Take the long way home
by John Curnow, Sail-World.com AUS Editor 1 Jul 20:00 UTC
Winfield Racing smoking along - back in the day skippered by Michael Spies - 1993 and 1995 World Champions © Frank Quealey
It was an email from Rob Brown OAM that was the genesis for The Kings of the Lowriders. During the calls that ensued, Michael 'Spiesy' Spies name came up. Then literally just a few days ago, my phone lit up with a WhatsApp call from 'Spiesy' as he went under the Golden Gate Bridge.
What ties it all together is that in 1993, and also in 1995, Spiesy skippered Winfield Racing to wins in the prestigious J.J. Giltinan Trophy for the 18-foot skiffs. Right now, he's in San Francisco with Maritimo 160 (a new to him J/160) about to head off in the biennial 2,070nm Pacific Cup Race from San Francisco Bay to the Kaneohe Yacht Club in Oahu, Hawaii. It kicks off on July 6, and is a stern chaser style of event, with Spiesy's 52-foot, 14 metric tonne lightship and 2.68m draft racer/cruiser commencing on July 10.
At this point, a quick special mention just has to be made of Rahan, which will get away on July 7. This is the significantly modified Beneteau First 36 that did soooooo well in the last 2397nm Transpac - like ten and a half days elapsed time. Only the 88-foot Lucky got there ahead of Charlie Devanneaux and Fred Courouble. Woooshkah. This will be the pair's ninth race to Hawaii, and their seventh going double-handed.
Matter at Hand (Eventually)
Sometimes a boat is more than the sum of its parts. Occasionally, a particular design captures a sailor's imagination so completely that it never quite lets go. Years pass, careers evolve and opportunities come and go, yet that one boat remains quietly in the back of the mind, waiting for the day when timing and circumstance finally come together. In Spiesy's case that is the J/160.
By the time Maritimo 160 eventually reaches Australian waters, she will already have completed the Pacific Cup and then come home on her own bum via a pitstop in Fiji. Once back, preparations begin for another milestone in Spies' remarkable sailing life. Namely his 48th Hobart.
Like most good sailing stories, it isn't really about the boat. It is about where that boat fits within a lifetime spent around the sport. Sailing has changed enormously during his lifetime, but not always in the ways people imagine. Technology has advanced beyond recognition, professional campaigns now operate on budgets that were unimaginable a generation ago, and social media has transformed how every event is consumed.
Yet for all those changes, he believes one of the most extraordinary periods in Australian sailing occurred long before any of those developments existed. That was the 18s and especially the Skiff Sailing Grand Prix.
"The whole landscape's changed now. It is difficult to imagine today, but the place the Skiffs held in Australian sport including a half a page in the sports section of the daily newspapers, especially when you won. Saturday afternoons belonged to the Sydney Flying Squadron, Sundays to the League fleet, while the days in between were devoted to making the boats faster. There were no supplied one-designs waiting on the dock, no professional shore crews preparing equipment, and no expectation that improvement would happen between regattas. If you wanted to be competitive, you put in the hours yourself during the week," said Spies.
"Hundreds of thousands of readers followed the class each weekend, making leading sailors recognisable sporting figures at a time when sailing rarely occupied the national spotlight." Question. To be the first to get the news, were they still out from the night before, or up with the sun to greet the day with a coffee as they read about the goings on? They were "...simply racing, developing boats and enjoying life," as Spiesy puts it.
The skiffs were also extraordinary technical development platforms. Every week presented another opportunity to find speed, whether through sail development, hardware, rig tuning or countless small innovations that collectively made the boats quicker. Spies found himself surrounded by sailors and designers who refused to accept that yesterday's solution would automatically be tomorrow's best answer.
Spies describes an environment where everyone contributed ideas (remembering you had Rob Brown OAM, Julian Bethwaite, and Iain Murray AM amongst them), learned from one another, and continually searched for improvements. Proprietary components provided a starting point, but they were rarely left untouched for long. In the Winfield era Spies and Co. certainly maximised the opportunities their budget allowed for.
So here we are
When one of the 35 J/160s that were built became available in California there was no hesitation. He had carried admiration for the design since first seeing one in Australia 30 years ago, and time had not diminished that. The attraction wasn't based solely on rarity. Throughout his sailing life Spies has spent time around every conceivable type of yacht, from stripped-out racing machines to comfortable cruising boats, and he understands the compromises that usually accompany each. The J/160 has always appealed because it sits comfortably between those two worlds. It has the pedigree and performance to satisfy someone who has spent decades racing offshore, yet it was conceived as a yacht capable of carrying her owners across oceans in comfort.
Clearly, the specific example Spies purchased has been cherished. In preparation for the Pac Cup, he found himself uncovering twenty-six years of accumulated cruising equipment that reflected the previous owner's passion for offshore cruising. There were flopper stoppers, a stern-mounted barbecue, cruising sails stored carefully in their socks, and all manner of practical additions collected over thousands of cruising miles. Laughing, he reels off the inventory almost in disbelief. They are now in the container bound for Hawaii, where they will all be put back on for the trip across the world's largest ocean.
As for himself, Spies commented, "It's hard to get the racing DNA out of your system, but we'll give it a good shot and try to look after it the way it's been kept in the past." That respect extends beyond the yacht itself to the people who designed and built her.
After purchasing the boat, Spies contacted J-Boats hoping to learn more about her history. What followed surprised him. Rather than simply answering a few questions, the company searched its archives and located the original purchase order and invoices dating back more than a quarter of a century. "They sent them to me free of charge," says Spies, still sounding slightly amazed.
The Pacific Cup and the journey home will provide the perfect opportunity to get to know the boat properly. Rather than simply stepping aboard in Australia after she has been shipped across the Pacific, Spies will arrive home having already raced her, lived aboard her and learned how she responds in a wide range of offshore conditions. That's going to be really important by the time Boxing Day arrives.
The name, a reflection, a token, and an honour
Naming his new boat Maritimo 160 is just as much a mark of his time with Bill Barry-Cotter AM, as it is genuine gratitude. Spies speaks warmly about Barry-Cotter, describing him as someone who has influenced his thinking well beyond sailing itself. "Bill has been a mentor. Not in sailing so much, but in life."
It is not so much about sail trim or winning races, as it is about the way he approaches people, business and engineering challenges. "He doesn't say a lot, but when he does say something, you take it in," said Spies by way of underscoring the point and acknowledging Barry-Cotter's input.
Over the years those conversations have shaped the way Spies approaches his own work. Whether solving engineering problems or dealing with people, he has found himself drawing on lessons learned simply by observing someone whose career has been built on practical thinking and quiet determination.
There is an important milestone at hand, as well. "Nearly fifty years have passed since Bill won his division in the Sydney Hobart aboard his self-built Carter 33 before going on to claim the Australian Three Quarter Ton Championship." It is another reminder that Australian boating has always been driven by individuals prepared to think differently, build better and back themselves. Qualities Spies has admired throughout his own career.
As mentioned, 2026 will be Spiesy's 48th Hobart, which includes one Line Honours and one Overall Win. It also means there are just five souls ahead of him in the outright tally. At this point you'd have to think 50 is on his mind, and then see about top place after that. The conversation might sound laconic, but history and knowledge of the man would suggest that even a relaxed tone does not diminish the fire in the belly.
The Pacific Cup is a serious offshore race (also fun by their own admission), and the Sydney Hobart remains one of the world's great ocean classics, but between those two events lies something that cannot be measured on a results sheet. There is a Pacific crossing to savour, anchorages to discover, and the simple pleasure of spending weeks at sea aboard a yacht that has already become something far more personal than another campaign boat.
Maritimo 160 will be all about possibilities, and you'd have to think the King's Cup in Phuket would be a chance for 2027. Quite possibly, Maritimo 160 also reflects upon a whole sailing journey, and the souls that are involved in that. For example, Spies remembers Bill Macartney recognising that sailing deserved a wider audience, and creating the Skiff Sailing Grand Prix circuit that brought the class to television screens around Australia, and further afield.
There is also a boat that is part racer, part cruiser, and ready to impart new stories to different crew on the other side of the Pacific, and yet still have a very familiar character. Me thinks that's sailing personified...
Thank you for being a crucial part of Sail-World.com
John Curnow
Sail-World.com AUS Editor