Sydney/Hobart – Classic Yacht “Landfall”

Classic Regatta Updates – 2014 Sydney to Hobart – To celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Rolex Sydney Hobart and her 80th birthday. Landfall, a 1935 Sparkman and Stephens designed sloop will be racing south again on Boxing Day.

Landfall, built in 1935, is the first Sparkman and Stephens yacht built outside of the USA. S&S was then at the beginning of what was to become the most famous yacht design firm in the world. Olin Stephens, just 25 at the time, was extremely surprised to find his first overseas commission came, not from Europe, but from Tasmania.

Built by Percy Coverdale at Battery Point, the yacht has been sailed continuously ever since. Landfall finished 7th in the 1952 Sydney Hobart and at 40 years of age she competed in the 1976 race.

S&S Landfall Specifications:

LOA: 44’0″ * LWL: 32’9″ * Beam: 9’9″ * Draft 6’6″ * Displacement: 24,000 lbs * Sail Area: 859 sq ft

Sparkman and Stephens December 16th Update – “The 70 year old Veteran Landfall is participating in the race for the third time during her career campaigned by Mike Strong.”

Mike writes:

“As the race approaches there has been considerable interest in Landfall from all quarters of the media, the story of an old yacht competing, but I also think people react instantly to the beauty of the lines. The process to enter the Sydney Hobart race began over two years ago, and my attitude was “if everything proceeds smoothly, then we will do it, but if it becomes difficult, we won’t”. Thankfully so far its all gone well.”

“Firstly we needed a rating as we had none, the race is run under two systems IRC and ORCi you can opt for both or just one, we chose ORCi. To achieve this the original blueprints were digitized and stability tests made, this was quite a long process and took the better part of 12 months. The next big issues are bringing the boat to Cat offshore level, this is stringent and involves extra safety equipment and communication gear, then insurers require additional surveys and entry is also dependent on having a qualified crew. The crew for the race is a minimum of 6, which is what Landfall will have, all need to have completed sea survival courses, some need radio certificates and others first aid and the majority need to have offshore experience.”

“This will be the third time Landfall has competed in this race, 1953 (2nd), 1976 to celebrate her 40th birthday and now this 70th anniversary edition of the race for her 80th birthday. She will be the 2nd oldest yacht in the fleet but the only one that has been continuously sailed since launch, and unlike some of her overseas sisters she has never been rebuilt, the major change has been to her rig, from yawl to sloop and from steel to fibre for the standing rigging. The change from yawl to sloop was made prior to my purchase 20 years ago, but even as a yawl the main mast had been moved aft, and it is now this fore-triangle that really works for this yacht. Landfall will be carrying a partially battened mainsail and all other sails; genoa, staysail, assymetrical spinnakers and code zero style jib are on furlers , the genoa uses a Flatdeck unit, the other sails all have anti torque cables and are furled using continuous line drums.”

“The race starts in Sydney harbour on Boxing Day then travels 680nm south down the east coast of Australia, across Bass Strait and then up the Derwent river to Hobart Tasmania.”

“Southerly gales can be the norm, mix this with a predominantly westerly wave pattern in the relatively shallow water of Bass Strait and , well, you get the picture, it’s a test. It is a massive event here with thousands of spectators lining the cliffs or on boats, and a TV audience of many times this.”

“Three starting lines this year, then down the harbor and turn right.”

Sparkman and Stephens: Website

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