SARDINIA In these times of national and interna¬ tional economic blahs, which type of ocean racer would you imagine is enjoying an al¬ most unheard of popularity? Why the 80-ft. maxi racers, what else? Despite the fact that a state-of-the-art maxi goes for $2 million and change these days, probably 10 or 15 of them were built last year or so. And Seahorse, the authoritative magazine of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, reports that another 20 are planned or under construction. Admittedly, a good number of these were built specifically for,the AroundThe-World Race, but still a significant num¬ ber were simply built as general purpose ocean racers tor-individual owners, ^s stag¬ gering as the cost of these boats is, there are three gentlemen who currently own 2 maxis apiece — Bob Bell, Jim Kilroy, and Huey Long — although only Bell does so by choice. Much of the maxi’s current attraction is a result of the formation of the Maxi Associa¬ tion, which in turn evolved from England’s 1979 Cowes Week and Fastnet Races. A re¬ latively large number of maxis were entered in these events, where it became painfully clear they were at a tremendous disadvan¬ tage compared with the smaller boats and that organizing their own racing was clearly in order. The Baron Edmund Rothschild (Gitana VI) heads the Association, which has already organized annual maxi world champion¬ ships, consisting of two separate series. In 1982, for example, the Maxi World Cham¬ pionship will consist of August’s Pan Am Clipper Series in Hawaii and September’s St. Francis Big Boat Series right here on San Francisco bay. However, the first such championship was held this year, and was won by Jim Kilroy’s Kialoa, continuing the dominance of maxi racing he established with the previous Kialoa. The first half of the championship was held this spring in Nassau after the SORC. The competition there was good, but not great. Most of the entries were dated, and what new boats participated were prima¬ rily slower ‘indestructo’ maxis designed and built specifically for the Around-The-World Race. The second half of the championship was contested this September in the western Mediterranean’s Sardinia, and featured what possibly was the finest collection of maxis to date. Although globe-girdling grand prix racers will invariably name Hawaii and Sardinia as the two most fabulously delightful places to
ocean race in the world, the latter is really a rather new location for it. The site is famous primarily for the even-yeared Sardinia Cup, of which there have been only two. The event was organized by the Aga Khan IV to help promote his Porto Cuervo facility on
Dave Allen’s Imp, although not accepted — much to the dismay of the crew. The attractions Sardinia held for the maxi series were many. The Aga Khan’s yard and maintenance facilities are said to be the best in the Mediterranean; his Puerto Cuervo yacht club is modern and palatial; and, the weather and sea conditions are superb. But what really drew the maxis to the middle of the Meditterranean was the competition.
T * 1 hirteen boats in all showed up to com¬
German Frers, probably the most popular maxi designer.
the Coasta Smerlda of Sardinia. Aga Khan is the name given to the leader of the Ismailis, an Islamic sect in the East and Middle East, and is the descendent of Ali and Fatima, the latter of who was the daughter of Mohammed. The current Aga Khan, who became the 49th Ismaili leader in 1957, was educated at Harvard and helped ‘prime the pump’ of the first Sardinia Cup by offering to ship some of the world’s finest ocean racers to the site for free. The offer was extended to
pete, including several ‘mini-maxis’ like the C&C 61 Triumph from Scottsdale, Arizona, whose owners are temporarily being allowed to race until they’ve had sufficient time to get a ‘maxi-maxi’ built. Of this thirteen boat fleet, there were six of particular notice: Helisara VI, a Frers-designed, Huismanbuilt boat, owned by Herbert von Karajan, the 73-year old conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Symphony. She was driven by Gary Jobson, Ted Turner’s former righthand man, who was assisted by Dave Pedrick. Ondine, Huey Long’s new Jerry Milgramdesigned, Palmer Johnson problem plagued maxi. The new thin-skinned aluminum con¬ struction process was not a big success, as winches reportedly pulled from the deck and the aluminium skin of the hull would stretch and ‘ripple’ like the too-tight leech of a sail. On the plane flight home Long was asked where the boat was going next, and he re¬ plied, to the boatyard. It was remarked that that was common and he responded, “Yes, but there’s a whole lot more to be done than
