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Benodet Two boats now set for Benodet - Illegal Immigrant and Anchor Challenge. Anyone else out there? 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.
Obelix Trophy, Benodet, France As many of you know, this is a great regatta held in Benodet, France each April and is well
worth attending. Please find attached the NOR for this year's event, (en anglais) for your
information. One of two people have indicated they are interested in attending. It would
be really useful if you could let me know if you are thinking of going so that I can put
you all in touch with each other. Anchor Challenge for one. Let me know. Obelix Trophy NOR 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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LIBS Tickets Geof Gritton who has recently purchased Panic would like to offer QT members the
Boat Show Tickets. "please post this information about a promotion we are doing for
Sail4Cancer here is a link http://www.tb4e.com/news/view/excel_boat_show_2012
ROLL UP, ROLL UP...... Listen in. There is to be an end of season Dinner at the RAF Yacht Club in Hamble
on Friday 25th November organised very kindly by Howard Sellars and Jim Webb.
A two course dinner with mates and a dancing band (or more likely a band to dance to?!)
for £26 a head. It should be a great evening. No guest speakers - you can all get up
and tell your wonderous hair-raising tales from the 2011 windy season combined
with a spot of belt tactics. Please contact Howard with your numbers and commitment and bring your crew.
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Report from the Hamble River Winter Series by Liz Rushall on Whiskers Hamble River SC did a cracking job running two Autumn Championship weekends
over 8/9 and 22/23 October. The Quarter Tonners were invited to join the
'One Design' start line, which was terrific as we were treated to a total of
14 epic windward leeward races.
HRSC did a great job banging off the starts quickly, and the QTs were
frequently sent ahead of the J80s and SB3s when they hauled back under First
Substitute, rather than being kept hanging about. Great race management
although we did have one very interesting start line with the committee boat
reversing down the line trying to stay on station - but closing the gap
rather rapidly with the pin end. A bit like doing a gate start - but in
reverse - as the line got smaller and smaller we all queued up to pop
through the gap.
After a bit of ringing round and emailing, a quality fleet of Flashheart
(Mike Webb and Annabel Vose), Bullet (good to see you back Howard) and
Whiskers (Liz Rushall) went head to head for the whole series, with
appearances from Runaway Bus, Innuendo, and Black Fun with new owner Rob
Gray.
Conditions over both weekends ranged from moderate to gusty - to exceedingly
wobbly, with a variety of spectacular wipeouts, and those unplanned
pirouettes and triple toe loops performed by most of the fleet at some
stage. (It's about 20 years since I've had the kite flying at the full
extent of the halyard with sheets and guys flapping in the wind - like some
corporate boat at Cowes Week - oops :-)
The first weekend left most of us going home to figure out how to get
downwind in 25-30 knots and with a variety of spinnakers to patch up.
Howard gets the prize for getting through every spinnaker in his sail
locker!
Despite the small fleet size - the racing was highly competitive, full on
and mostly importantly really good fun! Bullet and Whiskers seemed to have
the windward mark magnet on, repeatedly meeting up there whilst creating
different rules scenarios to try out - leading to much checking the books
out and comparing notes afterwards and getting the grey matter going. All
good learning.
The overall results finished with Whiskers 1st, Bullet 2nd and Flashheart
third. Thanks to HRSC for great racing and very friendly reception for the
Quarter Tonners - and hopefully we can extend the season again next year and
get a few more boats out to play.
Another Find... Here is yet another Quarter Tonner being sorted out in Cowes. This time by Anthony
Haines (aka Ski who also did the job on Espada and Enigma in the early days) It is a
1984 Jacques Faroux boat so will certainly be competitive. I am told it is headed for
Ireland so the fleet there keeps growing...... 
Look What Has Turned Up in Cowes...... How exciting is this? And the re-formed Class keeps rumbling on....... Another Sale Rumour control has it that Panic has been sold and is making her way up to the East Coast, (my old
territory) to reside as a dry sailor in Brightlingsea. I have been assured she will be making an
appearance in the Solent for the VAC and QTC 2012.
Hamble Winter Series We are being encouraged to keep our boats in good sailing nic for a wee longer, and to enter
the Garmin Hamble Winter Series races, in particular the weekend of the 8th and 9th October
when the Autumn Championships are taking place. They need 8 or more QT's for a start, and so
far there is interest from Whiskers, Innuendo, Bullet, Flash Heart, and Odd Job to name but a few.
Go find a crew and I expect the weather will be cracking - it often is in October, which will make
up for the rest of the summer! Please make contact with Liz Rushall if you are intending to enter
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Enter online: http://www.garminhamblewinterseries.co.uk Programme for 2012 It is very hard to please all the people all the time, but I have tried very hard to accommodate
all your requests for regatta dates especially with regard to the QTC. Please note that the QTC
date has changed mainly because Cork Week was bought forward a week after they published
their dates, but also to make sure that we have the wonderful Fiona Brown who so brilliantly
looks after our PR interests available. So it looks like the following: Benodet, France - Obelix Trophy - 27th - 30th April Vice Admiral's Cup - 18th to 20th May Royal Southern Yacht Club 175th Anniversary Regatta (special invite to the QT Class) 2nd-3rd June QTC - 24th - 27th June Round the Island - 30th June Cowes Week (even later next year because of the Olympics) 11th to 18th August.
Flash Heart
For those of you wishing to put a smile on your face, check out this website of the refit
of Flash Heart - especially the video. http://www.wix.com/flashheart/flashheart#! For sale Couple of interesting boats new on the website for sale.....
Half Ton Cup No, I am not encouraging you to go out there and buy half tonners, but I just wanted to
tell you that the Half Ton Cup is being held in Cowes this week and 38 of the old boats can
be seen both on the water and moored up at Shepards Wharf Marina. It is a fantastic turn
out and a sight to be seen if any of you are over this way. In addition, the Island Sailing Club held the Mini Ton Cup here in Cowes this past weekend. Whatever is the World coming to?
September regattas
RAF Regatta is always good - first weekend in September and the Nab Tower Weekend on
the 17th September. Hope to see some of you out there - especially as I am back up and
running and raring to get back on the water. New boat to the fleet
I am pleased to report that we have a new boat to the Cowes Yacht Haven QT fleet -
Joker - from Holland which has been bought by Ed White, his father Nick White and his partner
Jo Byrne. She is bright orange, and therefore not to be missed and looks enormous. They
collected her from Holland last week and report a top speed of 12.6 knots and an average speed
of over 6 knots on the passage down. (that is good!) We look forward to seeing her out on the water. Aftermath of Cowes Week It has to have been the windiest Cowes Week on record! Congratulations to all those who
took part in the QT class. I was very impressed as I am not sure I would have wanted to
have gone out on those conditions.
Panic did very well. They persevered with it all and won the week despite breaking their
rudder on day 2 and having a mercy dash back to Poole to pick up the old one. Well done
boys. Cote - Oh dear, what can I say. How sad to break the rig also on day 2, but was only too pleased
to keep you on the water and racing for the rest of the week by lending you my boat. I knew
that as a boatbuilder you would mend any bends! I was very very disappointed to be watching it from the balcony and listening to all the reports on
Cowes Week Radio. However, I can report that QT class gets a fair bit of commentary from
Dick Johnson for which we are very grateful. He truly comes from an IOR era and can
appreciate what we have and what we have done. Thank you Dick.
Thank yous also go to Roger Swinney who organised the class cocktail party and won a race with his
second Quarter Tonner, Innuendo. Fantastic. I will be back next year and hoping to swell the
class numbers.
Cowes Week .... is almost upon us. Two things to note. The first is that I have had several enquiries from
entrants asking if the crew numbers rule for the QT class can be set to one side for this
regatta. This is something that we did last year and worked just fine. Basically, although
we have our own class start and have to conform therefore to the class rules, because this
regatta goes on for 7 days keeping the same crew for each day is difficult and with some
boats wishing to take family, friends and the odd journalist we have decided once again
to relax this rule. You can sail with more than 5 crew if you wish.
Secondly, although Espada is entered for this regatta I will not be taking part as I am
on my third leg plaster and have been categorically told by the surgeon that I cannot
sail. I am reluctant to pull the boat from the regatta as this year we only have 10 entrants and
I don't want to drop the numbers to 9 as it may mean that next year we don't get our own
class start. Oh what we do for this class......
Anyway, Roger Swinney of Innuendo has kindly agreed to organise the Class Cocktail Party
and this will be on Thursday 11th August at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club from 6.30 to 8pm
and all crews are welcome, whether you are racing your QT in this regatta or not. Tickets to
cover the cost of the drink and nuts is £10 a head. Please book your spaces with Roger direct
and he will collect the money. His email address is
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I hope to see you there -
please support this event. The Irish It is a great compliment to your regatta when people travel from afar to come and
race against you - and this year was no exception with our highest number
of overseas entries. Ian Travers who owns a Quarter Tonner called Bandit in Kinsale
(which is now on the market in the For Sale section) also races with Eamonn Rohan
(of Blondie fame) who now owns Anchor Challenge. He tells me he has been trying to
come to Cowes now to compete in the QTC for some 4 years and this year finally arrived. Read his story here....
Racing as it should be
Limited Edition Prints from the Coutts QTC 2011 Every year, every competitor at the QTC has in the past had some sort of freebie
ie. mugs, scarves, t shirts, etc etc. This year we decided to do something a little
different to commemorate the 2011 event, and we have produced a limited edition print
with the kind support of the photographers - Rick Tomlinson, Peter Mumford of Beken
and Michael Austen who have certainly between them captured some fine Quarter Ton
moments. I hope you enjoy it! CQTC Limited Edition Print I have several left over and would be pleased if anyone wanted one, they can either
collect them from Cowes, or I can send them in a tube. If you would like one sent,
the cost of the tube and p&p to a UK address comes to £5. The prints are free.... Please contact :
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Captain Moonlight Tye Shuttleworth is asking if there is any news on his old boat Captain Moonlight?
please let us know.... On the water action..... Justin Chisholm is doing the PR for the regatta this year. He is writing a blog as the day
unfolds which can be found at quartertonners.wordpress.com. Do follow the exciting on
the water action from this site. Thank you Justin.
The Coutts Quarter Ton Cup 2011 ..... is just around the corner. How exciting. So far we have 28 entries and are hoping for a
few more before the end of the week. This is just to tell you all that there is a fab
new trophy for this event, which has been donated by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club
for the 1st boat with an all amateur crew. By all means check the NOR about this, but
basically to qualify you need to fill in a form at registration with your crew names and
their ISAF Classification number to prove they are all Cat 1. To get an ISAF Classification
number, log on to www.sailing.org and click 'Classification' on the top of the page. You
will need to do this in advance of the event. John Mellows is the man behind making the new Corinthian Trophy and he is a well
experienced Solent sailor and past Quarter Ton Sailor. He would love to race in the
event, so if anyone is still looking for crew, please do contact him:
Email:
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Tel: 01329 662248
Mob: 07527 729078
Round the Island Race and here is a report from Liz Rushall sailing on Cote on the Round the Island Race...... Can’t give you a full fleet report from the RTI Race as couldn’t see a lot for the first
half of it the weather was so vile. But we had a cracking first beat on Cote down the
Solent – (after incredibly poor rules observance of ‘room to tack’ on the Green by the
rest of IRC 3! Thank God we had Mark calling the rules to other boats! ) Full on down
the back of the Island – we hit 16.2 knots at one point. 3 chinese gybes in big waves
off the beach around St Kats just to entertain the crowds on the cliffs - obviously.
(I notice Darren had handed me the tiller at that point and was studying the
guessing box...!), big swim on the third wipe out – like up to our necks - life jacket
fired off just to make you look like a complete amateur in the back. Constant
bailing of the cockpit was a must for survival.
St Cats to Bembridge – we were neck and neck with Willie (McNeil on Illegal Immigrant)–
both of us with no headsail or spinnaker for while. We seem to have carelessly thrown
one away and Willie seemed to be short of some running rigging and appeared to be
doing a complete annual refit at hi speed. Darren was mumbling something about
the joys of being an owner, and the beauty of classic powerboats at this point.
We eventually found a Cadet spinnaker and still hit some interesting speeds. And
when we got Bembridge Ledge the sun came out finally and it stopped looking like
a scarily grim day in November – so we finished in glorious sun. 7hours 35mins, and
24th overall and 1st in Class.
Silly boats.
Sovereigns Week
One thing that can be guaranteed when you turn up in Ireland is a fabulous welcome.
Many thanks to Ian Travers who really couldn't have been more helpful to all us visitors
and I think I speak on behalf of the Kiwis as well as the Brits. The only problem with the
place is the weather. It rains a great deal, and I mean a great deal. Ian organised a QT
drinks party on the Friday and managed to give a prize to every boat with a funny story
attached. We had up to 27/28 knots of wind on Friday which combined with some big
Atlantic rollers made for some great downwind sailing and an upwind assault course.
Congratulations to Aguila who won the week hotly contested by Tiger and Anchor
Challenge. The only downside to the whole event was that Morty's car blew up in Swansea
on the way home (good side it was this side of the Irish Sea) and he and Rob returned home
on the back of the AA truck towing Aguila and I sustained an ankle injury but I think all
things considered it was a very successful week away.
Round the Island Race Congratulations to all those who got round the island last weekend. I gather it was windy
and rather lumpy round the back so it was impressive to leave the dock at all. I haven't
had a specific report on knockdowns but imagine there must have been plenty, but would
be pleased to include it here if anyone would like to write it? Darren? WIllie? Mark?
Congratulations anyway to Echo, Mark Lees for winning the Elephant Boatyard Trophy for
the first QT on corrected time and to Cote and Illegal Immigrant for a 1st, 2nd in their class.
Good stuff. Crew wanted Jan Thirkettle is looking for one crewmember for the QTC on Olivia Anne VI, the L'il
Scampi. Please call him on 07717 801068 if you can help.
Quarter Ton Cup 2011 Please note that the entry deadline is 24 June if you don't want to pay late entry fees.
The reason that this is early is to give the Club as much notice as possible for numbers.
The NOR and Entry Form can be downloaded from www.rcyc.co.uk. It is always so exciting
to see who has entered, so please consider getting your entries in quick.
This year, measurement checks during the regatta will take place. The measurers will be
mainly looking at sail sizes so please ensure that your sails are no bigger than your IRC
Certificate claims as there is no leeway or tolerance on these measurements.
Not another Quarter Tonner? Yes, you guessed it, Morty has bought yet another Quarter Tonner. That will be about the
4th one since 2005 and doesn't include the ones he has gone and found and brought back
to the UK for others to buy. I guess that tells me what he will be doing every weekend
this coming winter. She can be viewed in all her glory in Cowes Yacht Haven.....
PS. she is currently red Murphy's Law
is looking for a second hand kite with a bit of racing life left it in. Anyone got one around
42/43 sq m they are willing to pass on? If so, please contact Nick Holt -
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Next Up.....
Next up in the calender is either the Round the Island Race or the IRC Nationals in Crosshaven
Ireland followed by the Sovereign's Cup in Kinsale. A number of boats are going to Ireland -
Aguila, Runaway Bus, Flash Heart, Espada, the first outing and sighting of Black Fun, to race
against the local boats - Anchor Challenge, Tiger, Cri-Cri to name but a few, (Supernova - where
are you?) but the majority of the class are staying local and doing the Round the Island Race.
You are not only racing for the Gold Roman Bowl but also for the Elephant Boat Yard Trophy
kindly made and donated by Tom Richardson of the Elephant Boat Yard for the first Quarter
Tonner on handicap. Let's hope it is a small boat year, and that a Quarter Tonner wins the Gold Roman
Bowl. Good luck everyone, enjoy and we look forward to regrouping as a class in July. Training Weekend This was a very worthwhile event run by the Island Sailing Club with coaching provided
by Cathy Foster. PRO Ian Lallow started off with a practice start for the 11 boats on the
line followed very swiftly by a windward leeward race where the weather mark was
no more than 500 yards away. It certainly focused the mind and provided some very tight
boat on boat scenarios. We had three of these followed by a short gap and then a longer
windward leeward race and we were back in the dock nice and early. Thank you very
much! We then met up at the ISC and had a debrief with Cathy who had taken some
video and some advice on rules from Penny Carter. On Sunday, Ian set two more windward
leeward races of probably just over a mile long which again were very good. Special mention has to go to Mark Lees on Panic who was still screwing deck fittings down
at 4 am Saturday morning in Poole, had 2 hours kip and then the crew left at 6 am to passage to
Cowes for the racing. They arrived having just missed the start of the first race but it was a
sterling effort. Well done guys. Two things arise from this event. One is that ALL events where the Quarter Tonners
race as a class, the class rules apply. It doesn't have to mention this in a Notice of
Race, as it is prescribed the Racing Rules of Sailing. Please note and re-read the class
rules if you are in doubt. They can found on this website. The only recent exception to
this was Cowes Week 2010 where in the case of crew numbers, an extra person was allowed
on board to take into consideration a boat being asked to take a member of the Press or a
family extra as it is a long week. Secondly, these weekends are a cost to the class as we don't quite get enough people
to attend. There was shortfall last year of £202 and I am advised it won't be as much
this year. We do try and put on events which we think people want to attend, and I
am encouraged to do this again, but it does need entries to work!
if you have any other ideas of events you would like to participate in as a class, please
let me know as the calender for 2012 is well under way. Offshore in a Quarter Tonner In the old days, yes, why not go offshore in a Quarter or even Mini Tonner. But 2012?
Crossing the channel, not me, thanks. However Jan Thirkettle has done just that in
Olivia Anne VI with a win in IRC2 in the Royal Escape Race from Brighton to Fecamp.
He reports having a cracking kite run for most of the 67 nm and even beat off all bar
3 of the IRC1 fleet who had more favourable tidal conditions. He is looking forward
to returning to the Solent for the Round the Island Race and the Quarter Ton Cup.
Well done....
Charter Available for Sovereign's Cup
Ian Travers who owns Bandit, a well fitted out Bolero is making his boat available for
charter for the Sovereign's Cup at the end of June. If anyone fancies this lovely regatta
in Kinsale, all they have to do is arrive with their crew and the boat will be ready for them.
Apparently it has new 3DL sails, a pimped bottom and an excellent track record. Email Trav if you are interested:
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(I expect he will be sailing on Anchor Challenge for this regatta). Other boats going to Ireland for this regatta are: Aguila, Flash Heart, Black Fun,
Espada and Runaway Bus to join the local fleet. More information on the Sovereign's Cup
can be found at www.sovereignscup.com Photos from VAC weekend
Ken Beken took some great photos of the VAC last weekend. They will be up on their website
for general viewing from Thursday 26th, but in the meantime, I am posting your boat proofs
to you all. He also kindly supplied hi res photos for the press. Thank you Ken. ISC Training Weekend
4th and 5th June - you can enter this through the Island Sailing Club website. www.islandsc.org.uk/racingdocuments.aspx. We are very fortunate to have Ian Lallow
as our PRO. What an honour. Do hope you will all take this opportunity to join in. The ISC
also put on a great bbq on Saturday night after the coaching debrief. Be there.....
Vice Admiral's Cup
It was very good to see so many boats out last weekend enjoying three days of champagne
sailing in the Solent. Certainly the depth of competition for this early in the season was
brilliant, and it was good to see the likes of Kevin George and Frosty the snowman out on the
water on Great Bear, Liz Rushall, Led, Lincoln and the team on Whiskers, Howard, Doddy and
George Webb on Bullet, as well as some pretty serious talent on Odd Job. New to the class
we saw Heinzy and Nick O'Leary on Alice II. One or two people are taking their sailing
seriously this year!
Black Fun has landed...
I am very pleased to be able to report that Black Fun has arrived in the UK having been
shipped from New Zealand in a container. This represents a huge commitment on behalf
of the owners Brett Linton and Jamie McDowell into the Quarter Ton Class. They first
observed what we were doing with our Quarter Tonners from down under, came over
to the UK and chartered Diamond for Cowes Week in 2009, came again and were lent Enigma
in 2010 and now this year having purchased their own Quarter Tonner, Black Fun, have
refitted it in NZ, and shipped it over here to join in the summer sailing programme, including
trailing it to Ireland for the Sovereigns Cup. One cannot underestimate the effort these
guys have put into their programme. Bear in mind a QT doesn't fit into a container without
having to be tilted onto its side. Welcome my friends........ I think it deserves a bottle of Mount Gay (minus lid) at the first
opportunity...... Quarter Ton Cup The NOR and Entry Form can be downloaded at www.rcyc.co.uk/QT. The first entries
have been received from Black Fun, our friends from New Zealand and Flash Heart, the boat
that spent the most time on it's side last year. Rumour control says that they have added
a bit of the local church roof to the keel......and whilst trying to repair the deck found it
so rotten that they had to build a new one. Genoa Anyone got a second hand genoa that would suit Rupert Holmes' boat Minetrone? Dimensions required: FL 9.02 and J 2.93. Please email Rupert if you can help.
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VAC If anyone cannot make the VAC this weekend because they cannot find crew - here is an
excellent opportunity to sail with the top Australian match racing team skippered by
David Chapman. He comes with two of his crew - Sam who does bow and Pawel who is a trimmer.
Contact David on 07717 886260 or email
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Vice Admiral's Cup Don't forget to enter the VAC. 13th May to 15th May. Great racing run by the RCYC, Download
entry form and NOR at www.rcyc.co.uk. Enter by this Friday to avoid paying late entry fees.
Check out this article in the Irish Times... http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/0318/1224292506067.html It comes hot off the press after the announcement that Eamonn Rohan (of Blondie fame) has
just bought Anchor Challenge and taken her to Ireland, on the promise to bring her back to Cowes
for the Quarter Ton Cup. We look forward to welcoming the (more) Irish to Cowes for some good
times.... Rumour has it that Morty hasn't given up on Quarter Tonners quite yet....
Black Fun and NZ News Black Fun took part in the Panmure Quarter Ton regatta at the beginning of March. Here is a link to a
forum/blog and also an article about the regatta. She is about to be loaded into the container and on
her way to the Northern Hemisphere for a bit of fun and games in Cowes. We look forward to seeing
you guys. http://www.rpnyc.org.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1249&Itemid=216 http://crew.org.nz/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=16148&sid=a533e7fbb84d4358db38c9e1903561cd
The Russians are coming.... Well they would if they could. I have a crew of Russians who race their own Conrad (like Tom Bombadil)
out of St Petersburg who would very much like to come to the QTC this year. Because of timing (their
own Championships is 10 days after ours) they are struggling to get their boat to Cowes and back in time.
They are asking whether anyone is prepared to lend or charter their QT to them. Answers please to
Dmitriy Borodin
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Tel: 007 812 959 4282. I do hope someone can help them. Old Rigs.... Does anyone have an old rig kicking about. Paul Davis, one of the founder members of the up and
coming Mini Ton class is looking for a rig. Preferably swept back spreaders. Please contact Paul -
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Time to start thinking..... ...about entering those regattas. The first one on the horizon is the Warsash Spring Series weekend.
Cheaper if you enter by 5th March. www.warsashspringseries.org.uk
Sovereign's Cup Update For those of you who haven't done this regatta in the past, it is is a superb event in Kinsale, Southern Ireland,
an easy drive from the ferry terminal in Cork and well worth considering if you fancy a trip away
with your boat and crew. Ian Travers brings us an update: Preparations for the Sovereign's Cup scheduled to run from 22nd to 25th June are hotting up. Kinsale
Yacht Club has received huge levels of interest from Irish and UK based Quarter Ton Sailors which bode
well for a competitive and fun regatta. Perhaps of greatest surprise was getting an entry from 'Black Fun'
all the way from New Zealand! We look forward to extending her crew an extra special welcome to Kinsale. Some teams are taking advantage of the fact that the Irish IRC Nationals are on the weekend before
in Crosshaven and are aiming to compete in both regattas. For those looking to do both there are some
minor logistical considerations that will need to be addressed gven that the events are 15 miles apart.
I (Ian Travers) would be more than happy to assist teams in this regard. For those wishing to do the Soveriegn;s Cup - the website address is: www.sovereignscup.com and the
web address for the IRC Irish Nationals is: http://royalcork.com We are committed to providing you with as cost effective a package as possible in order to minimise
expense in terms of ferry costs, craneage and the provision of reasonably priced accommodation.
In order to open up communication please can you let me know if you are planning to do either or
both events. I will mail out details of ferries by return mail and am happy to act as a point of contact
should you need assistance. Email:
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Skype: Ian_travers
Mobile: 00 353 879 481 576 Note from Ed: How helpful was that. Thank you Ian. The Launch of Black Fun Brett Linton has announced on Facebook that his quarter tonner Black Fun was launched
last week in NZ. How exciting is that. We are really looking forward to welcoming her to
the Solent next season. - a photo to whet your appetite Practical Boat Owner
There is a great article in Practical Boat Owner in December's issue. There is even a
fabulous photo on the front cover of a Quartet. Inside is a 6 page article called
Quintessential Quarter Tonners. I think this may become an article we refer everyone
to who calls us and asks what production boats are Quarter Tonners. Thank you
Peter Poland. In the January edition, which is on sale from 9 December, there is another
6 page article about Quarter Tonners. So if anyone asks you what you want for
Christmas - how about a subscription to PBO.......
2011 Programme Here is a programme I have put together for 2011. It feels a bit sparse. Having said that
perhaps if we have fewer QT events, more people will turn up for them and we won't
spread ourselves around too thinly. If anyone has any other ideas for events, I would
be pleased to hear from you.
I have included a trip to Ireland. 7 boats made the trip in 2009 and we had a great time,
albeit the weather was kind. The Irish were very hospitable, and the event was well
worth it. 2011 brings a new (old) ferry service from Swansea to Cork which will make
the driving portion of the trip much easier. It would be great to see as many boats
as possible going to Kinsale. An added extra is the IRC Irish Nationals the week before, but
if you are going to do just one event, try and do the Sovereign's Cup to keep the
numbers up for that event. APRIL Sat 16 and Sun 17 Warsash QT Spring Championships I haven't included the RORC Easter Regatta as this has been poorly attended
in recent years, possibly because March/early April is too early to go sailing in this
country. However, the RORC are prepared to put on a class for us, so please
can you indicate to me if you are interested in this event and I will add it in. MAY Fri 13th - Sun 15th Vice Admiral's Cup JUNE Sat 4th and Sun 5th QT Training Weekend (ISC with coaching)
Fri 17th to Sun 19th Irish IRC Nationals, Crosshaven, Cork
Wed 22nd to Sat 25th Sovereign's Week, Kinsale, Ireland
and for those not able to get to Ireland: Sat 25th Round the Island Race JULY Mon 11th to Wed 13th Quarter Ton Cup, Cowes (There is the IRC Champs starting on Friday 15th July to Sun 17th, but I don't know
whether you are interested in this event so soon after the QTC. If anyone is
keen to make a week of classic Solent sailing, please let me
know and I will add it to the calender)
AUGUST Sat 6th to Fri 12th Cowes Week SEPT 2nd, 3rd and 4th Brewin Dolphin Jersey Regatta (QT Class and free berthing)
Sat 3rd and Sun 4th RAF Battle of Britain Regatta
Sat 17th Nab Tower
Sun 18th Tiny Mitchell (which combines with Nab Tower to form
Runaway Bus Trophy)
I am open to comments, so please let me know.......
More, more, more 6 more boats have been added to the Fleet section. That takes the total to 168 If you have a moment look at the photograph of Tets Sakai's 'S Happened'.
He has done a fantastic job over the past 18 months
renovating it in Hong Kong. Great paint job. Also - Ayanami can be found in the For Sale section For Sale Check out For Sale (equipment). The original owner of BOF has some QT plaques for sale
And for our friends in NZ -
Check this out, the first QT regatta of the 2011 season. We want photos, stories,
mark roundings (only joking) from you guys. So exciting..... The Panmure Yacht and Boating Club (home to the 1/4 ton Cup 1980, and home to
the NZ 1/4 ton class 1973 - 1981) are having a 2011 QT Reunion Regatta on 5th and 6th
March.
For further information, contact
Panmure Yacht and Boating Club
PO Box 14067
Panmure, Auckland 1741
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For anyone finding themselves in the land of the long white cloud in March - this should
be a good party. Facebook And for those of you who are into Facebook, we have started a Facebook page for all
your little titbits about Quarter Tonners. You can upload photos of your boats - keep
in contact with who is doing what. UK Quarter Ton Class. In the meantime, I have had a request to start a Forum (again) and I am looking into
attaching one to this website. We love hearing your news so do keep sending it in.
And from North America, we have: Stephen Jones (not the designer in Warsash) has emailed me from the States and would
like to know if I have a list of series produced boats from North American builders that
were Quarter Tonners in their day. I don't have one, but rather imagine there will be
a reader of this site out there who will be able to reel a couple off the tip of their
tongue. If you know, can you email him (and I guess me so I can publish it on this
site).
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Thank you.
Flash Heart Clearly one of the better known boats from the QTC this year due to her amazing
pirouettes around the race course - Mike Webb, one of the owners of Flash Heart has
sent us some news. They are thrilled to be in the Rick Tomlinson 2011 calendar - so that will make a good
Christmas present...
'Unfortunately after the QTC we decided that she was just not sea worthy enough to
compete in any more regattas this year. She was always due for a refit this winter but we
had hoped to be getting some more use out of her to get some much needed practice
(mainly downwind!!!) Due to a very busy summer for Tom and myself at work it is only in the last couple of weeks
that anything has been done. Thanks to the help of my Dad and George (the Webb bros)
we are currently 2/3rd of the way through removing the deck which in places had completely
delaminated to the point where it made me nervous to be stood on deck for fear of an
inpromptu visit downstairs. There is a lot of work to do but we hope to have the bulk of it done by Christmas so that after a
few bits of tidying up in the New Year we should be out for the Spring Series and get our teeth
into a full season....' - Mike Webb - thanks for the update - Ed. Just to remind you all - we didn't see this happen once in 3 days - but probably about 6 to 8 times!
Battle of Britain I cannot find any results for this regatta but know that crew from The Itch flew over from
Holland for the weekend and went racing. Sadly there was a depleted turnout from the
UK Solent division? Have you all given up sailing for this year? Two Handed Nab Tower 3 Quarter Tonners in the meantime took part in the Two Handed Nab Tower Race on
Saturday - Menace, Google Eye (a Trapper 300 and a regular on the 2 handed circuit),
and Espada. The day dawned bright but not too much wind. Probably a blessing in
disguise and about as different as you could get from last weekend.
We ran all the way to the Nab where they shortened the race (Oh no!!) and
Menace did brilliantly well and came 2nd in class, with Google Eye 5th in Class and
Espada 7th. Well done to Menace who have convincingly won the Nab Tower circuit
this year.... in both 25 knots and 5 knots. Obviously a good all rounder.
Runaway Bus Trophy For the third year running, we raced for the Runaway Bus Trophy last weekend. This trophy
comprises the Nab Tower Race and the Tiny Mitchell Trophy, both very different races, and
this weekend certainly didn't disappoint. With the forecast at gusting 30 knots from the SW,
I promised my crew a 'downwind ride of a lifetime' to the Forts but unfortunately the wind
was too far south and the 30 mile race became a two sail reach, in misty conditions -
definitely an offshore as we were out of sight of land!
After almost 5 hours in pretty big seas off the Nab, reducing to 9 knots
once back in the Solent, three QT's finished within 3 boat lengths which was pretty exciting.
Menace just lit up in those conditions and showed what a good boat it is. For the Tiny Mitchell
on Sunday, we had 10 knots and sunny conditions, albeit in a huge spring tide. This time
Illegal Immigrant led from the first beat and won the race convincingly. Three boats finished
on the same points - Illegal Immigrant 3,1, Espada, 2,2 and Menace 1,3 and Runaway Bus 4,4
giving Illegal Immigrant the overall trophy. Congratulations to Willie. ps. Good to see Full Circle make an appearance on Sunday.
Blogs on Quarter Tonners If you are interested in following progress on a quarter tonner, check out this website for
the new owner of Wazazulu http://www.wazazulu.com, this beautiful QT in Adelaide, Australia
Cowes Week 2010 Well, I thought that was a great week's racing. The racing varied between 2 hours and 4.5 hours
and 2 knots and 25 knots, sunny and rain. Great stuff. Team New Zealand's tactician Ray Davies
was staying with us and sailing on Rio with Morty and said 'what fun it was racing in the Solent
with all the tides, windshifts, mud banks, rocks and made a pleasant change from windward
leeward sailing around the world' You have to say, it is orienteering. But that said, what fun
and a change from the norm, and what close racing we had. One day, we must have tacked
80 times in close proximity with Bullet and Aguila and then finished overlapped downwind in
20 knots screaming through the moorings off Cowes Green. It just doesn't get better than that. 6 different winners during the week, and only seconds separating the boats. Despite my husband
being on a TP52 doing 25 knots, I was lined up perfectly on Day 1 causing me to crash gybe to
get out of the way. I lost that race by 5 seconds. All was not good at home that night..... There is a lot of chat about the Quarter Tonners and Matt Sheahan has written an article for
Yachting World that is due to be published in the October magazine all about the refit on
Cote. That should be a good read. The one thing that cropped up this week is that it isn't all about ratings, it is about which way you
go and time on the water. The Class Drinks Party on Thursday was attended by every boat bar one which was a tremendous
effort and it was good to have everyone together in one place to swap stories. We even added a 1980's
rock star (Simon le Bon) to complete the era and I can assure you he is still crazy after all these years!!!
Full details on the week, news, results etc can be found on www.cowesweek.co.uk
For Sale Check out the boats for sale. A few surprises in there.....
Cowes Week Drinks Party The Quarter Ton Class Drinks Party in Cowes Week is on THURSDAY 5 AUGUST
at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club. 6.30 to 8pm. Tickets are £12.50. I might even
be able to persuade the Rockstar to turn up....
Even if you are NOT racing your QT, please do come along. We would love to see you. However, rather than have me stressed at the door trying to extract money from those
I am late/I only want one drink/I don't want anything to drink people - (you know who you are....)
you MUST pay me in advance. Cheques made payable to: Quarter Ton Class Association, 35 Castle Road, Cowes, IOW PO31 7QZ.
Yes, we now have a Bank account (at Coutts!) IRC Champs Report We girls enjoy this regatta. We are in and mixing it with the big boats (boys) and we enjoy that,
even if the RORC shorten the course at the gate, give us all a finishing gun, but forget to take
sail numbers and times..... We borrowed Anchor Challenge from Morty, and in turn
we lent Espada to Mark Lees who only discovered on Thursday that he couldn't race the already
entered Panic as she didn't have an endorsed IRC cert. Anchor Challenge has halyard locks and
it is quite a stressful time coming into a leeward mark rounding (West Lepe) in a SW sea breeze,
3 knot tide with, surrounded by big boats, with all eyes focused on poor Diana trying to get the
jib halyard lock to engage. Anyway, she was masterful and managed it well...... although I think I will
stick to a winch on the cabin top in future! Also out and racing was Menace with Howard Sellars
on board helping the clean shaven James to negotiate his way round the course. It was a great
shame there weren't more people out there, although you will be pleased to hear that we three
beat the J97, the two J92's and a half tonner . And Next? What is next? 3 boats are doing the IRC Championships this weekend. I am sorry it isn't
more. If it is this unpopular we shall remove it from the programme next year. Next is Cowes Week. First week in August. Get your entries in now. We have our own class
starts, and a Class Drinks Party. Watch this space for details.
I have been asked by the owner of Runaway Bus whether he can sail with 6 people during
Cowes Week which effectively takes him out of Class Rules. I have to say in Cowes Week
sometimes it is nice to take a guest, or member of the press, or just simply a friend. Does
anyone have any objections to this request. I suppose what we would be trying to avoid is
someone obviously loading the boat with crew on a windy day. I can see that this is a genuine
request, for the whole of the week. If you have any comments, please email me
by Monday 5th July so we can agree which way to go.
Coutts Quarter Ton Cup 2010
FIrstly, a great many thanks to Coutts for sponsoring our regatta for the 4th year running.
I think they enjoyed it - they certainly saw lots of action on the race course and were
well looked after by Hugh Agnew on Rum Jungle. Thank you Hugh. I have to say, Fiona Brown does an amazing job for us on the PR. We had headlines twice
on Sailing Anarchy - for the knockdowns - thanks to that amazing one on Anchor Challenge -
(get off the bow Jason!) and Flash Heart who pirouetted around the course alot.
This year, for first time, she did a QT blog throughout the event with news, snippets,
film interviews etc. You can read up on this at http://quartertonners.wordpress.com/ Her daily press releases can be found here: Day 1 - http://www.quartertonclass.org/images/media/qtc%202010%20-%20day%201.pdf Day 2 - http://www.quartertonclass.org/images/media/qtc%202010%20-%20day%202.pdf
Day 3 - http://www.quartertonclass.org/images/media/qtc%202010%20-%20day%203.pdf And then a big thank you to everyone who turned up and raced their lovely little boats.
It was a great sight. If you check out www.cowes.co.uk you can find they did some filming of
the event which is well worth watching. Round the Island Race - Saturday 19th June POST RACE - CONGRATULATIONS to Echo, sailed by Paul and Mark Lees who won the QT trophies
for the first QT on handicap round the island. Good effort. You almost got those Folkboats!
On Espada, we had a great race, probably because for most of it we were ahead of
Anchor Challenge (oops, we aren't allowed to mention that in our house....)
but also we went round in sight of 8 other QT's which forced us to keep working hard.
Infact, we went round the Needles with Cote and Illegal Immigrant, and round St Cats,
side by side with AC and Bullet, who hit a rock just before we got to the corner.
We have to confess we took a man with us last Saturday one of the ex owners of ASAP
(now called Tiger) Adrian Layton. He put up with us well and even asked to come again!
I think he is missing the class..... PRE RACE - I know it is difficult to think ahead to this race at the moment with all the hectic
preparations in hand for the QTC next week, but I have been forced to today by
the Island Sailing Club. Do you know that we have a massive 21 Quarter Tonners
entered for the RTI - probably the most since the old IOR days. The Island
Sailing Club in recognition of our growing stature, have decided to present the
top QT with one of their own trophies - the Jack Knights Trophy. This will be in
addition to the wonderful Elephant Boatyard Trophy presented to the newly formed
QT class about 5 years ago for the top QT in IRC by Tom Richardson of the Elephant
Boat Yard. For those of you who didn't know Jack Knights was the yachting journalist who
commissioned Stephen Jones to design Odd Job. Nice connection, uh? EXCEPT - Does anyone know the whereabouts of the Elephant Boat Yard Trophy?
If you do, please return it to the Island Sailing Club in Cowes before next Saturday.
Found - Darren had it.....
For all information on the Quarter Ton Cup 2010, please go to the www.rcyc.co.uk - results
page which will be kept up to date during the event.
Rib crew required for QTC We are short of one person to go in a rib to help with the course setting for the QTC? Anyone
interested should contact Jo Chugg through the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club on 01983 293581 or
on her mobile 07940 434612. Even if you can only do one day it would help. You need to be
able to lift and lay marks (we promise not to make it too difficult for you!)
Crew available for QTC Simon Wheeler who owns Rablo has negotiated a pink ticket to leave his wife and family for 3
days and join in the fun. If anyone is looking for crew, please call him on 01753 578569 or
email
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ISC Training Weekend The 7 boats that turned up this weekend had a fantastic opportunity to hone their starting, tactics
and mark roundings on very short sharp courses set by the legendary PRO Ian Lallow. I could have
hit a golf ball with my driver to the weather mark it was so close (and I am not a big hitter!)
and it presented a great opportunity for us all. Cathy Foster helped everyone on and off the
race course with her very observant calls for boat trim, set up, tactics, infact whatever
you wanted. Great many thanks to Sonia Mayes at the ISC for coming up with this idea, which
will definitely be put into the programme for next year. For those of you who didn't make it,
you missed a great opportunity to get ready for the QTC....! Congratulations to Paul Kelsey and his team on Runaway Bus who won the weekend......
QTC Fantastic entry list and WE NOW 30 boats which is a record! AND I know of a few more to come...
That makes up for the rather sad turnout this weekend when I thought you would appreciate
having a training regatta with some coaching. Ian Lallow is the PRO with Cathy Foster on
the water giving coaching advice. What a shame. We have 7 QT's and 2 mini tonners...... Perhaps it just makes it too busy a June for us all with the Round the Island/RORC IRC
championships coming at the end of the month
Poole Regatta Report - from Roger Swinney We had a great and varied but mostly windy Poole Regatta. One race saw all 5 boats nose to tail
around the windward mark. From a Force 6-7 on Saturday we ended up with Force 0 on Sunday
and had to motor all the way back to Cowes, 5 hours! Race 2 saw all five of us within 1 minute
on corrected time by Race 7 it was almost half an hour!
Illegal Immigrant (or just 'Grunt' for short as she has plenty of that...) was going like a refugee
chased by the Border Patrol. Very impressive. She won in the heavy and in the light stuff. Menace had a 1st and was never out of the top 3 and Diamond was right up there too, both
crews parting with us at PYC. Panic crewed by all youngsters had some great moments too,
winning Race 4. (They didn't do Race 1 in the Force 6-7 as they had only just bolted the keel
on the day before. Wise decision - it was too as to coin a phrase, it was 'effinorrible' out there
in the rain) Ayanami started with a 3rd in the blow, even survived the gybe but got slower as the
wind died later in the event. Immigrant won overall and is the 'Wessex Quarter Ton Champion' as it was titled in the blurb...
Full results at http://www.pooleregatta.co.uk/results/2010/Quarter%20Ton.html
Irish IRC Nationals Congratulations to the Faroux Quarter Tonner ASAP but now renamed Tiger owned by the
Kenefick family, who won IRC Class 3 in the IRC Nationals last weekend. We look forward
to racing against them at the Quarter Ton Cup when the 5 young lads hit Cowes.
Quarter Ton Cup I am pleased to say that we already have 10 15 21 entries for the Quarter Ton Cup this year,
from 5 different nations!!! - Ireland, Sweden, France, New Zealand and the UK.
Wonderful. I am pleased to see Love in the Mist is coming back to play - welcome
to Malcolm Donald. He won the Concours D'elegance a couple of years back with his
beautiful Waarship. Crew required. There is a very nice gentleman from Paris who owns Iota, who is
looking for crew for this event. He is planning to come with a friend and he wants
three more people. They can even helm (if they qualify under the class rules).
His name is Gilles Robert and his email is
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I do hope this strikes a
note with someone and they contact him.....
Vice Admiral's Cup I thought Rob Lamb did an excellent job of race officering this weekend. Short sharp races -
we always knew what his plans were. No hanging around between starts. Brilliant job.
Thank you Rob. Results can be found on www.rcyc.co.uk which show just how close this
racing was. There was more often than not just seconds between boats on handicap. Some of you
may have wondered who the helicopter buzzing around belonged to on Sunday.
Well it was Mike Pascall, the co-owner of Illegal Immigrant out for the day.
He is unfortunately unable to sail at the moment due to injury, but took some photographs
which give a good idea as to just how close the racing was. Go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pascall/to see what you look like from the air! Thank you Mike! For photographs from the sea, you have no better gallery than Fiona Brown's own
website - switch onto slide show and enjoy the fantastic photos. http://www.fionabrown.phanfare.com/4678048#imageID=99942256
Benodet - Obelix Trophy
For anyone who hasn't been to Benodet, this trip is real easy. It is a 4 hour drive
towing from St Malo. Craneage is well organised, the town is beautiful, the seafood
brilliant, and the wine very drinkable. Oh, and the race organisation is first class.
No hanging around waiting to go racing here..... The AP flag only made an appearance
for a brief 5 minutes one morning! 4 boats made the journey from the South Coast and three from Jersey presenting
equal numbers against the French for what they call the Battle of Trafalgar
Whiskers, Anchor Challenge, Bullet and Runaway Bus all joined forces on the ferry from
Portsmouth and arrived on Wednesday lunchtime, getting the boats rigged and in the
water within a few hours of arriving. The French boats, led by Darren Marston's ex
Catch and now called Catch Me, and one of the more interesting boats in the fleet was
a wooden version of an Ecume de Mer, beautifully restored and rating very low as one of
the original 16 ft rating boats. The racing was incredibly close considering the spread
of handicaps but the consistency of the English boats who race more often together as a fleet
proved to be the difference and they dominated the results. Tom Bombadil, Super Q and Jackflash showed bursts of speed throughout the weekend
proving that the standard of the Jersey fleet is rising nicely. The results can be found
at http://www.yco-voile.com For the first time in years, the now familiar inter family battle was postponed when I sailed
with Morty. I have come away with a few tricks up my sleeve and it was certainly a pleasure
and amazing how much you can learn from such experienced sailors as Kelvin Rawlings,
Round the World sailor, Jason Carrington and Olympic medallist, Peter Allam. One of the more exciting parts of the weekend is interpreting the French sailing instructions
especially when they send you on a coastal race and you are the lead boat. For those whose
French is a bit like mine, Porte means gate, and not a rounding to Port! Guy Pronier, head of the French QT class hosted a QT dinner at a lovely hotel along
the beach. Howard Sellars was awarded a bottle of wine for not ducking under the
boom during a jibe and knocking himself out. Luckily he recovered to carry on racing. Illegal Immigrant It was good to see Illegal Immigrant out racing at the weekend - pretty obvious to
spot as although she is grey (like a couple of other boats) she also has an orange
mast. There is a bit of a story about her name. Willie McNeil bought her, then called
Pandemonium in Greece but arranged to have her put on a ferry to the bottom of
Italy where he collected her by car. When he got to the ferry port in the UK,
Customs pulled him over as they had detected someone inside the boat and sure enough,
an illegal immigrant was discovered. Willie has sent me this photo to put on the register
but I thought you would all like to see it here..... It certainly deserves a change of name!
QTC The Notice of Race and Entry Form are now live on the www.rcyc.co.uk website,
and we even have our first entries. Very exciting to announce that Roy Dickson
who originally sailed 45 deg South to a win in the Quarter Ton Cup in 1974
is coming over and racing on Enigma which has been very kindly lent to our
New Zealand friends Brett Linton and his crew for the QTC and RTI.
We are looking forward to welcoming them to the UK (provided the volcanic
ash cloud permits flying by then) and meeting Roy. (PS. He is Chris Dickson's
Dad for those of you not old enough to know....)
Warsash Spring Series Well, I obviously nagged you all enough because in the end we had a miraculous
entry of 10 Quarter Tonners and it is still April. It was impressive and it was
great to be back out there with short lines, short courses, and lots of good racing
(in 3 to 8 knots of breeze). Grateful thanks to Warsash Sailing Club who invited us to
join their weekend and we thought it was very well run. The turn around between
races (they have obviously been listening to us complaining about another well
known race organiser) was second to none. Hardly time to open a bottle
of water and we were off again. Races lasted from just 20 minutes up to an hour
and 20 and after 4 races on Saturday we were back in Cowes by 3 pm! We, on
Espada got caught out both mornings by the distance to the starting area from
Cowes (much closer for the Hamble boys) and I just looked at a chart this evening -
the Bramble post is not even half way if you are attempting to hit Cutter
from Cowes. Anyway, I have thanked the CRO on your behalf and hope we behaved
ourselves sufficiently to be invited back again next year. Thank you all. Crew Required Sgt Pepper is looking for crew for the season. One or two would be good. Anyone
interested should contact David Thomas -
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Talking of crew- Patrick Kohlman is still looking for a good ride for the QTC. -
see below under news from SF. It would be great if he came, because he
would bring with him tons of publicity for the class over in the States, and we like that. Monday Good racing this weekend, in very varied and testing conditions. It was a bit
disappointing we only had 3 boats out so can only assume you are all still
out there working on your boats and getting them ready for the season.
Alice II has turned up at Cowes Yacht Haven from Sweden after a refit
looking very smart and maybe available for charter for some events this
summer. A QT has made it to the front page of Sailing Anarchy this weekend.
- you may be amused. I was..... Congratulations to the boys on Menace who have dutifully turned up each weekend
to race in IRC Class 4 in the rest of the Spring Series. They have scored 3 x 1st out of 3.
A good effort with the very cold Spring weather we have been having recently....
The Vice Admiral's Cup The NOR and Entry Form details are now up on the RCYC website.
www.rcyc.co.uk. Hope to see as many of you there as possible.
The San Francisco Crowd are coming together nicely. Summertime Dream, the Carl Schumacher designed QT
is now in the yard getting a face lift. Patrick Kohlman who owns Fun, would like
to come over and race in the QTC this summer, if he can get a ride. Is anyone
looking for crew? He can be contacted at - email address is
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RORC Easter Regatta Deadline for entries is the 25 March. Don't forget to enter as they keen to know
how many QT's are taking part, especially since they are giving us our own Class
start. We don't have to carry bunk cushions or a trisail for this regatta, and they
provide on the water coaching which is most useful at the beginning of the season.
As we have our own Class start, don't forget the Class Rules will apply. ps. Here's hoping for at least 5 more degrees of temperature, less than 15 knots
of wind, and clear blue skies for that weekend..... Rules Following the Class Meeting last week, it has been decided to formulate some Class
Rules. The intention is that we will use them for events where there is a dedicated
Quarter Ton Class, including Cowes Week. Where we are racing against other IRC
boats these rules do not apply. There will be some circumstances like Round the
Island for example, where a Trophy is offered for the first Quarter Tonner and it
is part of the Season Championship Cup where we will don't think we should apply
the rules, on crew for example. We think it is better for a Quarter Tonner to win IRC
overall than be a stickler to the QT rules. The Quarter Ton Class Rules 2010 are posted under the main menu to the left hand
side of this page. QT Meeting Notes Here is a summary of the Owners Meeting we had on Saturday 6th March where
representatives of 12 boats attended. (I presume everybody else is happy with the way
things are being run) Following a proposal from Howard Sellars (Bullit) a discussion was held with a view to
introducing a lower and upper rating limit for the fleet. It was agreed that it would
not be right to exclude the original RORC 16 ft rating boats that were genuine Quarter
Tonners, therefore there shall be no lower rating limit. The meeting was attended by
a member of the Mini Ton Association, Ken Dogherty, and a discussion was held about
them attending some of the events alongside the Quarter Tonners. It was decided that
for this year, they should not attend the QTC but would be welcome at some of our
other events. Of the original Quarter Tonners, ie. those in the RORC 16 ft rating band,
a number of them almost certainly would have been eligible to race as mini tonners
when the Quarter Tonners went to 18 ft IOR and the new mini tonners came in at
16.5 ft IOR. We will hold discussions with the mini tonners to see if they would allow some
of the smaller boats to race in the Mini Ton series if they prefer to. There was concern amongst those who attended that some people would continue to
put bigger rigs on their boats and it was agreed that there should be an upper IRC Rating
limit. It was decided that any boat that sailed last year should not have to reduce its
rating to sail this year and the highest rating boat at the QTC last year was 0.918. To
allow for a little bit of adjustment this year in IRC, it was agreed that we would have an
upper IRC limit of 0.920 for all regattas where we have a QT Class. There was also some discussion about modifying boats. Morty recalled that during the
RORC and IOR Rule these boats were changed often with bumps on and off, new keels
new rudders, trim changes and even scoops being added and removed. This was part
of the QT class and is part of what gives this class some character and differentiates it
from a strictly one design class. The current rule we use IRC is very specific about what
is allowed to be done without changing the hull date. Old IOR boats are allowed to remove
bumps, fair in the aft girth station crease, and all IRC boats are allowed to change their keels
and rudder as long as the rating authorities are notified. It was felt that we have to rely on
IRC to control this and therefore part of the QT Rule will not only be that the boat was built
prior to 1996 but it must have a hull date prior to 1996. This way, anybody who makes
substantial changes by altering the underwater 'canoe body' would not be eligible to race. Divisions. It was agreed that for the QTC divisional prizes would be awarded. Division
splits to be decided once the entries have been received. Race Programme. It was agreed to include the Poole Regatta (2nd May Bank Holiday
weekend) and the Battle of Britain Regatta in September. LM to add them to the
programme Season Championship Cup. It was agreed that there would be a Season Championship
Cup (to be donated) for 7 regattas, of which 5 to count. On reflection we think this should
include everything on the official programme except those regattas not held in UK waters
ie. Jersey and Benodet, and the QTC iself. This leaves 10 regattas,with 5 to count. In the
event of a tie, the best results from the biggest QT fleets will decide. Where we race within
an IRC class, the QT results will be extracted. End of Season Championship Dinner - It was agreed this would be a good idea. To be held
in October/November when trophies not presented during the year could be presented,
including the new Season Championship Cup. Crew Limits. The QT crew limit is currently 5 crew. Where a boat sails with 5 female
crew, a 6th crewmember is allowed. It was agreed at the meeting that this should apply
to all events where the Quarter Tonners race as a class and we will write some class
rules so that where a NOR states the class will comply with the class rules, it will be clear.
There has been some rumblings within the class, and a number of non QT sailors have
remarked on this. It doesn't do our class any good, so now we have had an open forum
and agreed the above, I would be grateful if this could now stop. We shall continue to
have regular meetings and are always open to ways of improving the Class and the
communication therein. QT Dinner We were very fortunate to be joined at the weekend by two representatives from the
French QT Class, Guy Pronier and Gilles Robert, both of whom were scouting out Cowes
with a view to bringing their boats over this summer for the QTC. Slightly horrified
by watching the tide in Cowes, they have written a great report which has been posted
on their website - for those of you who speak French, but also some good pics of their
experience.
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/
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
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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) More boats - 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
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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
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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
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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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