Quarter Ton Cup Blog

'Espada' wins 2011 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup. 'Tiger' wins Corinthian Division.
 
Cowes, UK - 13 July 2011 - The 31 boat international fleet competing at the 2011 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup were treated to three excellent races sailed in moderate northerly winds on the third and final day of the regatta. The shifty breeze, combined with strongish tides running across the racecourse for most of the day, made for challenging conditions for the tacticians and skippers alike.

The (almost) all female crew aboard Louise Morton's 'Espada' took an 11 point lead into the final day and with the tactical assistance of Stuart Childerley the girls never looked likely to relinquish the stranglehold they established on this regatta from the very first day. A third in the first race today, followed up by a first and a second in the last two races, put their comprehensive overall victory beyond any doubt. A win in the first race of the day along with second and third places in the subsequent races, elevated the winners of last year's Coutts Quarter Ton Cup, Darren Marston & Olly Ophaus on 'Cote', into second place overall. A 4,4,1 performance on the final day saw Day 1 regatta leader Rob Gray on 'Aguila', take the final overall podium place. Rickard Melander's Swedish team on 'Alice II' finished the regatta in fourth place with Eamonn Rohan's Irish crew aboard 'Anchor Challenge in fifth.

In the strictly amateur only Corinthian Division George Kenefick's Irish entry 'Tiger' confirmed overall victory with a 2,1,2 Corinthian scoreline on the final day, by a margin of 23 points. Impressively "Tiger' also finished in sixth place in the overall standings. After a putting on a good final day performance, Paul Kelsey on 'Runaway Bus' moved up to take second place in the Corinthian Division, 5 points ahead of Willy McNeil & Mike Pascall on 'Illegal Immigrant' in third.

A packed and at times slightly raucous prizegiving ceremony was held at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club soon after racing concluded. The prize for the youngest crew competing went to 'Panic' owned by Paul & Mark Lees, with a combined age of just 142. Contrastingly, Tony Dodd's crew on 'Diamond' swept the board in the oldest crew category, totting up to 296 years between them. Diamond's George Webb also collected a beautiful wooden walking stick trophy as the regatta's oldest Bowman. 'Diamond' was also the recipient of one further tongue in cheek prize - a small tin of lubricating oil to help silence their spectacularly noisy spinnaker halliard sheave which had deafened the fleet at every leeward gate during the regatta. The Concourse D'Elegance Marineware Trophy for the smartest boat and crew, as voted for by the Race Committee, was awarded to Dmitri Borodin's Russian entry 'Bullit' - primarily for their stylish matching blue waterproofs. Having been overheard earlier in the week enthusiastically wondering if there would be a prize for the boat to finish in last place in the regatta, Richard Johnson & Sarah Lyle's on 'Hanah J' were duly awarded a specially purchased Wooden Spoon for their spirit and perseverance over the 9 race series. The trophy donated by Quarter Ton Class patron Bob Fisher and awarded to the oldest competing boat went to Paul Treliving's 'Odd Job'. Designed by Stephen Jones and built in 1973, 'Odd Job' was originally owned by Jack Knights who ironically sailed her with Bob Fisher himself in the Quarter Ton Cup that year. A new trophy donated by class stalwart Peter Morton for the first boat with her original keel went to Rickard Melander's 'Alice II' and the prize for the first production boat went to Laurent Beaurin's Farr 727 '45 South'. The Coutts Quarter Ton Trophy, awarded to the boat with the most first places in the regatta, went to 'Espada'.

Despite having owner and skipper Louise Morton sidelined due to a leg injury just prior to the regatta, the 'Espada' crew proved to be slicker in their boat handling and more astute on their tactical calls throughout the event. With a string of 5 race wins and able to discard a fourth place, it was the 'Espada' crew's sheer consistency that ultimately enabled them to dominate this regatta. Speaking immediately after the prizegiving this afternoon, replacement helmsman Colette Blair, had this to say "We are very pleased as a team to have won. I don't think it was something we expected. Coming into the regatta I think we were shooting for a top three result, so coming away with a win is a great success." Despite taking an 11 point lead into the final day Blair confessed to some last day nerves creeping in during today's 3 races. "We were still nervous going out there this morning and the first race first beat we definitely were showing signs of the jitters. We made a couple of mistakes early on, but once we had got them out of our system for the rest of the day there were no real problems." Asked about the importance of the contribution of Stuart Childerley - Espada's token male for the regatta - Blair had this to say: "Stuart's experience was something that really helped us, but also having him there really challenged us a lot too. There was no let up with him onboard. We had to be constantly on the ball, working hard all the time. We all felt that we needed to be 100 percent the whole time to keep up with what Stuart demanded of us."

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Breeze On For Day 2 of  2011 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup
 
Cowes, UK - 12 July 2011 - Day 2 of the 2011 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup delivered decidedly less sun but happily plenty more wind. With a solid twelve knot north-easterly blowing from early morning, the competitors were released from the marina at 09.00 and racing started bang on time at 10.30. After a couple of general recalls caused by the fleet's collective over-enthusiasm, Race 4 of the series eventually got away at the third time of asking. From the very first beat Louise Morton's 'Espada' helmed by Colette Blair, Rob Gray on 'Aguila' and 'Cote' owned by Darren Marston and Olly Ophaus, were all engaged in a nip and tuck battle at the front of the fleet. There was nothing between all three of these boats for the entire race with each of them taking the lead at various points. In the end 'Aguila' crossed the line overlapped with 'Espada' to take the line honours victory, with 'Cote' just two boatlengths back in third place on the water. On handicap however 'Espada' squeaked to victory by just a single second ahead of 'Aguila' in second place. 'Cote' had to concede third place to Ian Southworth's 'Whiskers' by 5 seconds on corrected time, pushing 'Cote' down to fourth, ahead of Paul Treliving's 'Odd Job' in fifth.

The breeze had reduced by a couple of knots by the time the fleet lined up for the start of Race 4. However the startline enthusiasm of the fleet remained undiminished, forcing another General Recall before the race could eventually get away. Rickard Melander on 'Alice II' won the committee boat end of the line and took an early lead going up the first beat. By the top mark though it was 'Espada' and 'Cote' who were fighting it out for the lead once again. These two boats continued to play a cat and mouse game with each other for the rest of the race, with 'Espada' eventually gaining control to take the win on the water by 10 seconds. This was good enough to give the 'Espada' crew their second corrected time race win of the day, ahead of 'Cote' in second and 'Whiskers' in third.  Fourth was 'Alice II' with 'Panic' owned by Paul & Mark Lees taking fifth.

With conditions moderating a little more and just the hint of rain in the air, Race 5 got away under a Black Flag. With two wins under their belts, the 'Espada' crew were now on a roll and saw off sustained challenges from 'Kote', 'Alice II', Eamonn Rohan's 'Anchor Challenge', as well as George Kenefick's 'Tiger' to take another first both on the water and on corrected time. 'Tiger' corrected out into second, with 'Cote' third, 'Alice II' fourth and 'Anchor Challenge' fifth.

The various attempts to start the final race of the day involved a variety of penalty flags and resulted in 5 boats receiving Z-Flag penalties and a further 5 disqualified under the Black Flag rule. The Irish crew on 'Anchor Challenge' finally found their true form to take a line honours and corrected time win, ahead of 'Whiskers' in second and the ever present 'Espada' in third. John Welch on 'Phoenix' took fourth with Jamie McDowell & Brett Linton's New Zealand entry 'Blackfun' awarded fifth place after incurring a Z-Flag penalty.

With all of the scheduled 6 races completed and the regatta now back on track, the results show a new overall leader in the shape of Louise Morton's 'Espada'. Their impressive 1,1,1,3 scoreline for the day sees them hold a 16 point lead going into the final three races tomorrow over Ian Southworth's second placed 'Whiskers'. Yesterday's overnight leader, Rob Gray on 'Aguila', has dropped down to third tonight, just 1 point behind 'Whiskers' and 6 points ahead of George Kenefick's 'Tiger' in fourth. Rounding out the top 5 at the end of Day 2 is Eamonn Rohan's 'Anchor Challenge'.

In the newly introduced and hotly contested all ISAF certified amateur Corinthian Division, George Kenefick's 'Tiger' tops the leaderboard from Laurent Beaurin's '45 South' in second and 'Lancelot' owned by Matt Clark & Tony Thackray.

On the eve of the final day of racing the fleet assembled at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club for the regatta gala dinner and enjoyed a fantastic after dinner speech from British singlehanded yachtswoman Sam Davies about her exploits in the Vendee Globe around the world race.

Racing at the 2011 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup concludes Wednesday 13 July with three more races scheduled.

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Royal Corinthian Yacht Club Press Release Day 1

Anticipation Builds Ahead of 2011 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup  Cowes, UK -04 July 2011 -
With less than a week to go to the start of the 2011 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup hosted by the
Royal Corinthian Yacht Club in Cowes, anticipation is building amongst the
international fleet signed up to compete.

This is the seventh running of the event since the spectacular revival of the
Quarter Ton Class back in 2005, and in addition to the core of regular domestic
Quarter Ton Class aficionados who flock to Cowes each year, this year entries
have also been received from Ireland, France and the Netherlands, as well as
from as far afield as Russia and New Zealand.

Following an afternoon of registration on Sunday 10th July and the Coutts Welcome
Reception at Royal Corinthian Yacht Club that evening, racing will get underway
on Monday 11th July and run through until Wednesday 13th July, with three
races scheduled to take place each day.

Racing will be run under the IRC handicapping system, enabling boats designed
to all three versions  of the Quarter Ton Class rule to compete as a single fleet.

As is always the case at this event, the cut and thrust of the competition on the water
will be more  than equally matched by the camaraderie, fun and frivolity on shore, with a
full post racing social programme in place, including the now legendary
Coutts Quarter Ton Class Gala Dinner at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club
on the evening of Tuesday 12th July.

For further information about the 2011 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup please visit
www.rcyc.co.uk or contact Jo Chugg,Sailing Secretary, Royal Corinthian Yacht Club,
The Parade, Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO31 7QU, E-mail jo.chugg@sigma33.com,
Tel +44 (0)1983 293581.

Members of the press requiring further information or images should contact RCYC
Press Officer Justin Chisholm on E-mail justin@justinchisholmsolutions.com
or Tel +44 (0)7769 938722.

For further information about Coutts please contact Antony Antoni on
e-mail Antony.antoni@coutts.com or visit www.coutts.com

For further information about the Quarter Ton Class please contact
Louise Morton, Class Secretary on e-mail louise@quartertonclass.com
or visit www.quarteronclass.org.

Revived Coutts Quarter Ton Cup Winners2005 -
Purple Haze (1977 David Thomas design) - Tony Dodd
2006 - Enigma - (1977 Ed Dubois design) - Ed Dubois
2007 - Espada - (1980 Bruce Farr design) - Peter Morton
2008 - Tom Bombadil (1982 Doug Peterson design) - Chris Frost & Kevin George
2009 - Anchor Challenge (1978 Bruce Farr design) - Peter Morton
2010 - Cote (1990 Gonzalez design) - Darren Marston & Olly Ophaus

Royal Corinthian Yacht Club 
Jo Chugg Sailing Secretaryjo.chugg@sigma33.com +44 (0)1983 293581
www.rcyc.co.ukJustin Chisholm
Press OfficerE-mail Justin +44 (0)7769 938722 
Quarter Ton ClassLouise Morton
Class Secretary louise@quartertonclass.org+44 (0)7769 972979
www.quartertonclass.org  

2011 ENTRIES

NZL 3311	BLACKFUN	Jamie McDowell & Brett Linton
GBR 1479 R	FLASH HEART	Mike Webb & Tom Bailey
GBR 502	CATCH ME!	Guy Pronier
FRA 12130	PINGUIN PLAYBOY	Pierre Paris
GBR 7070	PURPLE HAZE	Adrian Bishop
IRL 508	FULL CIRCLE	Robin Russell
GBR 7243R	HAZARD	Peter Mountain & Andrew Greensmith
GBR 501	ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT	William McNeill & Mike Pascall
IRL 506	MURPHY'S LAW	Nick Holt & Barry Pimcott
SWE 7744	ALICE II	Rickard Melander
K 7228	HANNAH J	Richard Johnson & Sarah Lyle
GBR 3416	OLIVIA ANNE VI	Jan Thirkettle
GBR 902R	WHISKERS	Ian & Cat Southworth
GBR 50R	ESPADA	Louise Morton
IRL 99999	TIGER	Kenefick/Kenfick/O'Brien
GBR 9838T	RAGTIME 2	Tony Newberry
GBR 7299	PANIC	Paul & Mark Lees
GBR 7063	LOVE IN A MIST	Eric & Philip Williams
GBR 3341	ODD JOB	Paul Trevliving
GBR 7557	INNUENDO	B. Byham, R Boxell, R Swinney
GBR 6262	RUM BLEU	Lucy Wood
ESP 3090	COTE	Darren Marston & Oliver Ophaus
GBR 7055	RUNAWAY BUS	Paul Kelsey
6654	45 SOUTH	Laurent Beaurin
GBR 8700	PHOENIX	J Welch, C Flemming, J Manser, P Fulford
GBR 8788R	LANCELOT	Tom Thackray & Matt Clark
GBR 8414	AGUILA	Rob Gray
GBR 5414R	GREAT BEAR IV	Chris Frost & Kevin George
IRL 3087	ANCHOR CHALLENGE	Eamon Rohan
GBR 6498	DIAMOND	Tony Dodd
FRA 7891	BULLIT	Dmitry Borodin