Harmsworth Trophy 2003
The big event of the 2003 season was the Centenary ‘British International Harmsworth Trophy’ race.
A grand three heat event, the first race was the prestigious ‘Needles Trophy’ out of the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Poole, and the next two heats – Round the Island race (2 laps) and Cowes–Torquay–Cowes marathon – from the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes.
The races were held during the last week of August.
The Needles Trophy
The Needles Trophy is one of the most beautiful in Offshore, a solid silver sculpture of the Needles Lighthouse off the western tip of the Isle of Wight and was inaugurated in 1932.
Weather conditions were awful, and the sea was very rough throughout the race. Wettpunkt‘ fought all the way against the Buzzi 1700 hp 42ft RIB, ‘Eraser II’ driven by Andy Macateer.
The Buzzi Rib spent most of the race stalking ‘Wettpunkt‘s’ rooster tail. Offshore the RIB was more stable and quicker in the rough than Hannes, and by the closing stages of the last lap‚ Eraser II‘ was in the lead, but with a diversion off the racing line close to Anvil Point, running about 50m from the rocks, Hannes was able to speed up in the calmer water and get back on level terms. The inside line was held to the Dolphin buoy turn and on the last leg, at 76 knots in big water, the crew managed to get ‘Wettpunkt’ ahead by about 40 metres, winning by 3 secs. With the first leg of the triple event under their belt Hannes‘ crew, Italian Anselmo Mauri and English racers Miles Jennings and Ed Williams-Hawkes, felt confident for the next two heats.
Damage Repairs
The crew hadn’t noticed or felt any problems, other than numerous bruises, but they were soon to discover more serious damage to the boat. There was a crack in the hull from the canopy down to the chine over two metres long on the port side.
It looked initially like a lamination problem but when they inspected it out of the water, at the ‘XS 2000’ Workshop at Somerley, on Lord Normanton’s estate, the full extent of the drama was seen.
Nicolini had built the boat in two parts resulting in the cabin box bottom resting on the hull but it had only been fixed to one side.
A flexing movement and stress from the canopy and the crew compartment during the race transferred to the hull, resulting in a huge ‘Z’ shaped crack that took over 48 sleepless hours by the ‘Wettpunkt’ team, led by Anselmo, to repair.
The only light relief during this was the spectacular Daily Mail Centenary party celebrating the anniversary of ‘The Harmsworth’.
Round the Island
After the stress and pressure of carrying out the repairs, the crew arrived at Cowes just in time and started the second leg of the challenge holding more than their breath, the paint was still wet as they put the boat in the water to go out to the start. The weather was again English in character, and despite exceptional seas in the Needles Channel, bigger than in the first heat, everything held together. They came home to the winner’s gun as they crossed the Squadron line, two down and one to go, now it only needed a ‘finish’ in the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes to collect the trophy.
Unfortunately their ‘support crew’ during the repairs operations, Lord Normanton, in his boat ‘Premier Crew’ had one of their new 2000 hp supercharged Chevrolet engines fail on the run to St. Catherine‘s Point, ending his hope that a Harmsworth Trustee would win the trophy in its centenary year.
Cowes – Torquay – Cowes
All preparatory checks on ‘Wettpunkt’ had been completed for the final leg, and weather conditions were very good. Although Hannes was leading, the Ribs had been constantly on his tail, pushing hard in the flat. Andy Macateer in Eraser II‘ was trying to overcome their Needles result, and kept close behind, forcing Hannes to keep the throttles hard down. Lyme bay was calm with a long lazy swell and they were just stepping from one wave to another, arriving in Torquay with a 3 minute lead. After the mandatory refuelling stop, 500 litres, they set out on the return run with the engines at ‘full throttle’ all the way. Although it was perfect racing conditions the crew were on edge, checking to ensure that they didn’t have a repeat of their Needles Race problem- they had to finish to win the Trophy. Hannes arrived clear of the rest of the fleet, to win his second Harmsworth title, and a ‘barrow load’ of trophies at the prize giving at the Royal Yacht Squadron. ‘Eraser II’ was second and the first British boat home, a great result for their inaugural season.
Trophies presented to the team:
The British International Harmsworth Trophy
The Beaverbrook Trophy
The Cougar Trophy
The Mellery-Pratt Trophy
The Bahamas Trophy
The Unohoo Trophy
The Daily Mail Pyramid
