Warsash Spring Series QT Championship Weekend

17th and 18th April for the Quarter Tonners. We need 8 for a class.  4 have entered so far.
The entry fee goes up as of this weekend, so suggest you enter NOW. 

So far - we have Anchor Challenge, Runaway Bus, Menace and Espada.  We need 8 for
our own class so please enter soonest. 

http://www.warsashspringseries.org.uk/

QT Meeting and Dinner - Saturday 6th March

The QT Meeting will be held at the RCYC in Cowes at 6pm on Saturday 6th March and followed
by a two course dinner.  Please let me know whether you are able to attend either or both.
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Melbourne/Tasmania

Just received, an email from Chris Oldfield who lives in South Yarra, Australia who tells me

'This is a big day for me!  I have just spoken to the guy who now owns the QT boat 'Foxbat' that
I had built in Melbourne, Australia for 1978.  Foxboat was designed by Prof Peter Joubert and
was loosely on the style of Magic Bus. I raced her in Melbourne as a QT in the IOR fleet. In
1982 I moved to Hobart and raced her with the JOG's.  In recent years, I lost touch but now she
has a new owner in Hobart who is 12 months into a re-build programme to bring her back to
her original spec - a most wonderful boat.  I am so delighted to see the QT's back again, the
most fun racing I ever had!' 

America's Cup and Quarter Tonners

Last week in Valencia whilst waiting to watch the most amazing yacht race of all time, Morty
and I had lunch with Ib Andersson, from Denmark, who runs North Sails Europe.  Despite
US$200 million being tied up at the dock because it was blowing 15 knots and a 1 metre sea,
the conversation quickly turned to proper boats.  Ib recounted that he started his  big boat
sailing in Quarter Tonners and infact won the Quarter Ton Cup in Manzanita in Helsinki in
1977 with Rodney Patterson on board.  He said that when he turned up and they saw all the
lightweight new boats they thought they didn't stand a chance. However in very medium
conditions, the boat was a rocketship upwind.  He promised to dig out some photographs,
so we look forward to seeing them.

PS sorry for the name dropping...

Now there's a thing.....

A couple of years ago, Olivier Hays sailed his Farr 727 Farrniente across the Channel from
le Havre and took part in the Quarter Ton Cup.  Having never met him before, I bumped into
him in the marina on his arrival and horrified that because his accommodation wasn't ready,
he has his crewmate were planning to sleep on board the boat. Being a fellow Farr 727
owner (and a sucker for a French accent) I invited them to stay for a couple nights.  Now
one of his crewmembers Pierre Paris enjoyed himself so much he has bought his own
boat - Pinguin Playboy and is planning to come over and play in this year's QTC. Welcome
Pierre. 

Talking of sleeping on board.....

Rupert Holmes, the journalist who writes for Y&Y and who owns the QT Minestrone,
spent Christmas Day on board his boat with his girlfriend IN ENGLAND!!!!  They sailed
from Cowes to Newtown Creek in bright sun and a 8-10 knot West-South-West against
the flood tide, had Christmas dinner on deck washed down with a bottle of Prosecco,
and then sailed back the following day.  Now, she's a good girl Rupert! 
I am sure all your wives will kill me when you suggest this to them in November. 

And my answer?   'Don't even think about it, Morty....'

Satisfaction

One of the things I really enjoy about being involved with the class, especially since the
outset of the revived QT fleet, is when people tell me that they are going to come and
join in the racing.  It is only January, and I already have two (sorry, now three!) 'new'
people who tell me that they are coming to the Quarter Ton Cup this year.  One is
Supernova, Olly Ophaus' old boat thatwas sold to Ken Lawless in Dublin, Ireland who
wants to come over and see what all the fuss is about, the second is Hurly Burly,
a recently registered GK24, owned by Julian Caddy who asks where he can sign up. A third
who has emailed me this evening, is a Bolero called Bolero from Marchwood Yacht Club
owned by Mike Lewry. This is fantastic guys.  You have made my year.....

San Franciso Update

We know Magic Bus and Fun are in San Francisco, but Kurt Flint has bought and is restoring
a Ron Holland 24 called Blue Chip and has taken the bull by the horns and decided to get the
QT class going in the San Francisco area.  He has got the domain name for a website and is
putting it together over the next couple of weeks. More information as it launches.

However, If anyone would like to get in touch with him to register their interest in this area,
his email address is This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it    

More news from Federico Cellini in Italy

Federico has sent me a pic of his first design, called Farm & C. She was designed in 1977
and built in 1978 so she started off to suit the IOR 18' rule but had to be changed during the
build to 18.5'.  She was a short hull (7.2) and heavy (1650kg) with a centreboard.  However
during construction he abandoned the centreboard and fixed a fin keel and made her lighter.
She was cold moulded so they weren't able to modify the hull to suit unfortunately.  Federico
was 17 years old at the time and built her with 4 friends and no money!  Result - a real rocket
ship upwind in almost every condition but a dog downwind.  Because of lack of funds they
were limited to what they could do, but they did go and win the Medio Adriatico Championship
- all classes, including his fathers half tonner!  Aren't these stories just great....

News from NZ

James Blackburn reports from New Zealand that whilst trying to find some history on his QT
Swamp Dog and her sistership Amalgam recently, he came across this book called Light Brigade
written by Gary Baigent on the history of Yacht Design in NZ. Looks like an interesting read and you can
download it.  The bits about the QT's start on page 58.  Good early stuff on Whiting, Farr
and an old picture of Odd Job!  

Cote - the other Spanish QT

Snow White sent us this picture of one of her dwarfs painting Olly Ophaus' Quarter tonner
Cote. Apparently Mr Moaner is a dab hand at spray painting and it is good to see one of
Southampton's succcessful entrepreneurs taking time out from his business empire getting
his hands dirty and lungs full of bad stuff. 

(Just for info this was written by Morty (AKA Mr Grumpy), so don't get cross with me, Darren)

4 more boats have registered including I think our first from the Czeck Republik - check
details for Scarpa.  The others are Barbarossa Viento Del Este and Baffo Bianco. 
Also, Joker is for sale.  See the For Sale section....

Island Sailing Club - Training Regatta

The Island Sailing Club has a new Rear Commodore Sailing in Sonia Mayes.  For those
of you who don't know, Sonia is an international Judge and although traveling far and wide,
has always managed to come back to Cowes to sit on the Protest Committee for the
QTC, although to date, we have not had to use her expertise.  She loves the Quarter Tonners!
In her new capacity, she is keen to offer something to the class that is original, so she
has suggested a training regatta just prior to the Quarter Ton Cup with short sharp races
in the Solent with coaches in ribs to help us all.   We will all pile back to the ISC for video
download, comment and instruction and then have a bbq supper.  NOR and more
information to follow but I think this should be a great event so put it in your diaries.  

The 'new' Mini Ton Class

The Mini Ton class revival is taking off.  Headed by Matt Aktins, they have launched a
website and already have a keen number of enquiries and boats that have registered.
We have invited them to join us with their own class start at the Vice Admiral's
Cup and also at the training weekend at the Island Sailing Club of which more above.
Take a peek if you have a moment - www.minitonner.com

2010 Programme

Hopefully by now you have all found this season's calender of racing on the Solent
which is on the link to the left hand side of the page, and hopefully you all have
in your diaries the first event which is a good party in Cowes on Saturday 6th March.
You need to start emailing me to tell me you are coming.  As per usual, it is the people
coming from the furthest away who have responded first and we will be pleased to
welcome Guy Pronier and his wife to Cowes for the first time.  Guy heads up the
Quarter Ton Class in France. 

It promises to be a good bash. Email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it for tickets.  

Is this a first?

I have had an email from Nick Houlding who tells me that he still owns the Quarter
Tonner he built (in 1983) and launched, and has raced and cruised it ever since!  I think it may be.
Anyway, welcome to the Class to Nick who owns Pink Lime, a Quartet and he keeps
it at the Hardway in Gosport.  There is another Quartet called Pluo owned by Richard
Adams kept at Langston Marina and he also had his since new. Come and join us....

Help needed - 

Patrik Karlsson needs some help.  He has bought a Quarter Ton boat but he doesn't
know much about the history so can anyone help him?  The previous owner tells him
that it was built in 1989 - 1990 in Denmark or Great Britain for some big regatta in
1990.  The sail number is 9944.  Please email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it  

Quadriga

I have been sent details including the 1979 IOR certificate of Quadriga, the Judel Vrolijk
boat built in 1979.  It used to sail on Lake Constance. Purchased in 2008 by Jo Grauer
in poor condition and undergoing what looks like a major.... refit. 

Request from Italy

Federico Cellini tells me that his first design in 1987 was a Quarter Tonner which became
the Middle Adraitic Champion and his soul is strictly linked to Quarter Tonners (and Half Tonners)
He is looking for information on Peter Norlin's Butterfly. He says she was the last heavy
displacement boat to show a certain speed compared to the kiwi school.  If anyone has
any information he would love to hear from you. Please email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Royal Cork

Remember those lovely guys from the Royal Cork who came over with Manzanita and
took part in the QTC 09?  I do, 'cos they stayed with me.  Well, they spent the week
drooling over ASAP in the dock, and manage to pounce on it the moment it came
on the market.  Here they are, having taken the boat back to Ireland having lots of fun
and winning races. They have promised to return next year and it looks like they
have been practicing hard.  Check out the beautiful paint job. It was previously
owned and restored by some of the lads at paint specialists -  Marineware....

(photo from Robert Bateman off the Royal Cork website)

And Quarter Tonners keep winning....

Congratulations to Derek and son, James Moreland and Tim Rees who own Menace, who
love doing the Garmin Hamble Winter Series (are they mad - have you seen the weather
over the past couple of weekends???) ) and won IRC Class 4, against
a couple of other QT's who posted decent results but couldn't last the course, and
Sigma 33's, Mustang 30's, Impalas a mix of other boats....  Fab result.  Here is a good
pic taken by Jonty....

and winning......

Jamie McWilliam in Hong Kong on his sistership to Menace, a Kelt, won
the Lipton Trophy last weekend - the all comers Pursuit Race and then the IRC class
in the Round the Island on Sunday, ahead of an A35 and the Mills 41..... 213 entries.
Good team on board with Tom McWilliam, Marty Kaye, Iain Chapman and Patrick
Pender on Saturday and the lovely Denis Martinet on Sunday. 

He tells me rather painfully that he lost the Round the Island overall (against the
boats in the locally handicapped system) by 1 minute 52 secs which may not have
happened if they had not so entrenched with the celebrations on Saturday night
and turned up for the race on time on Sunday morning.  Nothing changes....!

RORC Racing 2010

The Chief Executive of the RORC called me today to personally invite the Quarter
Tonners to join in with their Easter Red Funnel regatta and their IRC Championships
in 2010.  They are offering us our own class if we can get 8 boats together, OR
we can race in IRC 3 if not. I did them both this year and it was great being on the
same race course as the really big boats.  I remember one moment coming into a
leeward mark completely sandwiched and overlapped by the much faster Farr 45, Atomic,
and Fair Do's with not a word spoken between the boats. Everyone knew exactly
what the score was.  It is also a great advert for the class to be seen out there
competing at this level and doing well. (I have asked them to reconsider their
race entry fees for us little 'uns)

Amazing!

I have just had a weekend away (as one does during the Winter) and have come back to
find four new boats have registered to our website. Fanstastic.  It is still growing.
We are now up to 145......

Christmas Presents

Starting to think about Christmas Present?   How about buying your loved one a Quarter
Tonner?  'Panic' has just been reduced in price - see For Sale section.

SPRING FITTING OUT SUPPER - SATURDAY 6 MARCH 2010

Put it in your diaries.  Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Cowes - all welcome...

New Zealand Quarter Ton Class

The good news is that moves are afoot to set up a QT class in NZ. Anatole Perry the owner of
Smokey Joe is keen to set up a class so anyone interested should get in touch with him on
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it   Brett Linton returned to NZ after Cowes Week and went and bought
Black Fun designed by Laurie Davidson and apparently the boat is now turned over and work
has commenced. Laurie himself has even been down to inspect and no doubt advise.  That's
cool!

Poole Regatta 2010

The Organising Committee of the Poole Regatta which is held over the second bank holiday in May
in Poole Harbour are offering us our own Championship with a trophy being put up by Crusader
Sails (the owners of Echo).  Roger Swinney and the crew on Ayanami always tell us what a great
regatta this is, so we think it is about time we go down and join them.  Marina berthing on a
first come first served basis is offered at Members rates at the Poole and Parkstone Yacht Clubs
or berthing is also available at Poole Yacht Haven.  More information at www.pooleregatta.co.uk.

Cowes Yacht Haven - Round the Island Race

Berthing for the Quarter Ton Cup is included in the race entry fee as we like to keep everyone
in the same place during the regatta and it enables the Race Committee to operate 'dock starts' in
adverse weather conditions.  For any visitors to the Solent wishing to stay on for the Round the
Island Race the following weekend I have made arrangements with Cowes Yacht Haven to hold
6 extra berths for the Friday and Saturday nights  provided the boats can be rafted along side
each other.  This will be at the normal charging rate of £2.95 per metre per night rather than
the inflated RTI race weekend rate.

Please make contact with Cowes Yacht Haven to book your berth - 01983 299975 or
email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Website Update

With grateful thanks to David Schnackenberg, our website has been updated all the way
from New Zealand. 

My email address is:   This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it   

Please keep sending all your news and stories on QT's through.... 

Coutts and other News

Great news all round in that Coutts have confirmed their sponsorship of the QTC
for 2010.  Their 3 year contract expired in 2009 but they would be pleased to sponsor
the event for another year.  This means that the event will be held in Cowes and that
it is mid week.  We have chosen the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday immediately prior
to the Round the Island Race, meaning that anyone wishing to travel to the Solent 
can do both regattas within one week.  I will arrange suitable berthing
between the events at Cowes Yacht Haven for those wishing to stay on, and also for
craneage to occur at the weekends. 

There has been a lot of interest since Cowes Week in people looking for QT's and
I know there are one or two for sale.  Please keep sending me details of what you
have or what you are looking for so I can put them on the For Sale section of the
website.

I propose that we have a Fitting Out Supper at the RCYC in Cowes in March, preceeded
by an Owners Meeting to discuss anything and everything to do with the class.  One of the
things that we are going to need to tidy up is the criteria of what is a Quarter Tonner. For
example at the moment technically mini tonners could come and sail as we don't have a
lower limit on the IOR rating.  There has also been some suggestion that we should put
an upper limit on the IRC ratings of Quarter Tonners although while the Rating Office has
so much control over hull factors which bear little resemblance to reality, the ratings
are slightly in the hands of the Rating Office, unless we can get them to be a bit more
uniform with the way they treat us.

Mini Tonners/Half Tonners

Whilst talking about Mini tonners, I have had a number of enquiries from people with
Mini Tonners wishing to take part in our regattas.  I have been in contact with Matt Atkins
who is the General Manager of Kemp Sails who has one, and who is preparing to coordinate
that Class, so anyone wishing to get in contact with him - here are his contact details:

Email: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Mobile Tel: 07950012977

We are in discussion with Matt to have a joint regatta at some stage in 2010.  

With regard to the Half Tonners, I have been approached to try and organise a joint
regatta with that class as well. However, they are not inclined to come and race in the
Solent, so we are putting our thinking caps on.  Perhaps Falmouth? 

Programme for 2010

I have now filled in the Events Calender to the left, but for those of you who
would rather see it in list form - here it is:

2 - 4th April - Red Funnel Easter Regatta
17 - 18th April - Warsash QT Spring Championship
28 April - 1 May - Obelix Trophy, Benodet, France
14 - 16th May - Vice Admiral's Cup
5 - 6th June - ISC QT Training Regatta
14 - 16th Coutts Quarter Ton Cup
19th June - Round the Island Race
25 - 27th June - IRC Championships
31 July - 7 August - Cowes Week
3 - 5 September - Brewin Dolphin Jersey Regatta

September - Runaway Bus Trophy (Nab Tower and Tiny Mitchell Trophy)

Welcome to Snoopy's new owners

and another warm welcome to Southy and Cat, who having played on other boats, have got together 
a Hamble/Warsash syndicate (possie) to buy Snoopy. Fantastic and we look forward to seeing you
on the water.

Southy came to race at the Jersey Regatta with Catch back in 2007 and obviously
got the bug....

The boat is now called Whiskers, as in Cat's..... 

Welcome Lymington!

The boys in Lymington have bought Phoenix and today she made the grand journey on a trailer from 
Chichester to Lymington.  Welcome to the class - Ronan Grealish, Campbell Field and Jason Ludlow. 

For all other previous news and stories - see under the 'News' Section where they have been
filed.