SALACIA II- Still winning in the west
The first four Australian attempts to win the Admiral’s Cup were made by only eight boats.
All but one of them (KOOMOOLOO) are extant, and from what we can gather all are in good condition. Perhaps the least known of the eight is SALACIA II, so it was with interest that we received an email this week from her current custodian, Ross Norgard telling of her recent win in the Western Australian IRC State Championship.
But before we get into a little of her history let’s have a quick re-cap of the other six surviving boats that participated in the first four Australian Teams. (Click for details)
SALACIA II was commissioned by Arthur William Byrne, the Australian businessman, philanthropist, and founder of B&D Roll-a-Door. The brief at the time to her designer, Olin Stephens, was to match the dominance of Syd Fischer's RAGAMUFFIN on the water, but no expense was to be spared to fit her out with comfort and opulence. Arthur commissioned Cec Quilkey to build SALACIA II in 1969 and campaigned her for many years including a 3rd Place finish in the Sydney to Hobart race in 1970.
SALACIA II was to be faster and prettier. They became fierce competitors in events such as the Sydney to Hobart, but raced alongside each other as teammates in the 1971 Admiral’s Cup. SALACIA II was faster than RAGAMUFFIN in 3 out of the 4 races that year -The fourth race was won by RAGAMUFFIN, against all the other countries , and SALACIA II, whilst still finishing, broke her steering cable hence her slower time.
From the New York Times, February 1971
She would become one of Australia's iconic ocean racing yachts. This beautiful ocean racing yacht SALACIA II now calls Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club home. Her present custodian Ross Norgard has a passion for magnificent boats and is also the owner of POLLYANNA, a glorious classic Halvorsen.
POLLYANNA (left) with the Duke of Edinburgh onboard (right) in 1962
For a full set of Results from the West Australian IRC Championship click HERE