Irish Boats in Top Half at Solent Quarter Ton Cup

18th July 2013

#quarterton – Both Irish entries at this years Quarter Ton Cup 2013 at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club finished in the top half of the fleet after a sunshine filled series on the Solent. Jason and Dominic Losty Illes Pitiuses from Cove Sailing Club finished in 11th and Cork Harbour neighbour, Anchor Challenge skippered by Diarmuid Foley from Royal Cork finished eighth in a fleet of 26. Results here.

The closing day of the Coutts Quarter Ton Cup 2013 produced one final stunning race in perfect conditions for the 26-strong fleet. Again the boats had to wait for wind and several of the teams will have been hoping that it would fill in early enough to run multiple races, but it was not to be and only one start was possible before the 14.30 cut off time.

With an eight point lead going into the day and a worst result of seventh Louise Morton and her crew aboard the 1980 Bruce Farr designed Espada had the regatta in the bag with a race to spare, although they still chose to come out and sail regardless.

Espada's position might have been secure, but the battle for the remaining podium places was wide open. Rickard Melander's Alice II, Bullit, helmed by Ashley Curtis, Ian Southworth in Whiskers and Willy McNeil & Mike Pascall's Illegal Immigrant went into the day separated by just 6.5 points so it was game on.

Coutts' Executive Director Peter Burke announced a new trophy called the Kemp Trophy, presented by Coutts in honour of Stephen Kemp, the Coutts' Director who initiated their sponsorship of this event and who sadly lost his battle with cancer earlier this year. Stephen loved how welcoming the class is and how the event encourages people to get involved and the trophy will be presented annually to a boat which the organisers feel most embodies that spirit. The inaugural winner of the Kemp Trophy was Eric Reynolds' Magnum Evolution which was taking part in her first ever Coutts Quarter Ton Cup and the presentation was made by Stephen's young sons Samuel and Joseph.

Final Top Five
1. Espada, Louise Morton, GBR, 17 points
2. Alice II, Rickard Melander, SWE, 21
3. Illegal Immigrant, W McNeill & M Pascall, GBR, 25.5
4. Bullit, Ashley Curtis, FRA, 25.5
5. Whiskers, Ian Southworth, GBR, 29.5

Published in Racing

Tagged under

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.