972]

2 hours ago, Left Shift said:

"Bag of sandwiches" being a bit of hyperbole. 

You mean the 24"x24" Lewmar foredeck hatch in the picture?  Not much bigger, if any, than the companionway, it appears. 

 

Looks like a fractional rig, so unless it flies masthead kites, they are much smaller than a similar sized masthead rigged boat.  Just before I joined the 65' Boomerang and then became Boat Nanny, they had Derektors install a much larger fore-hatch for easier sail handling.  But they never put on the permanent Document number there, like the previous hatch had.  While motoring back from Block Island race a year later with 2 crew, we were boarded by USCG guys on a RIB that was launched from a 150 foot Cutter.  They boarded for a "Safety Check", allegedly.  We had over a dozen PFD's and safety harnesses and and much more than all the required safety gear.  But they noticed there was no Documentation number on the fore-hatch, as required.  So, they finally had something to write me up for, and I'm sure it became a "permanent record" on my 100 ton ticket, which expired in '95, when I was too busy with other things to realize it.  Sure wish that I had kept it current, as it's not now worth the hassle to redo from square one...

[Jono 42]

One came to NZ. Called Formula One - funny that. The owner ran a number of cool upgrades such as a TP52 rig and a keel with trim tab. When he went to the TP52 it went pretty cheap. The current owner has rebuilt it and added a small cabin and has been sailing the North Island circuit. 

[Benja 2]

Pilots Point in Westbrook has two of them.  They were used for match racing/team building and sunset cruises for a few years.  I could be wrong, but I believe the rigs on these two were changed to make them more manageable.

[44forty 163]

4 hours ago, Jono said:

One came to NZ. Called Formula One - funny that. The owner ran a number of cool upgrades such as a TP52 rig and a keel with trim tab. When he went to the TP52 it went pretty cheap. The current owner has rebuilt it and added a small cabin and has been sailing the North Island circuit. 

Good bit a history there Jono . Photo of the boat recently below and at the bottom before it had major surgery 

 

[shanghaisailor 1,301]

9 hours ago, Snowden said:

Makes sense that it's a Castro design, because it has more than a passing resemblance to Barracuda of Tarrant (of Howard's Way fame)

Was the boat of my dreams for a long while as well as RORC Yacht of the Year in the mid '80's.

Was once clocked at just shy of 23 kts in Christchurch Bay which wasn't bad for a 45 footer back then. Come to think of it, it isn't bad for an offshore capable 45 footer today.

The original (Bob's boat) was epoxy over strip planked cedar but the production boats were GRP. 

[shanghaisailor 1,301]

19 hours ago, statesidehaggis said:

Was called the World Yachting Grand Prix. I worked at the Scottish one on the Clyde, was good fun to watch. Dennis was there as was Mike McIntyre and Joachim Schumann. They had an international 14 event at the same time - the aim was to attract a non sailing audience but it rained and nobody came.

Bob Fisher was commentating from the top of a nearby chimney (since demolished).

Nice to see a fellow Scot on the forums although from your screen name you are, like me, an expat. It was quite a few days racing although it was so far out you would need binos to have seen it from the shore

[E-fish-n-sea 0]

On 2/19/2020 at 8:10 PM, Editor said:

Well, it ain't fresh off the assembly line, we can tell you that! What ya got?

Is this the one that lives on a ball under the Coronado Bridge? look at it on the way to work every morning.
 

Wondering where it drifted off to, did it sell or is it getting a new bottom and heading back to the ball for another 4 years?

[underperformer 38]

Did a regatta on one a while back. Pretty hopeless boat if you ask me. Didn’t go well in any direction. They are under canvassed, not nearly enough righting moment, and way to wide. Going Dead downwind seems to be their only strongpoint. Oh and the mast fell off. This boat succeeded in impressing exactly nobody  

[billy backstay 972]

11 hours ago, Benja said:

Pilots Point in Westbrook has two of them.  They were used for match racing/team building and sunset cruises for a few years.  I could be wrong, but I believe the rigs on these two were changed to make them more manageable.

 

IIRC Dennis Conner was involved in those coming to Westbrook, along with Rives.  I remember doing Block Island Race Week '95, on Alcotts RP50, Equation.  DC was sailing a Formula something, "Stars & Stripes" that rated exactly the same.  At one start he was just above us when Stu told Boner, who was driving to luff him up.  He did that and flushed DC onto Port tack where he then took a lot of sterns....

[Gumbercules 10]

On 2/19/2020 at 8:15 PM, longy said:

One of the Castro designed boats built for a short lived class boat racing series. 50' long. DC had two, some repo yard in South bay has been trying to sell one for ever.

What does it rate?

[brettphillips 1]

Unimara, Farr 2 Tonner

[fdsailor 0]

They were a Bruce Nelson and Tony Castro joint effort, with masthead kites on fractional rigs. Seem to recall Mike Macintyre (Argyll Diamonds), John (USA) Bertrand (Stars and Stripes), Bernie Bielken (Becks), Jorg Diesch (Hawesta) were skippers on the Clyde round, maybe Pedro Campos in there too? Certainly a load of great sailors on all the boats... Think it was partly an effort to emulate and replace the IOR50 circuit which was showing signs of imploding at the time 

[longy 497]

10 hours ago, billy backstay said:

 

IIRC Dennis Conner was involved in those coming to Westbrook, along with Rives.  I remember doing Block Island Race Week '95, on Alcotts RP50, Equation.  DC was sailing a Formula something, "Stars & Stripes" that rated exactly the same.  At one start he was just above us when Stu told Boner, who was driving to luff him up.  He did that and flushed DC onto Port tack where he then took a lot of sterns....

Conners had two of them and toured them around the country doing "corporate team building" sailing. He changed out the spar on one of them, can't remember why or what got different. And yes, he had a blue one called Scars & Bars

[Fiji Bitter 1,496]

20 hours ago, shanghaisailor said:

The original (Bob's boat) was epoxy over strip planked cedar but the production boats were GRP. 

Thanks for reminding me, that now makes 7 for my soon to be published personal keel list (in another thread).

Had a 2x4 aft keel floor that didn't have a chance with Bob's navigation skills. 

 

[williwaw 0]

Exposure from the Netherlands was sold to Dennis Conner. Blistering fast downwind and a dog upwind

[P_Wop 1,908]

On 2/20/2020 at 8:07 PM, shanghaisailor said:

Was the boat of my dreams for a long while as well as RORC Yacht of the Year in the mid '80's.

Was once clocked at just shy of 23 kts in Christchurch Bay which wasn't bad for a 45 footer back then. Come to think of it, it isn't bad for an offshore capable 45 footer today.

The original (Bob's boat) was epoxy over strip planked cedar but the production boats were GRP. 

Lots of splendid miles with Bob on Barracuda of Tarrant, aka "The Country Cottage" in the Solent and Channel, and Scotland too.  Knocked a rudder through the hull and nearly sank after hitting the wreck off the Needles in a Round the Island Race (87?).  Great boat, but the real hassle was grinding the keel up, which took forever.

Bob later famously ran her onto the bricks of Bembridge Ledge at night doing a delivery back from Ouistreham.  They turned too early, mistaking Princessa for the Ledge buoy.  This time the keel was up, and by the time the sails were down and damage assessment underway, there was a loud hammering on the topsides.  A Coastie had waded out over the low-tide rocks to see if they were OK.  She was repaired, again, and lived to fight many more days.

A BBC commentator said that since Bob had claimed both ends of the Island by apparent violent possession, he should be made King of it.

[shanghaisailor 1,301]

4 hours ago, P_Wop said:

Lots of splendid miles with Bob on Barracuda of Tarrant, aka "The Country Cottage" in the Solent and Channel, and Scotland too.  Knocked a rudder through the hull and nearly sank after hitting the wreck off the Needles in a Round the Island Race (87?).  Great boat, but the real hassle was grinding the keel up, which took forever.

Bob later famously ran her onto the bricks of Bembridge Ledge at night doing a delivery back from Ouistreham.  They turned too early, mistaking Princessa for the Ledge buoy.  This time the keel was up, and by the time the sails were down and damage assessment underway, there was a loud hammering on the topsides.  A Coastie had waded out over the low-tide rocks to see if they were OK.  She was repaired, again, and lived to fight many more days.

A BBC commentator said that since Bob had claimed both ends of the Island by apparent violent possession, he should be made King of it.

Yes, Bob did have a soft spot for the Scottish Series. I used to love it when he wrote that “we had a lot of washing up at the country cottage last weekend”. A good sailor & commentator & fantastic writer, probably because he was ‘in’ the sport, not looking in. For years the main reason I took Y&Y was ‘Fish Eye’ and it would be a fool that called his AC knowledge into doubt. A couple of worlds under his belt, (wins that is) crew for the Tornado when she was selected for the 5 ring circus and in his 9th decade still keeps his hand in with Mingion (think I spelt that right). 
A good bloke & a bloody good friend and glad to say still going strong.

[mad 3,850]

On 2/22/2020 at 1:42 AM, Fiji Bitter said:

Thanks for reminding me, that now makes 7 for my soon to be published personal keel list (in another thread).

Had a 2x4 aft keel floor that didn't have a chance with Bob's navigation skills. 

 

 

9 hours ago, P_Wop said:

Lots of splendid miles with Bob on Barracuda of Tarrant, aka "The Country Cottage" in the Solent and Channel, and Scotland too.  Knocked a rudder through the hull and nearly sank after hitting the wreck off the Needles in a Round the Island Race (87?).  Great boat, but the real hassle was grinding the keel up, which took forever.

Bob later famously ran her onto the bricks of Bembridge Ledge at night doing a delivery back from Ouistreham.  They turned too early, mistaking Princessa for the Ledge buoy.  This time the keel was up, and by the time the sails were down and damage assessment underway, there was a loud hammering on the topsides.  A Coastie had waded out over the low-tide rocks to see if they were OK.  She was repaired, again, and lived to fight many more days.

A BBC commentator said that since Bob had claimed both ends of the Island by apparent violent possession, he should be made King of it.

 

For which he was awarded the Auscrew fuck-up of year award during one of the AC parties...  (I'm sure a few of the old school here remember those)