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Coutts Quarterton Cup Cowes, 25.-27.06.2012
rcyc.co.uk - Regatta Europa
26.06.2012
Royal Corinthian Yacht Club Press Release
Fast, Furious, Nail-Biting Fun On
Day 1 Of Coutts Quarter Ton Cup 2012
25 June 2012 - Cowes, UK - Fast, furious, nail-biting fun is the best way to sum
up today's opening action at the 2012 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup in Cowes where the
30 teams enjoyed three amazing races in near perfect conditions.
With only seconds separating many of the finishers, both on the water and on corrected time, the Quarter
Tonners once again demonstrated why so many sailors have an enduring love affair
with the class and what keeps them coming back time and time again.
From the tiny Love in a Mist, Dragon supremo Eric William's 1974 Waarschip design
- the smallest and lowest rated boat in the regatta, up to Diamund Foley's 1980
Bruce Farr designed Anchor Challenge, which rates the highest, every team got a
piece of the action at some point during the day.
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Foto Paul Wyeth - www.pwpictures.com
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Overall it was Peter Morton's newly refitted Bullit that put in the most consistent
performance winning races 1 and 2 and coming second in race 3 to lead the regatta
overall - not bad for a team sailing their boat for the first time! Whilst Bullit
now has a relatively comfortable six point lead over their nearest competitor they
most certainly didn't have it all their own way on the water and had to work extremely
hard for their placing in each race.
Also very consistent throughout the day was Rickard Melander's 1990 Phil Morrison
designed Alice who kept nipping away at the heels of the higher rated boats to end
the day with a 3, 4, 3 score line putting them second overall, six points behind
Bullit.
Aboard Rob Gray's Blackfun, the 1976 Laurie Davidson design he acquired earlier
this year and has done considerable work on, the day got off to an average start
with a tenth in race 1, but the crew then found their feet in race 2 and proceeded
to go from strength to strength, adding a second and first to their card to claim
third overall, three points behind Alice II and two points ahead of Sam Laidlaw's
Aguila, a 1990 Vrolick design, being helmed today by John Greenwood.
Speaking after racing Alice II's pitman James Hynes paid humorous tribute to their
nearest competitors saying, "Morty's definitely pretty quick upwind, but we reckon
he's a bit weak downwind which is nice so we're going to play on that for the next
two days! Sid [Howlett] and the boys on Blackfun, Rob Gray's boat, are definitely
good all round. They got stuck up in the first race, but in the next two races they
were good so I think they're going to be ones to play with as well. And then there
are a few other people who are there or there abouts. We've just got to be consistent."
Throughout the fleet there were constant battles and every mark rounding brought
close quarters drama. Remarkably the Quarter Tonners sense of fair play ensured
that there were no post racing protests - a situation no doubt aided by the unofficial
class rule that protests will only be accepted if lodged with a fee of a case of
champagne and that protests hearings will be held from 03.00 daily!
Some of the closest action came in race 2 where Blackfun and Bullit came off the
start line neck and neck and took off around the course trading tacks and gybes
all the way. They were overlapped for much of the race and on the line Blackfun
crossed just 6 seconds ahead but on corrected time victory went to Bullit by 27
seconds.
Whilst Blackfun had a relatively large 46 second winning margin in race 3 the fight
for second was another humdinger in which Bullit eventually finished just one second
ahead of Alice II with Tiger, helmed by reigning Coutts Quarter Ton Cup Corinthian
Champion and Irish Independent/Afloat Magazine's Young Sailor of the Year George
Kenefick, two further seconds back in fourth.
Post sailing Rob Gray confirmed that they are very happy with Blackfun's performance
so far but confirmed just how tight the competition is saying "She [Blackfun] certainly
seems to going very well downwind and we're getting the hang of it a little bit
upwind too. Morty of course has his new boat in straight out of the box going very,
very fast upwind, slower downwind, and starting well, with a great team aboard.
But if you look at the results, in some of the races there are seconds, literally
ones and twos, between the boats. I think in the last race Morty beat Rickard by
one second so it's all very tight and could go anywhere."
The Irish have sent a strong contingent to this regatta with Tiger now lying sixth
overall and several brand new teams racing in their first ever Quarter Ton Cup also
putting in great performances. Diamund Foley's Anchor Challenge, which won the 2010
Coutts Quarter Ton Cup under Peter Morton's ownership and is sister ship to reigning
champion Espada, was the top performing new team today. Sadly Diamund isn't able
to compete personally so Paul Gibbons is helming with former Irish Star Olympian
Mark Mansfield calling the shots. A 6, 5, 6 score line puts them into fifth place
overall just two points behind Aquila and 4 points ahead of Tiger. Also putting
in impressive first timer performances were Ian Travers and Eamon Rohan's Per Eilsa
and Jason and Dominic Losty's Illes Pitiuses who round out the top ten nicely in
ninth and tenth respectively behind Coutts Quarter Ton Cup old timers Louise Morton
aboard Espada in eighth and Darren Marston & Olly Ophaus's Cote in seventh.
Three further races are planned for tomorrow with racing concluding on Wednesday
27June. Up to nine races are scheduled with a discard coming into play once seven
races have been completed.
All photographs courtesy of Paul Wyeth - www.pwpictures.com
Post racing interviews and video clips will be posted at the Quarter Ton Class YouTube
Channel.
For further information about the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club please contact Jo
Chugg, Sailing Secretary, Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, The Parade, Cowes, Isle of
Wight, PO31 7QU, E-mail jo@rcyc.co.uk [mailto:jo@rcyc.co.uk] , Tel +44 (0)1983
293581.
For further information about Coutts please contact Antony Antoni on e-mail Antony.antoni@coutts.com
Revived Coutts Quarter Ton Cup Winners
2005 - 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
2011 - Overall - Espada (1980 Bruce Farr design) - Louise Morton
Corinthian - Tiger (1989 Fauroux design) - George Kenefick
28.06.2012 - Peter Morton Takes Record Third Victory
26.06.2012 - Drama Galore On Day 2
24.05.2012 - Notice of race - Quarter Ton Cup
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