Sardinia maxis

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

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 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.

T1 * hirteen boats in all showed up to com¬ 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

we expected.” Ondine was driven by Russell Long, Huey’s young son who had lead the Clipper 12 Meter campaign two summers ago.

Xargo IV, a thick-skinner Palmer-Johnson built, Frers-designed maxi, owned by Fran¬ cisco Stiges of Spain. Xargo was sailed with the assistance of Dennis Durgan and Robbie Doyle. However, its most illustrious crew¬ member had to be King Juan Carlos of Spain who joined the boat for most of one race. The racing rules state you that you must finish with as many crewmembers as you start with, but apparently exceptions are made for royalty and heads of state. When the wind went light a heavily armed boat picked the King up and whisked him to shore without a single protest flag hoisted in anger.

Bumblebee IV, Johan Kahlbetzer’s big

ALL PHOTOS BY LOUIS KRUK

Ocean Marine in England and designed by Ron Holland along the lines of Jim Kilroy’s Kialoa. In a huge disappointment, not only to owner Bob Bell but everyone else as well, Condors mast came tumbling down the day before the first race. This despite an all-star cast including California’s Lowell North, Dennis Connor, Ben Mitchell, and the like. Condor, the pre-race favorite along with Kialoa, re-rigged the remaining 55 feet of mast for the trip back to England, and came out to watch several of the races, and even hoisted a spinnaker.

Kialoa, Jim Kilroy’s Ron Holland maxi built by Kiwi Boats of Florida. Like Ondine and Condor, Kialoa was completed this year. Bruce Kendall and England’s Harold Cudmore were aboard, but owner Kilroy does most of his own driving.

Other big boats included Bill Whitehouse’s Mistress Quickly, a veteran of two St. Francis Big Boat Series; Anatares, at 64-ft. a new mini-maxi from the young French designers of Dumas and Briand — corrected time win¬ ner of the Seahorse maxi series during the summer in England. Gitana, Baron Roths¬ child’s aging Sparkman & Stephens mini¬ mum rating maxi; and Triumph, Dr. Diet¬ rich’s C&C 61 from Scottsdale, Arizona.

For all the traveling required to get the boats to Sardinia, it was a very compact series. There would be four races: 30 to 40-mile Olympic courses on Sunday, Mom day, and Tuesday, and a 140-mile middle distance starting on Wednesday. The boats finished the long race and Sardinia Cup on Thursday, and just had enough time to get ready for Friday’s beach party, award’s pre¬ sentation and special match racing competi¬

Frers maxi from Australia. Although he didn’t drive the boat, perennial Aussie 18 World Champ lan Murray was aboard.

Condor, Bob Bell’s new maxi built by Midtion held at the suggestion of Bob Bell.

The Aga Khan.

equipment in the world, the first race, a 30-miler held in mild seas and good winds, was plagued with mistakes. Gary Jobson brought Helisara over the line early and then David ‘Fang’ Kilponen guided Kialoa around the wrong first leeward mark. Kialoa was followed by the entire fleet save Anatares, which protested. Anatares thus corrected out first, and the rest of the fleet was penalized 10%, with first-to-finish Kialoa correcting out 2nd, followed by Xargo, Bumblebee, Helisara, Ondine and the rest. Ondine’s race was a debacle, sailing half a spinnaker leg bald-headed and rounding a leeward mark with no headsail.

The second race, a 29-miler, was a study in frustration despite the kingly presence of Juan Carlos. Xargo and Helisara got the jump with heavy No. l’s, but when it drop¬ ped to drifters and half-ounce chutes, Kialoa showed her stuff to capture the lead. Kialoa, which will easily do 9.2 knots to weather, completed the 29-mile course in 7 hours by drifting into the finish buoy and was forced to reround. In the meantime, Xargo and Heli¬ sara snuck in across. On corrected time it was Xargo, Helisara, Kialoa, Bumblebee, and Anatares. Ondine was 8th. (

Race 3 was held in light breezes again, ann the last leeward mark was shortened to allow the boatowners and V.I.P.’s time to prepare themselves for the Aga Kahn’s party that evening. Kialoa finished first taking the gun — which sounded like a child’s toy — for the third straight time, and finally took corrected honors, too. Xargo was second, followed by