Category: one ton worlds

The custodians of the one ton cup would like to put the cup back in activity; and are looking for an appropriate class or venue.

from sailing scuttlebutt:

Rainbow II Back In Waitemata Harbour
Chris Bouzaid already prowling the decks as Rainbow II slips back into the Waitemata Harbour. Click on image to enlarge.

Rainbow II went back into the waters of the Waitemata Harbour today, nearly 45 years since she was lifted aboard a freighter bound from Auckland to Germany where she would challenge for yachting’s One Ton Cup.

Rainbow clinched victory off Heligoland on 20 July, 1969 – the same day that Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and in so-doing, the 36ft S&S design, built by Max Carter for young sailmaker Chris Bouzaid, ignited a rocket of her own, launching New Zealand into a blitz on every major offshore racing event in the world until Kiwis ruled ocean racing – on and off the water.

She emerged from the Vos Shed over the weekend and today was re-christened at Pier 21 by John Street’s wife, Lorraine, in front of a gathering that included Bruce Marler, who was commodore of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and a driving force behind Rainbow’s campaigns for the Cup, current RNZYS commodore Andy Anderson, and Rainbow II crew stalwarts Roy Dickson, Alan Warwick and Peter Shaw.

One more than interested observer was Bouzaid’s son Richard who, as a four-year-old, first tasted “stardom” when the Auckland Star newspaper photographed him sitting in the trophy that his father et al had just won in Germany. Richard is most definitely a chip off the old block, an international sailmaker of repute and a well-regarded offshore racer in his own right.

Rainbow is now on a berth outside the RNZYS where the final bits of her restoration will be completed, including the anti-skidding of the deck and cabin top. She will then start her sailing build up for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s five-race One Ton Revisited regatta scheduled to start on 28 February. — Alan Sefton