Whitbread round the world Yacht Race

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uforea

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Just been reading a fantastic extract from a book about "Flyer", Conny Van Rietschotens' S&S designed boat that he raced around the world in 1981/82 and won the Whitbread race with. They are approaching the Horn, there is not a word about laptops or grib files or malfunctioning autopilots but the big winds and seas were there just the same. Don't know how big the boat was, guess 65 or 70ft but the crew were up for a tot of whiskey if they could better 280 miles in 24hrs. and this was 2kts.average more than their theoretical maximum What a difference today with nearly 600 miles in 24hrs. The boat was ketch rigged and there is a wonderful picture of her with 6 sails set. Mizzen with spinnaker, main with spinnaker, blooper and some sort of sail in the foretriangle all drawing and the boat going like hell. I don't know why, but I find more in this than images of ABM AMBRO ONE or Pirates of the caribbean or whatever doing 30+ knots .
Ted.
 
My late brother-in-law was skipper of GB II in that race. The only "modern aid" to navigation they had was a programmable Texas Instruments calculator! There certainly are some stunning pics of the boats unders sail.

Flyer was 65'2" LOA and GB II was 77'2" LOA

Out of interest, Whitbread's arranged for each boat to be supplied with whatever amount of complimentary beer they required. Top of the list was Heath's Condor with 75 cases and bottom was Flyer with 0 cases. Must have been a dry old trip!
 
think you are referring to the 1977/78 race when Flyer was a ketch rigged boat.
After that race, Connie saw the maxi "Helisara" being built and went for a similar sloop rigged maxi for his second attempt. He had a heart attack in the southern ocean and didn't allow his crew to tell anyone until after the leg. Flyer II won each leg on the water (and perhaps also on handicap) and van Rietschoten set a new standard for on board discipline and organisation leading the way for what we now see with the professional sailors.
No Shi**ing in the boat was one rule, hence the fold down frame with the padded toilet seat that you see in all the photos.
Respect.....definitely. Blake, Van Rietschoten et al, no GPS, no satcom & surfing an IOR maxi in the roaring forties. Some of the other stories from the smaller boats that went round in these races were also truly herioc.
Does this de value the efforts of ABN et al? No way, its like comparing Fangio with Clark (the best ever!), Senna & Schummacher. Each excellent in their own era and each awe inspiring.
 
Went to Newarke boat jumble today and guess what, a copy of "Flyer" just happened to jump off the table and hit me in the face. What a coincidence!!
Started reading already and can hardly put it down. Yes it was the 77/78 race and I think there were 17 starters with Flyer being the only privately entered boat. What seems to stand out is the leadership and attention to detail of Connie and this would seem to be true of any sucessful campaign.
Ted.
 
I was a participant in the 73/74 Whitbread onboard the Nich 55 Adventure. The only technology we had then was a SSB radio receiver so that we could receive the morse-coded weather forecasts. Needless to say my morse was never good enough to make proper sense of the dits and dahs, so we had to judge things for ourselves. Still managed to win three of the four legs. Mind you 7 knots was FAST then. Don't know what we would have done with 20 knots plus. Key back then were: crew selection; careful, methodical training; thorough preparation of gear; and maintenance of morale. Nelson would have approved 200 years agao and I suspect this formula still works.
 
I skippered Adventure for a leg of a round the world race against the Army and RAF. People still remembered her and her crew from the earlier Whitbread race, and it was a humbling experience to be part of that great tradition. (Sadly a hurricane got in the way on our leg and the race was abandoned after 3,400 miles as we were just behind the army boat and overhauling them rapidly!)
 
You would need to ask someone from that leg, but was Bailey-Wilmot even on the first race? I was reserve for legs 1-3 and sailed in leg 4 (Rio-Portsmouth). Knowing the guys from the Horn leg, their tales were as tall as the seas they encountered. Bet they have got taller by now, too.
 
>i seem to remember thet Flyer was owned by Phillips of Holland <

No, both Flyer I and Flyer II were private entries, funded by Conny van Rietschoten. Flyer I was a winner on handicap, Flyer II was overall winner.

I think there was a boat called Philips Innovator in a subsequent race. I've got notes on all this somewhere, but b*ggered if I know where at this time of night.

I remember Philips Innovator coming onto a hammerhead at Groves and Gutteridge one day, just before 3 in the afternoon. A guy leapt off and ran up the pontoon to the beer tent, seconds before it was about to pull down its shutter. "32 pints please'" he asked.
 
Great book, great boat

A fantastic read. I was fortunate enough to be given a copy of this book soon after it was published and its still the best sailing related book I've ever read. Ever since I've always had a hankering to own a ketch (maybe not one as big as Flyer) but there is something about that sail configuration I find really attractive.
Amazing to think how technology has improved things and how much is taken for granted nowadays. Back then sailing round the world seemed an amazing challenge. Now with super fast yachts, sat nav and internet communications it seems about as daunting as a trip round the IoW.
If I do ever pluck up the courage to attempt it (another long held ambition) I'll probably be forced to eat my words when faced with a storm in the Southern Ocean.:)
 
Out of curiosity, may I ask what inspired you to revive a thread that is more than four years old?
 
bbg said:
Out of curiosity, may I ask what inspired you to revive a thread that is more than four years old?
Click to expand...

A thought popped into my head and I wanted to google for information related to Flyer and this thread was near top of the list of hits. Having read the thread I felt compelled to comment.

puddock said:
Does it matter? I enjoyed it and I am now looking for a copy of "Flyer".
Out of curiosity, may I ask if you are a member of the Internet Police?
Click to expand...

Google for "Flyer – The Quest to win the Round the World Race – Stanford Maritime"

There are a few copies available from second hand book sellers.
 
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