Classic Boat Club: a voyage of discovery of 5 IOR masterpieces

The Classic Boat Club is increasingly alive, and boats registered in the Official Register of Classic Boats of Historical Value are growing in number… Designed to be a searchable archive, the Official Register is in fact a place of manifold value, intended both for the celebration of your Classic Boats-whose historical significance is certified here-and for sharing them, and their stories. A steadily growing archive, it now boasts a vast number of hulls, of which, as we go along, we will not fail to tell you the history and details.

In this case, to take a trip down memory lane, here are five masterpieces from the IOR period, five outstanding hulls now registered in the Official Register of the Classic Boat Club…

Five IOR Masterpieces entered in Official Register of Classic Boats of Historical Value

For those who have yet to find out, the Classic Boat Club is the new community reserved for fans of historic sailboats, namely Classic Boats, hulls built since 1967 and at least 25 years old. Within this, in addition to the archive of the Classic Historic Boats (and to so many benefits), also comes to life is the Official Register of Classic Boats of Historical Value, a portal dedicated to certifying the historical and collectible relevance of individual hulls, emphasizing, in both practical and cultural terms, their new value. Dedicated to the enhancement of your hulls, this registry is, in fact, not only dedicated to the certification of beautiful boats of the last century, but also aims to be a place of sharing and celebration. That is why, the Classic Boats registered, are visible to all members, creating an online space to share, even more than before, the passion for sailing.

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Brava | One-Off, Vallicelli

A superstar among the great classics of the IOR, one of the great boats already on the Official Register is her, the one that was Pasquale Landolfi’s first Brava, an excellent design by Vallicelli, now carefully guarded and celebrated by a now aficionado Dutch owner, Edwin Visser. Brava, built in aluminum by Minneford Shipyards of New York, is an IOR masterpiece, a medium-heavy displacement with graceful yet aggressive water lines.

On the strength of a very large maximum beam for the category, slightly set back, and bow lines presenting very narrow half-angles of attack, she was a real missile, winning, between 1982 and 1983, everything there was to win. Italian Championships, the 1982 Sardinia’s Cup, and the 1983 Fastnet are, in fact, all her legendary achievements. With her, Pasquale Landolfi became the reference owner of Italian offshore and an icon of sailing. She is followed by six namesakes, four One Tonners, an ILC 40 and an IMS 50.

You can find out more about Brava by visiting its record at the Official Register of Classic Boats of Historical Value of the Classic Boat Club

Phantom | One-Off, C&C

Designed by the Canadian duo Couberthson & Cassian in 1973, Phantom was built by C&C Yachts using the then innovative double sandwich technique of balsa, fiberglass and Kevlar. Developed following the successful C&C 61 series (Grampus – Helisara – Rainbow), it soon became an important hull, not only in performance but also in innovation. In fact, the Canadian architects designed a particularly balanced hull, both in terms of lines and weight distribution, and, above all, they sought new solutions, such as the cockpit, advanced, wide, and strong with double wheel steering. The deck then, very clean, best represents the standard of a 1970s flush deck, leaving ample free space aft. In turn, the sail plan was particularly powerful, with large Genoa overlap flanked by a stay sail. The spinnakers, still famous for depicting the masked man, then gave the boat an iconic aura.

After participating in several international regattas in the early 1970s, Phantom was purchased and imported to Italy in the second half of the decade, where she participated in several Mediterranean circuits. Purchased by new ownership in the late 1990s, she then underwent a major refit at the Del Carlo shipyard in Viareggio, where the rigging was simplified and the rigging and interior were optimized. The hull color was then changed from red to white. Today, Phantom is coming back to life thanks to the “Phantom Believe in Youth” initiative, becoming a school bench to provide a tool for the new generation to grow, offering the means and skills to tackle offshore sailing and all that it entails.

You can find out more about Phantom by visiting its record at the Official Register of Classic Boats of Historical Value of the Classic Boat Club

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Moby Dick | One-Off, Doug Peterson

Built by Peppino Gallinari’s shipyard in Anzio, Moby Dick is a small masterpiece in laminated wood, made with four layers crossed and glued at 45° of 6-millimeter Okumè, at the time, the lightest in circulation. It will be such a perfect construction that it will beat, for lightness and rigidity, those made of aluminum.

Today, refitted properly, she lives a new life, returned to the splendor of the past and, moreover, back in family hands. The owner is, in fact, Lorenzo Bortolotti, who has been frequenting the local and other regatta fields since the 1970s. He is the one who recovered Moby Dick, the family hull, giving her back the prominence she deserves and her former glory after having sold her a good 40 years before…

You can find out more about Moby Dick by visiting its record at the Official Register of Classic Boats of Historical Value of the Classic Boat Club

Golondrina (formerly Ojalá I) | One-Off Sparkman & Stephens

Golondrina, born as Ojalà commissioned by Charles Holland, is design No. 1922 by Sparkman & Stephens. It is a One-Off hull, a One Tonner Rorc launched in 1968 by the Carlini Shipyards in Rimini, then S&S’s flagship entity for mahogany construction in the Mediterranean. Built of mahogany wood, this is a classic hull with no small pedigree, a boat born for cruising and always devoted to it.

Among other things, she was two-time Mediterranean One Ton Champion, in 1970 and 1971, and First Classified at the 1971 Giraglia. Since the 1990s, she has been racing assiduously. Today, she proves an ideal hull for category racing in the renewed ‘historic’ classes that populate the Mediterranean.

You can find out more about Golondrina / Ojalà I by visiting its record at the Official Register of Classic Boats of Historical Value of the Classic Boat Club

Ojalá II | One-Off Sparkman & Stephens

Last on this list, but not by merit, nor because the IORs have ended (find all the others in the Register)…here is Ojalà Seconda, a very elegant One Tonner IOR designed by New York firm Sparkman & Stephens and built in aluminum by Royal Huisman in 1973. This -little sister of the already registered Golondrina, i.e., Ojalà prima- was commissioned by Charles Holland for the 1973 One Ton Cup, that year in Porto Cervo. Already in the move from Holland, however, she would have a chance to try her hand at racing, even before her arrival in Sardinia. 1973 was in fact a Fastnet Race year, and Holland, in the company of friends, did not fail to participate. Arriving in Sardinia, however, fate was adverse to Ojalà II, which had to clash with all the mastery of Admiral Straulino on Ydra, and against the great innovation of the time, the Ganbare of Doug Peterson, an alumnus of the S&S studio, which in that very year and on that occasion, appeared on the international yachting scene, revolutionizing it.

Since then, Ojalà II has crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice in ’77 and ’78 and, today, she sails 3 to 5 thousand miles each year not to miss the most beautiful regatta courses in the Mediterranean, between in Italy, Spain and France, in the ORC, IRC and CIM circuit. To this day, finally, the boat has never changed ownership, still belonging to the same family and, managed by the current Owner, Susan Holland, Charles’ daughter, continues to abide by the same rules as in the past: only friends aboard at all times.

You can find out more about Ojalà II by visiting its record at the Official Register of Classic Boats of Historical Value of the Classic Boat Club