The 24.7m cutter Hallowe’en designed by William Fife III for Lt Col JFN Baxendale, was launched in 1926 just in time to compete in the ORC FastNet. William Fife III, designer of a number of classic yachts still racing today was quoted once as saying “Hallowe’en is the perfect gentleman’s yacht. She is a jewel”.
Racing in the 2nd Fastnet Race, Hallowe’en sailed the fleet home to cross the line some 10 hours before the next competitor. A record which would stand until 1939 when the new course was shortened.
Hallowe’en is a Marconi cutter inspired by the lines of the International 15-metre Classes. She not only won the Fastnet but also set an as yet unbroken record for the race in the year she was launched. Hallowe’en later spent time in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, and, under the name Magda XII, in Norway.
There Prince Olaf, the future King of Norway, was often a guest aboard. Between the 1940s and 50s, she sailed in America as Cotton Blossom IV, winning numerous regattas. During the 1980s, she was restored by the Classic Boat Museum in Newport, to which she’d been donated.
In the course of her long career Hallowe’en has been converted from a Marconi cutter to a gaff cutter and then a yawl. In 1993, she was converted back to a Marconi cutter during a restoration job at Barcelona. In 1999 she was sold to a Dutch owner. She has been owned by an Irishman since 2007. Fife himself described Hallowe’en as “perfect, a gem”.
William Fife decided to rig the yacht as a low-aspect ration Bermudan cutter, which was uncommon in the days when gaff rigged racers dominated the various regattas. These experiments with her rig continued over the following years as her mast and boom heights changed and eventually she was transformed to a yawl. As a yawl– rigged COTTON BLOSSOM IV she dominated ocean racing for many years, and has held important records. After racing in the Mediterranean for a number of years she returned to the Atlantic under new owner Alfred Larsen, a Norwegian industrialist. She became the Royal Norwegian Racing Clubs official yacht and was helmed numerous times by future king to Norway, Prince Olaf.
In 1938 she ventured across the Atlantic and then disappeared off the radar. She was later discovered by Walter Wheeler and renamed Cotton Blosson IV before continuing her history of ocean racing and eventually being donated to the Classic Boat Museum at New Port, Rhode Island where she waited for a much needed refit. After 5 years of work in New Port, funds dried up and Hallowe’en was in need of new ownership and she eventually returned to the Mediterranean when Elizabeth Meyer (owner of J-Class Endeavour) helped find a buyer.
Under her new syndicate of Irish custodians, Hallowe'en has continued to improve the racing standards set in her early years by winning numerous Mediterranean regattas, as well as winning overall the Panerai Classic Yacht Challenge in 2017.
Regatas
- VELA CLASICA MENORCA 2014 (Tercer Clasificado clase BIG BOAT)
- VELA CLASICA MENORCA 2015 (2º Clasificado clase BIG BOAT)
- X REGATA PUIG VELA CLÀSSICA 2017 (8º Clasificado clase ÉPOCA MARCONI)
- ILLES BALEARS CLASSIC 2017 (Cuarto Clasificado clase Época)
