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Displaying items by tag: Quarter Tonner

The opening race of the 2024 summer sailing season at Schull Harbour Sailing Club in West Cork was staged on Saturday in near-idyllic weather as the mixed cruiser fleet competed for the Rossbrin Boatyard Trophy.

After starting in the inner harbour in a light easterly breeze, the course took the competitors around the Calf Islands and Amelia Buoy.

Peter Duggan's Quarter Tonner Manzanita (IRL 2076) and Tom Newman's Contessa 32, Sittelle (IRL 2323) during Schull Harbour Sailing Club RacingPeter Duggan's Quarter Tonner Manzanita (IRL 2076) and Tom Newman's Contessa 32, Sittelle (IRL 2323) 

Gabby Hogan's Growler led the fleet to take line honours but had to settle for second place in both IRC and Echo, from Peter Duggan's Manzanita, who showed the benefit of a major winter overhaul by winning both divisions.

Michael Moody's 30 Shelly D (IRL148) at the Perch mark during Schull Harbour Sailing Club RacingMichael Murphy's Moody 30 Shelly D (IRL148) at the Perch mark during Schull Harbour Sailing Club Racing

The Murphy family sailing the veteran Shelly D for the 45th consecutive year finished third in both IRC and Echo.

 Winning Manzanita skipper Peter Duggan with crew Daniel Duggan and John Molloy (a former owner of Manzanita) at the Schull Harbour Sailing Club prizegiving for the Rossbrin Boatyard Trophy Winning Manzanita skipper Peter Duggan with crew Daniel Duggan and John Molloy (a former owner of Manzanita) at the Schull Harbour Sailing Club prizegiving for the Rossbrin Boatyard Trophy

Published in West Cork
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The Ker 32 Hijacker was a popular competitor owned by Stuart Cranston of Strangford Lough YC at Whiterock and the nearby Down Cruising club, but he was struggling to get enough regular crew (eight) so downsizing was the answer, and he will move Hijacker on. The replacement boat is the well-known David Thomas designed Quarter Tonner, Purple Haze.

Stuart says she is a more manageable boat. He bought her from Phil Cook last summer in Cardiff, where she has been raced for years. Phil had bought Dave Cullen’s Half Tonner Checkmate so decided to move Purple Haze on to a new home.

The vintage Quarter Tonner Purple Haze racing on Strangford Lough Photo: courtesy Stuart CranstonThe vintage Quarter Tonner Purple Haze racing on Strangford Lough Photo: courtesy Stuart Cranston

Stuart says “We had her towed home back to Strangford Lough. We only require five to sail her competitively which is great... We raced her over the 2023 season and have totally fallen in love with her and found her still to be very quick with her original somewhat tired sails”.

She was built in 1977 as the prototype for the Bolero Quarter Ton and designed by the late David Thomas who was behind some of the great designs that are still prominent today such as the Sigma 33, Impala and Sonata. She is a past winner of the Quarter Ton Cup, The Round the Island Race Gold Roman Bowl, and the Conquers de Elegance QT Cup.

At the end of last year, Purple Haze was towed to the Medina Yard in Cowes for some John Corby love. He swiftly got stuck in a shed with his team, stripping her back to the bare timber structure.

Purple Haze under restoration Photo: courtesy Stuart CranstonPurple Haze under restoration Photo: courtesy Stuart Cranston

Purple Haze in her fully restored state Photo: courtesy Stuart CranstonPurple Haze in her fully restored state Photo: courtesy Stuart Cranston

New North Sails are on order from Maurice ‘Prof’ McConnell for the 2024 season, and John Corby has spent five months over the Winter bringing her back to her former glory. The deck has been glass sheathed and stiffened, new fittings, winches and deck gear installed, along with some new systems to improve sail trim and boat handling. She’s then been given a full respray on the deck as well as eight coats of clear coat sprayed on the topsides to bring back a gorgeous shine to beautiful exposed wood.

It's going to be a busy season for Stuart and his crew. The plan is to head back to Cowes in June for the Quarter Ton Cup 20th Anniversary (25th -27th June). Then to Dublin Bay for the ICRA National Championships at the end of August at the Royal Irish in Dun Laoghaire and the IRC Europeans at the same venue from 12th – 15th September.

Published in Quarter Ton

Conor Phelan's Royal Cork Yacht Club Quarter Tonner Anchor Challenge has won Class Three IRC at The Simply Blue Sovereign's Cup off Kinsale.

As Afloat reported earlier, Quarter Tonners had a grip on the ten-boat fleet since Wednesday's first race. 

Phelan led all the way and ended the regatta with five wins, taking two guns on the final day and discarding a second place.

Another Quarter Tonner, Courtown Sailing Club's Joubert Quarter Tonner, Snoopy (Joanne Hall & Martin Mahon), leapfrogged visiting Welsh Sigma 33 'Partisan' into second overall on Thursday, and that's how things stayed despite two more races on Saturday in some light winds and drizzle.

The 15th edition of the biennial regatta attracted 90 entries across all divisions and ran from 21st to 24th June and incorporated the 1720 European sportsboat Championships.

Results below.

Read all Afloat's 2023 Sovereign's Cup Regatta coverage in one handy link here

Published in Sovereign's Cup

Quarter Tonners have control of the top of Class Three IRC at The Simply Blue Sovereign's Cup off Kinsale.

Royal Cork Yacht Club Quarter Tonner Anchor Challenge continues to lead the ten-boat fleet after four races sailed, but another Quarter Tonner has leapfrogged visiting Welsh Sigma 33 'Partisan' into second overall. Courtown Sailing Club's Joubert Quarter Tonner, Snoopy (Joanne Hall & Martin Mahon), is eight points behind Conor Phelan's leading Farr design.

Phelan's Farr design has an impressive scorecard of 1.0, 2.0, 1.0, and 1.0 over the four round-the-can courses so far in the ten-boat fleet.

Regular Afloat readers will recall Snoopy's 2021 performance. With a statement of her intent delivered at Calves Week in West Cork in August 2021,  'Snoopy' became the ICRA Divison 3 National Champion at the first attempt that September after a superbly sailed series on Dublin Bay.

This is the 15th edition of the biennial regatta, which has attracted 90 entries across all divisions, runs from 21st to 24th June, and incorporates the 1720 European sportsboat Championships.

Southwesterly winds gusting to 30 knots are forecast for Friday's races, with KYC organisers telling competitors tonight: "Due to the current forecast for tomorrow, please keep an eye out for an amendment to the SI’s in the morning as to the location of each start area".

Results below.

Published in Sovereign's Cup

The distinctive black hulled Dublin Bay-based Quarter Tonner Cartoon is for sale. 

Priced at €15,000, the 1986 vintage Fauroux design is described as one of the fastest quarter tonners, especially in light airs.

Built in Antibes using divinycell core technology rather than balsa core. Fauroux's designs are consistently seen at the top of the UK Quarter Ton Fleet.

The boat was optimised for IRC in 2015 by removing the original IOR rig. 

Optimisation included a new Selden mast, boom, standing rigging, running rigging, Jeffa rudder tube, composite rudder and carbon tiller.

The boat has continuously dry sailed since 2013 and sails from the Royal Irish Yacht Club, and comes complete with a road trailer.

Read the full advert on Afloat here

Published in Boat Sales
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21 teams enjoyed nine races on windward-leeward and round the cans courses at Cork Week.

Sam Laidlaw’s Quarter Tonner BLT from the Royal Yacht Squadron Cowes scored seven race wins out of ten to rocket to the class title.

Marcus Ryan’s youth team racing J/24 HeadCase is runner-up just five points ahead of Fiona Young’s Royal Cork Albin Express North Star.

Marcus Ryan’s Irish youth team racing J/24 HeadCaseMarcus Ryan’s Irish youth team racing J/24 HeadCase Photo: Bob Bateman

Published in Cork Week
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Sam Laidlaw’s Quarter Tonner BLT from the Royal Yacht Squadron made it six straight bullets in the first race on Thursday at Cork Week but came fifth in the second, proving that the team from Cowes is human!

BLT was back on track for the last race taking a seventh win and all but securing the class title. Marcus Ryan’s Irish youth team racing J/24 HeadCase moved up to second place having scored two podium race results today.

After three days of light and complex racing, a sea breeze kicked in on Day Four to spice up the action on the penultimate day

Marcus Ryan’s Irish youth team racing J/24 HeadCaseMarcus Ryan’s Irish youth team racing J/24 HeadCase Photo: Bob Bateman

Dorgan, Marshall & Losty’s Quarter Tonner Illegal from Cove Sailing Club, slips to third just two points behind HeadCase.

Quarter Tonner Illegal from Cove Sailing ClubQuarter Tonner Illegal from Cove Sailing Club Photo: Bob Bateman

A number of protests are still to be heard so results are provisional.

Published in Cork Week
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Sam Laidlaw’s Quarter Tonner BLT from the Royal Yacht Squadron won their fifth race in a row and have a big lead in IRC Three on Wednesday, day three of Cork Week Regatta. 

Dorgan, Marshall & Losty’s Quarter Tonner Illegal from Cove Sailing Club was once again second and is five points behind BLT with two days of racing to go.

The third day of Cork Week incorporating the ICRA National Championships was blessed with sunshine and 8-10 knots of breeze from the north. 

Quarter Tonner Illegal from Cove Sailing ClubQuarter Tonner Illegal from Cove Sailing Club Photo: Bob Bateman

Marcus Ryan’s Irish youth team racing J/24 HeadCase put in another great race to finish third, just a point behind Illegal.

Racing at Cork Week continues tomorrow with the penultimate day of racing for the regatta. Five race areas, in and outside Cork Harbour, will be organised by the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Cork Week's Class 3 IRC competitor Panic (David O'Regan) from the Royal Cork YCCork Week's Class 3 IRC competitor Panic (David O'Regan) from the Royal Cork YC Photo: Bob Bateman

Published in Cork Week
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There is no stopping Sam Laidlaw’s Quarter Tonner BLT from the Royal Yacht Squadron, who kept their perfect scoreline on day two of Cork Week with an emphatic win in Race Three of the series to lead the class by four points.

Dorgan, Marshall & Losty’s Quarter Tonner Illegal from Cove Sailing Club was runner-up in today’s race to move up to second for the regatta.

Fiona Young’s North Star from the Royal Cork YC scored a podium race finish today, moving up to fourth for the series.

Marcus Ryan’s Irish youth team racing J/24 HeadCase was fourth today and is now third for the series, but only on countback.

BLT on her mooring in Crosshaven reveals the Jacques Fauroux-designed Bullit hull. The boat is a previous winner of the 1980 Quarter Ton Cup in New Zealand. In all just seven Bullits were built, three of which won consecutive Quarter Ton Cups in 1978, 1980 and 1981, and they have become increasingly sought-after. Photo: Bob BatemanBLT on her mooring in Crosshaven reveals the Jacques Fauroux-designed Bullit hull. The boat is a previous winner of the 1980 Quarter Ton Cup in New Zealand. In all just seven Bullits were built, three of which won consecutive Quarter Ton Cups in 1978, 1980 and 1981, and they have become increasingly sought-after. Photo: Bob Bateman

Published in Cork Week
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Sam Laidlaw’s Quarter Tonner BLT from the Royal Yacht Squadron dominated IRC Three of Volvo Cork Week Regatta today, scoring three straight bullets.

Marcus Ryan’s Irish youth team racing J/24 HeadCase (that won overall in the UK at the weekend) scored three podium race results to end the day in second place in the 22 boat class.

Dorgan, Marshall & Losty’s Quarter Tonner Illegal from Cove Sailing Club finished Day One in third.

“We haven’t sailed Cork Week since we did it on Farr 52 Bob 12 years ago,” commented BLT’s helm Sam Laidlaw. “We have come back because it’s such a great place and with 300 years of history, everybody should be here. Today was a bit light for us, we would prefer more wind, but we will see.”

Class 3 IRC Class after three sailed

1st BLT Fauroux Quarter Ton Sam Laidlaw FRA 8051 Royal Yacht Squadron
2nd HeadCase J24 Marcus Ryan 4247 HYC/MSC/LRYC/BYC
3rd Illegal Quater Ton Farr Dorgan/Marshall/Losty IRL1751

Results here

Published in Cork Week
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Dublin Bay 21s

An exciting new project to breathe life into six defunct 120-year-old Irish yachts that happen to be the oldest intact one-design keelboat class in the world has captured the imagination of sailors at Ireland's biggest sailing centre. The birthplace of the original Dublin Bay 21 class is getting ready to welcome home the six restored craft after 40 years thanks to an ambitious boat building project was completed on the Shannon Estuary that saved them from completely rotting away.

Dublin Bay 21 FAQs

The Dublin Bay 21 is a vintage one-design wooden yacht designed for sailing in Dublin Bay.

Seven were built between 1903 and 1906.

As of 2020, the yachts are 117 years old.

Alfred Mylne designed the seven yachts.

The total voting population in the Republic's inhabited islands is just over 2,600 people, according to the Department of Housing.

Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) commissioned the boat to encourage inexpensive one-design racing to recognise the success of the Water Wag one-design dinghy of 1887 and the Colleen keelboat class of 1897.

Estelle built by Hollwey, 1903; Garavogue built by Kelly, 1903; Innisfallen built by Hollwey, 1903.; Maureen built by Hollwey, 1903.; Oola built by Kelly, 1905; Naneen built by Clancy, 1905.

Overall length- 32'-6', Beam- 7'-6", Keel lead- 2 tons Sail area - 600sq.ft

The first race took place on 19 June 1903 in Dublin Bay.

They may be the oldest intact class of racing keelboat yacht in the world. Sailing together in a fleet, they are one of the loveliest sights to be seen on any sailing waters in the world, according to many Dublin Bay aficionados.

In 1964, some of the owners thought that the boats were outdated, and needed a new breath of fresh air. After extensive discussions between all the owners, the gaff rig and timber mast was abandoned in favour of a more fashionable Bermudan rig with an aluminium mast. Unfortunately, this rig put previously unseen loads on the hulls, resulting in some permanent damage.

The fleet was taken out of the water in 1986 after Hurricane Charlie ruined active Dublin Bay 21 fleet racing in August of that year. Two 21s sank in the storm, suffering the same fate as their sister ship Estelle four years earlier. The class then became defunct. In 1988, master shipwright Jack Tyrrell of Arklow inspected the fleet and considered the state of the hulls as vulnerable, describing them as 'still restorable even if some would need a virtual rebuild'. The fleet then lay rotting in a farmyard in Arklow until 2019 and the pioneering project of Dun Laoghaire sailors Fionan De Barra and Hal Sisk who decided to bring them back to their former glory.

Hurricane Charlie finally ruined active Dublin Bay 21 fleet racing in August 1986. Two 21s sank in the storm, suffering the same fate as a sister ship four years earlier; Estelle sank twice, once on her moorings and once in a near-tragic downwind capsize. Despite their collective salvage from the sea bed, the class decided the ancient boats should not be allowed suffer anymore. To avoid further deterioration and risk to the rare craft all seven 21s were put into storage in 1989 under the direction of the naval architect Jack Tyrrell at his yard in Arklow.

While two of the fleet, Garavogue and Geraldine sailed to their current home, the other five, in various states of disrepair, were carried the 50-odd miles to Arklow by road.

To revive the legendary Dublin Bay 21 class, the famous Mylne design of 1902-03. Hal Sisk and Fionan de Barra are developing ideas to retain the class's spirit while making the boats more appropriate to today's needs in Dun Laoghaire harbour, with its many other rival sailing attractions. The Dublin Bay 21-foot class's fate represents far more than the loss of a single class; it is bad news for the Bay's yachting heritage at large. Although Dún Laoghaire turned a blind eye to the plight of the oldest intact one-design keelboat fleet in the world for 30 years or more they are now fully restored.

The Dublin Bay 21 Restoration team includes Steve Morris, James Madigan, Hal Sisk, Fionan de Barra, Fintan Ryan and Dan Mill.

Retaining the pure Mylne-designed hull was essential, but the project has new laminated cold-moulded hulls which are being built inverted but will, when finished and upright, be fitted on the original ballast keels, thereby maintaining the boat’s continuity of existence, the presence of the true spirit of the ship.

It will be a gunter-rigged sloop. It was decided a simpler yet clearly vintage rig was needed for the time-constrained sailors of the 21st Century. So, far from bringing the original and almost-mythical gaff cutter rig with jackyard topsail back to life above a traditionally-constructed hull, the project is content to have an attractive gunter-rigged sloop – “American gaff” some would call it.

The first DB 21 to get the treatment was Naneen, originally built in 1905 by Clancy of Dun Laoghaire for T. Cosby Burrowes, a serial boat owner from Cavan.

On Dublin Bay. Dublin Bay Sailing Club granted a racing start for 2020 Tuesday evening racing starting in 2020, but it was deferred due to COVID-19.
Initially, two Dublin Bay 21s will race then three as the boat building project based in Kilrush on the Shannon Estuary completes the six-boat project.
The restored boats will be welcomed back to the Bay in a special DBSC gun salute from committee boat Mac Lir at the start of the season.
In a recollection for Afloat, well known Dun Laoghaire one-design sailor Roger Bannon said: "They were complete bitches of boats to sail, over-canvassed and fundamentally badly balanced. Their construction and design was also seriously flawed which meant that they constantly leaked and required endless expensive maintenance. They suffered from unbelievable lee helm which led to regular swamping's and indeed several sinkings.

©Afloat 2020