Dutch Quarter Ton Cup 2013

The inaugural Dutch Quarter Ton Cup championship was recently sailed on 22-23 June in Lelystad, located to the north-east of Amsterdam and within the inland sea of Markermeer. A total of 25 classic Quarter Ton boats were entered but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate, with plenty of rain and strong winds with gusts up to 29 knots. This kept some boats in the harbour, and a total of 18 boats ended up sailing. 

The fastest boats were the immaculate Pinguin Playboy (skippered by Pierre Paris) from France and the bright orange Foolproof (Roel Foolen). Pinguin Playboy took line honours in all three of the short races on the first day. 

Pinguin Playboy has a strong start in one of the races of the 2013 Dutch Quarter Ton Cup

However, reinvigorated by the oversized case of golden brew that they consumed on Saturday night, Foolproof's crew managed to beat Pinguin Playboy in the single long race on Sunday. On corrected time, the winner of the 2013 Dutch Quarter Ton Cup was Sylvia ter Meulen with her well-tuned GK24 Racycaltrant. Sylvia and her crew sailed a very consistent regatta with excellent boathandling and tactics.

Foolproof sailing upwind in fresh conditions

The crew from Freres-sur-Mer reaffirmed their reputation for breaking things by blowing their spinnaker to such small threads during a gust that no amount of Gorilla tape could fix it.

The event was declared a great success, the atmosphere was great and the sailors and organisers unanimously agreed that they would be holding this event again next year.

Pinguin Playboy with a small lead over Foolproof nearing a windward mark

Thanks to Hylke Steensma for the regatta report, and to the event photographer Klaas Wiersma for permission to reproduce some of his images, and more can be seen here.