1963 Admiral's Cup- Team Mates Afloat

They inspired a generation of yachtsmen with a famous win in the fourth Admiral’s Cup. Today, they’re still doing what they were designed to do – race!

- Nigel Sharp

On 6 April, 1963, two new boats were launched in Cowes, both with the same purpose in mind: to win the Admiral’s Cup. Outlaw was launched at Souter’s, while around 25 minutes later and less than half a mile downstream, Clarion of Wight was launched at Lallow’s. They were part of a new crop of boats built specifically to win the cup, which in 1963 had taken place just three times, but which was having a galvanising effect on yacht racing internationally. The Admiral’s Cup series comprised the Channel Race, two inshore races during Cowes Week and then the Fastnet Race. Each nation’s team was made up of three yachts.

The inaugural Admiral’s Cup in 1957 had been won by Great Britain, which retained it in 1959, but lost to the USA in 1961. British yachtsmen were determined to win it back and so it was that in 1963, no fewer than 14 yachts, more than half purpose-built, including Outlaw and Clarion of Wight, took part in the British trials.

The Illingworth and Primrose-designed Outlaw was built for newspaper proprietor Sir Max Aitken and Robert Lowein, and the Sparkman & Stephens Clarion for industrialists Dennis Miller and Derek Boyer, and both boats showed early promise. Two months later Yachting World reported that “after weeks of anxiety for the owners”, the British team would be Outlaw, Clarion and Ron Amey’s Noryema III.