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Vice Admiral's Cup For all news and results on this weekend's Vice Admiral's Cup - see http://www.rcyc.co.uk/
By the way, we have 15 entrants for this event, which I think might be the most we have had
for some time, so well done to those of you who are turning out this weekend so early in the
season when it is still doubtful we will have any decent weather......
Purple Haze Price reduced to £18750. See the For Sale section. Now there is a fab boat with history.....
And more stuff.... A couple more boats for sale in the For Sale section.
Ed White from Joker is looking for a second hand kite (all donations gratefully received....)
44sqm will do nicely. Please contact
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if you can help.
Vice Admiral's Cup Just a note to remind you all that the NOR and Entry Form details are up on the Royal Corinthian
Yacht Club's website. www.rcyc.co.uk. Now the weather is getting better (slowly), and we are
thinking about our upcoming sailing season, we like to know who is coming, so do enter soon. and News from the Dutch Can you believe this? They have a staggering 18 boats at the Dutch QT Championships in June. Check this link out..... http://www.lenco.eu/regatta/deelnemers.php
News from the Royal Irish I enjoy getting news from the Irish as it is always funny. This is my take on what has just happened
in Dublin.
So there is this owner, we have met him before as he made a grand entrance in Cowes one year by
taking a wrong turn and trying to tow his (v wide) Quarter Tonner down the High Street to the
Marina for launching. For any of those not knowing Cowes - it is a pedestrian walkway with no
means of turning round or backing up! So, we know he is good for a laugh. Anyway, his boat has been in Cowes now for a couple of months being 'tickled' by a local boatbuilder.
The folks back home are desperate to know exactly what tickling and where. At the recent Royal Irish
Yacht Club Sailing Awards dinner, the by now expanding group of Quarter Ton Owners took a table
and stuck a poster of the famous 'Still Crazy" logo on the window behind them. Amused by all the interest in his pimped boat, he put a photo of it on the underside of their table
mats..... and sat back and waited. No-one spotted it. As he said - "it is good to have the sense of
humour of a 10 year old" So - Joe Timbs, Joe Costello, Jacquiline McStay and Jim Monaghan,
owners of Supernova - Barry Cunningham and Johnny Skeritt, owners of Quest - and Ken Lawless
and Sybil McCormack - you will just have to wait a little longer...... 
Sails Required Murphy's Law is looking for some sails. Has anyone got a main or a jib that would fit the following rig:
J = 2.54, LP max 3.00 ish, LL = 10.23, P= 9.14, but could go up to 9.7; E = 3.4 but can go up to 3.5. If so, please contact Owen Croft -
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Stephen Kemp It is with great sadness I have to tell you that last evening, Sunday 20 January, Stephen sadly
passed away after losing a long battle with cancer. He was the Coutts connection for the Class
and instigated a long and very successful partnership with us. The Coutts Quarter Ton Cup is now
perceived as one of the most successful regattas in the Solent. Darren Marston, who has owned two recent Quarter Tonners, introduced us to Stephen and has
written a few words. "I was saddened to hear of Stephen's premature death today.
I met Stephen around this time of year back in 2006 having been introduced by a very good friend
of mine Giles Redpath. Rather astutely, Giles considered that the now familiar link between the
values of the Quarter Ton fleet and those of Coutts might just be of mutual interest and how right he was.
Certainly Stephen embraced the notion and being a keen sailor himself loved the idea of supporting
a credible team in a vibrant Class full of so much passion and heritage.
Stephen convinced Coutts that it would be a good idea to sponsor my campaign on Catch and
principally the Quarter Ton Cup of that year where we finished 4th. Much more importantly
Stephen and his team invested in bringing along clients and friends to the event itself using my
old Fairey Huntsman and a further charter boat to get a close view of the action. That coupled
with the fantastic reception they got from the competitors and the RCYC helped Coutts fall in
love with the Class.
I think it was an unexpected bonus when later that year the mighty Catch managed to perform
her now celebrated Chinese Gybe off the Green during Cowes Week and made the mainstream
press and numerous other high profile publications the World over!
The rest is indeed history and the fact that Coutts went on to sponsor the Class and have supported
us so well ever since is testament to Stephen and his vision.
His affectionate description of The Quarter Ton Cup will certainly live on; the Goodwood Revival of the Sea
Thank you Stephen" One bit of good news in all this, is that it has been confirmed that Coutts will be continuing their
sponsorship of the Quarter Ton Cup in 2013.
Wow - hot news...... Cote is for sale - SOLD AND STAYING IN THE SOLENT AREA.....
Happy New Year 2013 Happy New Year to all our Quarter Ton friends and family. We look forward to seeing you
during the season. 2013 Sovereigns Cup This is a great regatta in Kinsale Ireland and is one that I can thoroughly recommend. The
details are now out and Ian Travers has offered to be the point of contact for any queries
or questions anyone has on logistics.
Tel:+353 (0)87 9481576
SKYPE: Ian_Travers
And calling all those Quarter Tonners on the Continent - here is one for you.... The Dutch sailors are trying to revive interest in the QT class in the Netherlands by organizing
their own Dutch Classic Quarter Ton Cup in 2013. They have teamed up with the organizers of
the annual Lenco Regatta, which has offered to include the QT class races in this event. This
regatta is scheduled for June 22-23, 2013. It will be held from the port of Lelystad on the
IJsselmeer in the Netherlands. For more information contact Hylke Steensma
(
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), Theo Bakker (
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), or keep an eye
on the Lenco Regatta website (http://lenco.eu/regatta/).
Oh.... and I have left a gap in the Solent schedule for any boats wishing to take part in the
Kinsale Sovereign's Regatta at the end of June.....
Dates for Next Year It is very difficult to please everybody all the time, but please believe me when I tell you
that a huge amount of effort goes into deciding dates for regattas.
We want to have Neep tides for example.
We need to try and ensure the dates don't clash with other regattas.
Can we have the Quarter Ton Cup in the school holidays/Half Term?
Does it work with the Yacht Club/Marina and is the preferred PRO available?
Does it suit the sponsor?
Anyway, decisions have been made and they are as follows: 17 - 19 May, Vice Admiral's Cup
1 June - Round the Island Race
15 - 17 July - Quarter Ton Cup
3 - 10 August - Cowes Week I do hope that as many of you as possible will visit the Solent and make it to the
Quarter Ton Cup.
Runaway Bus is sold and has gone to Jersey...... ....and strengthens the already big fleet of Quarter Tonners there. Let's hope we
see some of them over for the Quarter Ton Cup and maybe we should make another
trip to Jersey. Come on you Jersey boys - it is not that far across the Channel. I would just like to thank Paul Kelsey for being a very pro-active and good member
of this Class. We hope he will miss us as much as we will miss him and buy another
QT soon (when he is fed up going to windward at 2.5 knots in an X Boat!)
Per Elisa and Purple Haze
For sale. See For Sale section for details.
Panic I am not sure I would be the person taking this photo (note boat on land), but
nevertheless it shows how lovely the boat is looking. Reports from the East Coast
tell me that this boat won Class 3 overall in the Sail East series and they were the
smallest boat in the class, winning 3 of the 4 races. Congratulations. We look forward
to welcoming you to the Solent in 2013. Olivia Anne VI Is for sale. Check out the For Sale section....
September Regattas There are a couple of regattas on in September which are worth doing. The first is the
the RAF Battle of Britain Regatta on the 7th and 8th September. This is always a really
nice little IRC regatta, and the second is the Nab Tower Race. Do enter and turn up
if you can.
Runaway Bus Is for sale. Check out the For Sale section.....
Cowes Week Is fast approaching. So far we have 9 boats entered and still the offer of our own class start
so if there is anyone else out there still to enter, please do so quickly. We will be having a Quarter Ton Class drinks party at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club on
Monday 13th August at 6.30 pm - 8 pm. £!0 a head. Payment in advance or on the night, but
it would be helpful to know numbers. All Quarter ton owners and crews welcome even
if you are not racing on your boat that week.
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Lovely Quote from Fiona Brown Fi is our PR lady. She is out on the water every day, taking photos, video, writing a blog and
then comes ashore and interviews the competitors, edits the film and then publishes a press
release. She has been with us since the start of the class in 2005 and has only missed one QTC.
We are very lucky to have such a super talent on board with our event and I was tickled to
read her quote below - 'Thanks again, it was a lovely weekend and the racing is fabulous to watch. It is as close in
the QT fleet as anything I watch at the Melges 24, Dragon and Etchells World Championships'.
That was good.... Wow, that was a good regatta. Excellent race management from Rob Lamb, Mike Garvey and
the team. I didn't hear any grumbles from anyone about that. They had tricky conditions and
surprisingly strong tides to contend with and did a good job communicating with the boats with
some funny moments with their Welsh tender driver and in a separate incident on the last day
with a fellow race officer who tried to encroach on our bit of the race course. Apologies for the late posting of this report. I have just returned from an epic run to Falmouth and
back in one day, but if you want to catch up on all the news and results, check out Fiona Brown's
blog - quartertonners.wordpress.com. It really was excellent. We have had emails from all over
the World from people who followed the regatta in real time through her excellent scribbles.
Results are on www.rcyc.co.uk. Made two postings on Sailing Anarchy..... Next up - Round the Island Race..... Good luck everyone. It looks windy, so take care.
How funny is this? There is always a little tension leading up to a regatta like this but this year this picture just
made me laugh out loud from the boat whose keel you saw the most of whilst racing!
You can always rely on the Webb brothers to put a smile on your face! Safety First.... Only a week to the Coutts Quarter Ton Cup and there are still a few of you who have said you are
coming but still haven't entered. It makes it so much easier if we can get accurate numbers so
please do it soonest.
Last year, the Technical Manager of the RORC, Mike Urwin commented that there were a number
of boats clearly not complying to Cat 5 with illegal lifelines. Please ensure that your boat does
comply both to the IRC Rules and Cat 5 for Safety Equipment as this year we will be doing some
checks and the RC may well disqualify boats for breach of them.
Joker Ed White who owns Joker would like to know whether anyone has any old small kites in their
store they don't want any more. He is rated for a 33.15 sq m? If you do, please contact him direct
on
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Many thanks.
Umm, and now for some good news.... Catch Me returns to the Cowes fold...... She has been bought by Olivia Chenevix-Trench and
will be seen out on the Solent again soon. Fantastic news Livvy, I am really pleased for you.
Quarter Ton Cup That time of the year is here again and entries are now open for the Coutts Quarter Ton Cup 2012.
Documents can be found on www.rcyc.co.uk. Do enter soon so we can work out who is coming
and make the social arrangements. 8 boats so far.....
Oh no! Sad story for Tony Newberry who we were hoping to see for the Quarter Ton Cup this year.
The yard were moving his boat Ragtime last week and had a little accident - so it is unlikely we will
see him now until Cowes Week. What a shame! Important bit of housekeeping..... IF you are intending to do The Round the Island Race or Cowes Week and require a berth
at Cowes Yacht Haven, please can you make contact with Ben Ferris as soon as possible to
book your place.
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or 01983 299975. Thank you.
Report on Vice Admiral's Cup I always think the trickiest sailing when on the Hill Head Plateau is when we get a northerly
or north easterly, and this is exactly what we got this weekend. It was tricky, but as we have
said before the cream always rises to the top and this weekend the cream was on Alice. Congratulations for the most consistent set of results we have ever seen at a QT regatta -
7 x 1sts and 1 x 2nd place which was discarded. Cool. It is always nice to see someone who has
been in the fleet for some time working away on improvements each year do well.
Well done to Rickard and his crew. It was a pleasure to welcome George Andreadis to the Fleet this weekend racing Atalanti IV
his 1991 Rob Humphrey's designed QT. Built in Lymington by Jeremy Rogers, this boat is very
unusual and well worth taking a look at. George had this boat built and he raced in the
1991 QTC and came 6th. He then put the boat into a shed and it has been languishing there
ever since until Morty amongst others persuaded him to bring it over to Cowes. That he did,
with a very experienced crew and came 2nd. The boat has only done 8 races prior to this weekend! Back on the scene after a lengthy refit and still screwing on deck fittings on their way out to the
start, was Menace. They missed the first day but it was good to see them out on the water again. Sam Laidlaw sailed Rob Gray's Aquila to a handsome 3rd (although tied on points with Atalanti IV),
whilst Rob raced the newly acquired Black Fun. He was the only person to pip Alice this weekend
and came 1st on the last race on Sunday by a country mile, ably assisted by David Howlett, fresh
from success at Falmouth and the Finn Gold Cup where he is Ben Ainslie's coach. More newcomers to the Class are Jason & Dominic Losty with their newly refitted Fauroux Quarter
Tonner Illes Pitiuses who definitely showed a turn of speed and some promise of things to come. It should be an exciting season ahead.....
BBQ on Friday Night of the VAC I have just booked my tickets for the Steak BBQ on Friday night at the RCYC during the Vice Admiral's
Cup. This might be a really nice occasion for all the QT crews to get together this
season. Why not come and join us. Get your tickets from
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Don't forget..... Vice Admiral's Cup This is being run by the Royal Corinthian as before and actually this year is a trials weekend for the
Commodore's Cup Teams, so it will be a good weekend on the water with lots of boats being run
with two start lines. The NOR and Entry form are up on their website. www.rcyc.co.uk, so get
entering guys ...... Warsash Spring Series Well a big welcome to Diarmuid Foley and his crew from Ireland who arrived in Cowes on Friday with
their boat Anchor Challenge and raced at the weekend. We weren't at all sure they were going to turn
up on Saturday morning as when we left the dock they were nowhere to be seen (after one of those Big Irish Nights in the pub). But they did, probably very grateful for the AP pennant flying from the Committee Boat having had to turn back and collect their mainsail battens from the dock! Anyway, they did a sterling job and went on to win three of the four races. Also out to play was Phoenix, Aquila - helmed this year by Sam Laidlaw, Runaway Bus - being helmed this year by David Ross, Espada and QT a Gibsea 80 plus, also under new ownership. Racing on both days started with the double doughnuts on the windspeed indicator and finished at over 25 on both days, so plenty of training was had by all.
The second weekend of the Spring Championship is 28/29 April, when we expect to also see Alice
out there. See you then.
Solent Safety Issues Yesterday, Solent Clubs and Classes were invited to a seminar about safety in the Solent, having in
mind the tanker collision with a racing yacht in Cowes Week last year. This was very informative
and interesting especially from the Harbour Master in Southampton and James Fulford, CEO of
Red Funnel. They presented a fascinating insight from their perspective of how we all rub along
together or not as the case may be, and there is no doubt that if there had been a fatality from that collision on 6th August, legislation would have been changed and it wouldn't be to the leisure sailors' advantage.
Cowes Week have put up on their website (from 16th April) a new safety video which has been
prepared by all the authorities and it is well worth watching before you take to the water,
as a skipper, navigator or even just a crewman. Take 10 minutes. I guarantee you will learn something. http://www.aamcowesweek.co.uk
I now have much more of an understanding of just how difficult it is for commercial traffic in the
Solent when we are all out there racing.
Warsash Spring Series Any one else coming out to play? So far we have four entrants - don't get me wrong, I am sure
we will have great racing, but where are the rest of you? Wanting Something to do in July? Check this out. Looks like a neat little regatta we could do in July. New Event for Small Racing Boats - www.scra.org.uk
for boats ratings under 0.960 - I think this is right up our street and they even mention us in the press release.
History of the Half and Quarter Tonners There is a very good website about the history of the half tonners and reference to quite a lot of information on the Quarter Tonners. See in particular the pages on the sail numbers. http://www.histoiredeshalfs.com/index%202.HTML
You may be able to fill in some of the gaps for them. Press Release in from Netherlands - March 2012 Berry Aarts and the brothers Andre en Theo Bakker joined together in the Dutch Quarter Ton sailing team. The team will compete in the successful revival of the Quarter Ton Class in the Solent (Uk). The two boat team consist of the 2004 Ims 4 Dutch overall winner The Itch and the Freres-sur-Mer and will join the Coutts Quarter Ton Cup, The Round the Island Race and Cowes Week. Overall target is to make recreational sailors more competitive minded. At the moment about 15 sailors will be sailing the two boats. Technical support comes from the Dutch sailors Philip Ruys and Sjoerd Mulder. Spring has arrived.... Look at the fantastic weather we have been having in Cowes this weekend, and it has encouraged
the first quarter tonner to get going with their fitting out. Here is Heinzy on Alice II in Cowes Yacht
Haven this afternoon. Really made me want to go sailing.....
Warsash Spring Series OK guys, so I have entered this regatta but I also see that I am the only one. I have spoken to a
number of you and I know you are all planning to do the Spring Championships. It would help
if you could get your entries in, as I am concerned they might withdraw the offer to put on our
own class start if we don't show willing. www.warsashspringseries.org.uk.
It is remarkably easy! (PS If I don't see your entry, I will ring you up and start nagging and Morty
says that isn't much fun!)
New addition to fleet in Holland Freres sur Mer will be joining us at the QTC this year from The Netherlands. Looking forward
to welcoming her to the fleet. Well done guys, good job. Benodet Two boats now set for Benodet - Illegal Immigrant and Anchor Challenge. Anyone else out there? Alice II is showing interest.....
Jersey boys?
Programme for 2012 Warsash Spring Championships - 21st and 22nd April Warsash Spring Championships - 28th and 29th April
Vice Admiral's Cup, Cowes - 18th to 20th May Royal Southern Yacht Club 175th Anniversary Regatta (special invite to the QT Class) 9th and 10th June Coutts Quarter Ton Cup 2012, Cowes - 24th - 27th June JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race, Cowes- 30th June Hamble River SC IRC Small Boats Regatta - 14th and 15th July
Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week - 11th to 18th August.
Location, Location, Location If anyone on the South Coast (of the UK) is wondering where to keep their boats this year,
you might be interested to note that there are some dry sailing 'slots' at Cowes Yacht
Haven available. 9 Quarter Tonners currently reside there and for those wanting the race
in the Solent, it is pretty convenient place. Call Ben at Cowes Yacht Haven on 01983 299975 for further information.
Hot news -
Full Circle for Sale.... Per Elisa Found it at last! Morty has been looking for this boat for the last 6 years and found it in
Italy recently. Having already bought Bullit, he has passed the boat on to Ian Travers of
Kinsale/Bandit fame. This boat won the last two IOR Quarter Ton Cups in 1995 and 1996
and is clearly a potent machine. It is a Ceccerelli design similar to Illegal Immigrant, beautifully
built in kevlar. Certainly one to watch out for in 2012. 2012 Happy New Year to all our Quarter Ton Owners, crew and friends. Judging by the amount of
activity with new boats arriving, we think this is going to be a great year and maybe we are
the only class growing in these dire economic times. We look forward to seeing you all out
there on the water. Following the success of the Autumn Series, Warsash Sailing Club have
agreed to put on a Spring Championships for Quarter Tonners over the weekends of the
21st/22nd April and 28th/29th April. The second weekend clashes with the Obelix Trophy
in Benodet but let's try and get as many boats as we can for both weekends. With Easter
being early this year it might well be that these two weekends are slightly more appealing
than the Easter Regatta (leaves on the trees etc) www.warsashspringseries.org.uk South America - Quarter Tonners
We know there are some Quarter Tonners on the River Plate in Argentina. Infact we saw
a couple this morning in Montevideo, Uruguay, so whilst we are down here we wanted to wish
all our South American QT owners a very Happy Christmas and fair winds for 2012. New Rule for 2012 Following a number of discussions, and the continued success of the Class (for example,
4 new boats have arrived in Cowes in the last 2 months) there have been a few rumblings about
carbon rigs. The Executive Committee have done some research and a High Modulus rig
for a Quarter Tonner can cost between 10,000 to 15,000 pounds. It has been decided that carbon rigs will be banned under the Class
Rules with a grandfathering clause so that the existing boat (45 Deg South) will not be
excluded from future events. The reason for this is to avoid any arms race as clearly that
cost would preclude the vast majority of our owners being competitive. The 'heart' of
this Class is the ability for people to acquire old boats and restore them without necessarily
spending huge amounts of money. We believe this is critical in maintaining the longevity
of the Class. If there is anyone else out there other than Laurent Beaurin who intends to compete in
any Quarter Ton event next year will you please get in contact with some proof that you have
been racing in 2011 with a carbon rig.
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Website Update With grateful thanks to David Schnackenberg, our website has been updated all the way
from New Zealand. My email address is:
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Please keep sending all your news and stories on QT's through....
For all other previous news and stories - see under the 'News' Section where they have been
filed.
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