Quarter Ton Cup 1988

This video recently surfaced of the 1988 Quarter Ton Cup, held in Travemunde, Germany, and featuring the German yacht Polyant, which finished third overall, behind Mac Donald (the winner in 1987 as well) and B & BV. The video is narrated in German, and features some nice sailing shots both upwind and down.
 

Quarter Ton Cup 1981

The 35-boat fleet that assembled for the 1981 Quarter Ton Cup in Marseilles, France, included qualifiers from the well-attended French and Italian selection trials (a total of 70 boats competed in these two events), and several boats from other countries. The winds ranged from Force 2 to Force 11 (4 to 60 knots), and in the last race of the series, only three boats were able to reach the finish line.

Protis, winner of the 1981 Quarter Ton Cup

The pre-regatta favourites were the many custom and semi-production boats designed by Frenchman Jacques Fauroux, whose Bullit had won the previous two editions of the Cup. Fauroux sailed one of his designs, La Concorde, which, like many other of his boats in 1981, had less extreme stern sections than Bullit, in response to changes in the IOR. The best competition for the Fauroux boats promised to come from the Italian Willy Willy, designed by the Fontana/Maletto/Navone team, and from New Zealand, the Davidson-designed Hellaby that had finished second to Bullit the previous year. 

Cifraline in trouble on a downwind leg during the 1981 Quarter Ton Cup

The opening race was an Olympic triangle sailed in Marseilles’ South Bay in a 17-33 knot easterly. Hellaby took the start and kept the lead throughout the race, with a careful cover over a new custom Fauroux design, Protis which was co-skippered by Bruno Trouble (interestingly, Protis was the only boat in the fleet to carry an inboard engine, which allowed her to be a little bigger and to carry a little more sail area). As the wind freshened, Hellaby extended her lead and won by more than two minutes, with Protis second, and Petite celte, another Fauroux design third, and Willy Willy fourth. 

Adelaide - her ability to carry her spinnaker during the fourth race gave her a big advantage over the rest of the fleet

The second inshore race, sailed in similar conditions to the first, was won by Adelaide, yet another Fauroux design, owned and skippered by Dominique Caparros, who had co-skippered Bullit in 1979 and 1980 and had Adelaide built from the same mould. She led the race convincingly from Protis, while Willy Willy finished fourth and Hellaby sixth. 

The photo to the left is of Lorraine, another new Fauroux design owned by Hong Kong sailor Gilbert Ng and skippered by Helmer Pederson. The photo was taken by Beken of Cowes, on the first day of racing - another reef was needed on the second day and was too fresh for the photographers.

Due to the hard going in the first two races, only 29 entries began the 80-mile middle distance race, which started in much lighter conditions, with La Concorde taking the early lead. Protis moved up to second on the next downwind leg before passing La Concorde to move into first, a position that she would not relinquish. La Concorde was subsequently disqualified for rounding a mark incorrectly. 

Protis during typically fresh downwind conditions during the 1981 One Ton Cup

In the next race, another Olympic triangle held in West Bay, the seas were less rough but the wind was much stronger than the previous inshore races. Adelaide again showed excellent speed in these conditions, gaining the lead early and setting her spinnaker on the reaching legs and opening up a huge lead in dramatic planning conditions. Several other boats tried setting spinnakers and suffered broken masts as a result. While Protis held second place at the start of the run, she too broke her mast after setting her spinnaker. 

Protis - possibly during the first race, and before the more wild conditions of the second and fourth inshore races

The start of the third triangle race (photo Frederic Allain/Seahorse)

Only 21 boats started the 180-mile final race, and four more dropped out in the early stage. The fleet beat their way east in a moderate breeze towards St Raphael, the only mark of the course save for the requirement to stay seaward of the islands along the shore. Protis, which had been allowed to install a new and stronger mast after her fourth race mishap, took over the lead on the first leg and turned the St Raphael mark early the next morning. La Concorde, the early leader, reclaimed her position at the head of the fleet as they worked their way southwest to the islands again. 

Willy Willy

As the fleet entered the last stage of the race in the late afternoon, a mistral wind began blowing from the west at 35-60 knots. Willy Willy, built of plywood, broke some frames and retired as did a number of others, including La Concorde and the New Zealand crew on Hellaby, who professed to never having encountered winds of mistral force before. 

Protis above and below caught in the mistral wind in the fifth race

Greg Dagge from Lorraine recalls that by evening they were just holding station off the Isle de Hyeres against huge waves that were coming off the land. They were in a good position when the compression strut between the chainplates gave way and they were forced to retire, but sailed back to Hyeres under bare poles and incredibly recorded speeds of up to 18 knots.

New Zealand's Hellaby, sailed by John Lasher and which finished in fifth place overall

Another photo of Cifraline in trouble on a downwind leg

By early evening, there were only three boats left in the race. Gyptis, a Jezequel design, was anchored far to the east and would not finish for two more days. Cifraline, a steadily improving Daniel Andrieu design, was battling with Protis which, unbeknownst to the crew, now only needed to finish the race to win the series. Both boats managed to beat past the dangerous Cape Sicie, but then found it so rough that they ran back into the lee of the Cape and anchored for most of the night. They began racing again in the morning, but since Cifraline weighed anchor half an hour earlier, she made it home against the still heavy mistral ten minutes ahead of Protis.

Gyptis

Her second place in the final race gave Protis the Cup, and Fauroux his third consecutive Quarter Ton title. Cifraline finished second and Gyptis third. Willy Willy was fourth, while Hellaby finished the regatta in fifth place. 

Protis during the 1981 Quarter Ton Cup (photo Seahorse magazine)

Protis as seen in 2015

 

Protis has continued her winning ways in Cowes during the running of the modern Quarter Ton Cup series (photo Facebook)

Article updated February 2024

One Ton Cup 1990

Marstrand (Sweden) provided excellent sailing conditions for 27 One Tonners, including four new yachts, from ten different countries that competed in the 1990 One Ton Cup, with winds generally fair and up to 30 knots during the short offshore race. 

Okyalos VI - One Ton Cup winner for 1990, in reaching conditions in which she demonstrated a slight edge over her competition

The new boats included Italy's Pasquale Landolfi's new Farr designed Brava, which looked as impeccable as his previous boat (the 1989 One Ton Cup winner that had been bought by Russian yachtsmen and re-named Maestro). Peter de Ridder's latest Mean Machine VII, an impressive looking Judel/Vrolijk design, was part of the line up, along with sistership Amsterdamed. Last but not least of the new boats was the Jeppesen-designed Okyalos VI, built by X-Yachts. 

Russia's Maestro, the ex-Brava - won the first race but then slipped off the pace to finish ninth overall

The first race saw the new Mean Machine with a three-minute lead at the first weather mark, but such were the vagaries of the breeze on the first reach she was almost in last place at the second mark. Other than that first reach the breeze was steady and Mean Machine was able to claw back to seventh place. Maestro won the race in impressive style. However, both offshore races showed the talent of the Okyalos crew, who had won the previous two editions of the Three-Quarter Ton Cup. This, along with their good all-round speed, especially reaching, earned them a win in the long offshore race and third place in the short one, both of which carried a higher points loading than the three inshore courses.

Germany's Saudade soon after rounding a leeward mark chases the pack

Mean Machine was second best offshore, with a third place in the long race and a first in the short one.  Many campaigns were lost in the short offshore race - six yachts lost their rigs: Saudade's just went, Brava lost hers downwind when the runner tail broke, and ABAP/4 lost hers for no obvious reason at all, although her experimental carbon rigging had caused problems before. Fram XI damaged her mast but finished in sixth place under an unusual arrangement of trysail and spinnaker. Okyalos broke a checkstay but the crew managed to keep the rig intact. 

The near-winner of the One Ton Cup, Amsterdamed, approaches a windward mark and prepares for a spinnaker hoist

As a result of the short offshore, only 22 boats were able to make the startline for the fifth and final race, which saw Okyalos and Amsterdamed vying for the Cup, with Amsterdamed needing to finish five places ahead of Okyalos to win. Mean Machine was out of the running due to a DSQ for a premature start in the third race, but won the finale by almost a minute.  Although Amsterdamed started poorly, she came through the fleet and closed in on Okyalos. On the third beat, Okyalos's checkstay broke again. Somehow the rig stayed in the boat, and the crew tacked to effect repairs in time to tack back on the layline to the windward mark. She rounded just ahead of Amsterdamed, but there were enough boats close enough that Amsterdamed sould still take victory. 

Saudade broaches during a pre-Cup training sail

On the downwind leg, the repair team on Okyalos went up the mast once more and Amsterdamed was close enough to attack, but were too close to avoid a luff from Okyalos and their boom touched Okyalos's runner. They immediately hoisted the 'I' flag and accepted a 20% penalty. It was a big mistake as Amsterdamed was able to power up the next beat to put enough boats between them and Okyalos, if not for the 20% penalty. Okyalos were able to nurse their rig to finish in tenth place and claim the One Ton Cup. Amsterdamed took second, while Mean Machine's win in the race gave them third overall. Zurich finished fourth, and Fram XI fifth.

Japan's Ninja rounds a leeward mark behind Saudade

The top boats were all considered close in speed - Jeppesen designs took first and fourth, while Judel/Vrolijk had second and third, and their boats looked good all round with a bit extra upwind. Farr designs took fifth and sixth, and would probably have looked better if Brava had not lost her rig, as she was felt to be close to Mean Machine and Amsterdamed.  The first four boats all sported Diamond sail inventories.

Danish yacht Zurich, finished fourth overall

Okyalos was bought by French interests and became Corum Diamante, forming part of the 1991 French Admiral's Cup team. She returned to Greece after the 1993 Admiral's Cup and has since been repainted in her original scheme and was recently offered for sale by her present German owners.

Corum Diamante (ex-Okyalos VI) during the 1991 Admiral's Cup

Okyalos VI seen more recently, and still looks in race-winning condition

One Ton Revisited 2016

Here's an updated announcement for a European-based One Ton event, which is being promoted by Dutch yachtsman Vincent de Vries, the owner of the Carter design and 'Tina' type.  There are hopes for 30 One Tonners to attend, and all types of One Tonners are welcome, from cruiser/racers from the 60's to the most modern flat out racers from the 90's.

Vincent de Vries Carter-designed One Tonner l'Esprit du Morbihan - originally found as a centreboard ketch and restored to her present glory over five years

Dive dive!

Here's a great couple of photos spotted recently on the "1/4 ton zeilers" page, of the Fauroux Quarter Tonner Re.Invention (KA R 27), seen here pushing the envelope downwind in fresh conditions. The photos were taken by David Wallace and feature on the wall of the members bar at the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria in Australia. Re.Invention sailed in the 1984 Quarter Ton Cup in Nieuwpoort and finished seventh. 

Quarter Ton Cup 1978

The 1978 Quarter Ton Cup was sailed in Sajima, Japan, and featured strong winds with choppy seas, that took out the masts of the production versions of the previous 1977 winner, the Holland-design Manzanita, and saw numerous capsizes. The Cup was won by a Japanese design Magician V, a fairly conventional but modified production boat, built by the Yamaha Corporation in a lengthy project to win the Cup and to promote their designs.

Magician V - winner of the 1978 Quarter Ton Cup

The 1978 Quarter Ton Cup marked Japan’s first victory in a world yachting championship, and also began of a new era of grand prix-style yacht racing, with open works team participation. Magician V, helmed by Roy Cundiff and Gerry Gavin of North Sails USA, with a Japanese navigator and foredeck hand, sailed consistently to take the series with a 4/3/1/5/2 scoresheet. They were able to harness the potential of the relatively light displacement fractionally-rigged boat. This potential was revealed in the first race when they were able to carry a spinnaker on the second reach, while many of the leaders could not, and consequently planed up to the front of the fleet from a poor early position.   

Magician V with a weather position on the rest of the 1978 Quarter Ton fleet

Magician V won the shorter offshore race in extremely strong winds (reported by the Japanese Navy as gusting to 45 knots), recording nearly a solid half-hour of planing in rough water where some of their less-powerfully shaped rivals were on a thin line of control. Cundiff recalled the conditions encountered early on the second leg; "Before we arrived at that mark the wind had built to 45 knots with 15 to 18 foot seas running. Boats were capsizing all over. In that race we dropped the spreaders in twice. With a strong current running in the vicinity of the second mark and with the sea conditions the way they were, few boats were making any progress at the mark. We quickly saw that and decided to sail right in next to the beach off a nearby island. There we managed to work our way up the shoreline, and by the time we cleared the island, we were nearly one hour ahead of the nearest boats. Then on the last leg, the 45-knot wind fizzled out to nothing, leaving a stomach-churning 15-to-18-foot sea. Fortunately, the wind finally filled in for the remainder of the leg, allowing us to finish the race". 

Even the winning yacht was not immune from being knocked down during the wild conditions encountered during the 1978 Quarter Ton Cup

In equally strong winds during the last, long offshore race, they started four minutes late after a premature start, but managed to sail steadily through the fleet to secure their overall victory.

Magician V - winner of the 1978 Quarter Ton Cup

Magician V started life as a production fibreglass hull. But after extensive modifications, including microballon bumps, carbon fibre reinforcement, an extended transom, flush deck, stripped out interior and a taller mast, providing 25 square feet of extra sail, she bore little resemblance to the production boats that normally left the Yamaha factory.

Magician V sails upwind during the fresh conditions of the 1978 Quarter Ton Cup (photo Guy Gurney)

Kamikaze Express (left), second overall, and Seaflyer (right), third overall

Another Japanese boat, Kamikaze Express, a rakish looking Japanese-designed centreboarder that had won the Japanese selection trials, finished second overall and finished first in the last race, with series results of 7/6/3/2/1 indicating continued improvement throughout the regatta. Six of the top ten finishers in the 32-boat fleet were Japanese entries, which may have been due in part that they were well accustomed to sailing in the wild and hazardous waters of the Sagami Nada. Competition in the local fleet was also bolstered by a 30 percent tax levied on all boats over 7.5 metres that had seen the number of Quarter Tonners in Japan soar.

Kamakaze Express - above and below, sailed by Mikio Tokano and designed by Toshio Kihara

Part of the 32-boat fleet gathered in the Sajima marina (photo Guy Gurney)

During the series, the mainland of Japan seemed to be teetering between two huge wind systems, so that depressions and anti-cyclones rushed past to the north and south, while the wind in between became extremely unpredictable in direction and strength. This coupled with a current that ran as much as four knots, creating seas that were often extremely rough and confused.

Part of the 32-boat fleet soon after a start during the 1978 Quarter Ton Cup

New Zealand had a design connection to the third placed boat, the Whiting-designed Australian entry Seaflyer, which finished with results of 5/7/2/1/3. Seaflyer was a development of Magic Bus, and of specially designed offset construction plywood and had a centreboard. Potentially Seaflyer was the fastest in the fleet, but a lack of tuning time probably cost the Australians the win. The boat had also been designed for optimum performance in light to moderate winds and flat seas. Unfortunately it blew hard for four of the five races, with vicious sea conditions common throughout, churned up by a combination of wind and racing tidal currents. 

German entry Four Samurais designed by Axel Mohnhaupt finished fourth overall (with placings of 1/5/9/4/8)

As it was, Seaflyer lost the series by a mere two placings in the final 210 mile race – strong winds and high seas in the last half of the race proved too much for the lightweight centreboarder and she wasn’t able to hold off the determined challenge from the two top Japanese yachts. Knowing they had to finish two places ahead of Magician V in the final race, Hugh Treharne and his crew drove Seaflyer to the limit, capsizing twice as they sought the achieve an overall victory. Her first capsize came midway through the race, the result of a wild broach under spinnaker. The second was at night while sailing upwind – a rearing wave knocked the boat into an involuntary tack, while the crew were still stacked on the weather rail. The Australians recovered from that more frightening episode to finish behind Kamikaze Express and Magician V (profile plan, left) to take out second overall.  

Japanese yacht Shoun A approaches a gybe mark - she finished ninth overall

Another Japanese yacht, Paradice, a Peterson-designed centreboarder, did not fare as well. On the last leg (upwind) in 25-35 knot winds and 12-foot seas, Paradice rounded up during a gust, and a wave caught her and tacked her. With the no.3 jib cleated and the double-reefed mainsail held by the running backstay, the boat lay on her side until a subsequent wave completely turtled her, the centreboard fell out of the boat, and water poured in through the open companionway. The boat began to settle by the stern, upside-down. The crew had just enough time to dive below to release the liferaft before the boat sank in 600 metres of water. The crew were rescued by a passing freighter 17 hours later, having been swept 24 miles eastward by a strong current into the main shipping lanes. 

Four Samurais leads Magician V into a leeward mark during the 1978 Quarter Ton Cup

At least four other centreboarders capsized during the series, including the yacht Oooh Vind, a Groupe Finot design with a swiveling keel, controlled by a lever on deck that could be angled to windward, hopefully to provide a few extra degrees of pointing ability. The same gale force wind that hit Paradice caused Oooh Vind to promptly capsize, tossing all four crew into the sea, with one sailor nearly drowning. The capsizes all happened in the two long offshore races which had taken the fleet into the ‘black current’ waters at the entrance to Sagami Bay, where racing tides of up to four knots rip between rocky islands. The reaction of wind against current whipped up short, steep waves which at times looked – and felt – like brick walls. Many competitors were critical of the organisers for sending the small yachts into what was considered to be a dangerous sailing area. Altogether there were 23 DNF’s in the series, and six earlier retirements did not even start in the final race. 

Papillon

Magician V sails upwind in moderate conditions

Of the three New Zealand crews competing, the best effort was tenth overall by Black Arrow II, a Peterson design skippered by Tony Bouzaid (16/12/12/9/18). Mark Patterson, sailing the Holland design Vago, withdrew after a win and a dismasting, while John Bonica in Self Whiting finished 22nd overall, after suffering from a torn mainsail that forced her retirement from the final offshore race. Helmer Pederson skippered the Japanese yacht Rodem V, which was uncompetitive and finished 17th.

Magician V seen in a more forlorn state in Japan in recent times

A film of the 1978 Quarter Ton Cup can be seen below.

Article updated August 2024