News

August 2, 2006

Racing yachts follow fashions – this year’s hot number is liable to be on next year’s bargain rail and if there was one particular group of boats that would seem to be well on the way to the Oxfam shop, it must be the quarter tonners.

Designed 30 years ago to a rule that no longer exists, with hulls that often looked distorted and rigs that seem out of proportion, they don’t seem to have a lot going for them today. And yet one of the most surprising developments in the past couple of years has been a strong revival of interest in quarter tonners, with boats being dragged out of the long grass and, in some cases, very expensively restored with new keels, masts and sails.

The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club have organised a new series for the Quarter Ton Trophy, thanks to the initiative of club secretary Louise Morton, who also competes in her quarter tonner Super Q, which won yesterday’s race at Cowes. Up to 20 boats are now racing regularly with more to come.

The Quarter Ton Cup has not been held for 10 years and the trophy seems to have disappeared. It derived from the One Ton Cup, which was created in the late 1960s for yachts of fixed rating – you could use any design up to
a fixed rating level, and racing was boat-for-boat with no handicap.

The concept gave yacht racing a huge boost and design development raced ahead through the 1970s in its wake. To keep costs down, a version for smaller boats, the Half Ton Cup, was promoted, and finally the Quarter Ton
Cup, for an 18.5 ft International Offshore Rule (IOR) rating, which turned out as a sporty little number of around 25 ft. Tonnage had nothing to do with it.

The IOR has gone to join the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Ton Cup concept died with it but the quarter tonners seem reluctant to lie down. Seven of the entries in Class 7 of Skandia Cowes Week are quarter tonners with the current points leader in the class the Farr-designed Espada Wanchai Belle, skippered by Jamie McWilliam.
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Full article by David Pelly in the Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2006/08/02/sosail02.xml&sSheet=/sport/2006/08/02/ixothspt.html