Farr designs dominated the Whitbread from the first season they entered through the final race in 1997 — 26 boats, four editions, three race victories, and one perfect score.
Bruce Farr drew his first Whitbread entry for the 1981–82 edition. Over the next sixteen years, Farr designs rewrote the record books. UBS Switzerland won the Maxis in 1985–86. Steinlager II won every single leg in 1989–90. EF Language took the Whitbread 60 class and overall victory in 1997–98 — the final edition before the race became the Volvo Ocean Race.
No other design office came close to this record across the Whitbread era. The boats got faster, the competition got fiercer, and Farr won anyway.
Paul Cayard skippered the Farr-designed EF Language to overall victory in the final Whitbread Round the World Race — the last before the race was rebranded as the Volvo Ocean Race. Sister ship EF Education, also a Farr design crewed entirely by women and skippered by Christine Guillou, completed the campaign. Multiple Farr entries in the 1997–98 fleet underlined the office’s command of the Whitbread 60 class in its final season.
Whitbread 60 — Farr Yacht Design
The 1997–98 fleet was the most competitive in Whitbread history, and Farr designs filled the entry list. George Collins’ Chessie Racing flew the American flag on a fully professional campaign. Swedish Match (Gunnar Krantz) and Merit Cup kept the Swiss and Scandinavian programs competitive. Silk Cut (Lawrie Smith) and Dennis Conner’s Toshiba rounded out a fleet in which Farr-designed hulls were the hull of choice for serious contenders.
Whitbread 60 — Farr Yacht Design
Grant Dalton brought the Farr-designed New Zealand Endeavour home to win the Maxi class and finish second overall on handicap. In the new Whitbread 60 class — a one-design concept Farr had helped define — Ross Field’s Yamaha (also a Farr design) won the W60 division. Intrum Justitia (Lawrie Smith) was a third Farr design in the W60 fleet. The result cemented New Zealand’s standing in offshore racing and made 1993–94 the first proof that Farr’s W60 concept was the blueprint worth following.
Whitbread 60 — Farr Yacht Design
Sir Peter Blake’s Steinlager II won every single leg of the 1989–90 Whitbread Round the World Race — a feat never matched before or since. The Farr-designed 84-footer was faster in light air, faster in heavy air, faster upwind, and faster downwind. It was not a race; it was a demonstration. Blake and his crew crossed every finish line first across 32,000 nautical miles of open ocean.
Farr 84 Maxi — Bruce Farr & Associates
Grant Dalton’s Fisher & Paykel finished second overall, another Farr Maxi giving New Zealand a 1–2 result in the race’s most competitive edition. Pierre Fehlmann’s Merit represented Swiss ocean racing’s consistent presence at the Farr stable. Roger Nilson’s The Card completed a Farr-dominated fleet that confirmed the Annapolis office had no peer in Maxi design.
Farr Maxis — Bruce Farr & Associates
The 1989–90 Whitbread was also notable for Tracy Edwards’ Maiden — the first all-female crew to compete in the race. Edwards and her team won two legs and finished second in class, proving that the Whitbread was open to anyone with the skill and determination to sail around the world. Maiden was a Farr design — the former Disque D’Or 3 (Design 81) that had raced in the 1981–82 Whitbread — given a second life on a defining campaign.
Pierre Fehlmann’s UBS Switzerland won the 1985–86 Whitbread Round the World Race, giving Farr Yacht Design its first overall victory in the race. The Swiss campaign was meticulous and the Farr hull was the fastest in the fleet across the full course. Merit, also a Fehlmann campaign and also a Farr design, ran concurrently — the same client, the same design office, and the same winning approach that would define the next decade.
Whitbread Maxi — Bruce Farr & Associates
Peter Blake’s Ceramco New Zealand was Farr Yacht Design’s first Whitbread entry and Blake’s first campaign in the race. Blake had raced in three prior Whitbreads on other boats, but for 1981 he turned to Bruce Farr — a fellow New Zealander already making a name in IOR racing. The boat was fast enough to prove the concept and lay the groundwork for what was coming. Atlantic Privateer (Padda Kuttel, South Africa) and Disque d’Or 3 were fellow Farr entries in the same edition — three boats from one design office in the sport’s most demanding race was a statement of intent that the next three editions would make good on.
Whitbread Maxi — Bruce Farr & Associates
After 1997–98, the Whitbread Round the World Race was rebranded as the Volvo Ocean Race. Farr’s dominance continued — the office designed every winning boat through 2012, then the entire one-design fleet for the final two editions.
From the Farr Archive
The record speaks for itself
Three race victories. Twenty-six boats. One perfect score. Explore the full Farr racing portfolio or get in touch about your next project.