Coutts Quarter Ton Cup 2009 - Day 2
by Fiona Brown, RCYC 18 Jul 2009 09:03 BST
15-18 July 2009
On day two of the Coutts Quarter Ton Cup, being hosted by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Cowes, sunshine gave way to torrential rain, but nothing could dampen the fleet's irrepressible spirit and the 27 teams enjoyed three more fantastically close races in a moderate to fresh and very shifty breeze. PRO Bob Milner and his team did an excellent job of running races five through seven despite the extremely variable conditions. They centred racing over the eastern end of the Bramble Bank and set two windward leeward courses followed by a round the cans race home to Cowes.
The increased wind strength, which ranged from 12 to 20 knots with gusts up to 25, gave competitors plenty to think about and before they even left the dock the boats were a hive of activity as rig tensions were adjusted and gear set up to cope with what was forecast to be a heavy airs day. In the event the threatened gale force winds didn't quite materialise, but there was still sufficient breeze to ensure a number of thrills and spills as the Quarter Tonners did what IOR boats are famous for and rocked and rolled their way downwind. There were even a few upwind spinouts when the wind increased suddenly just after the start of race two and several boats found themselves more than a little over canvassed.
Today's racing was as close as ever and it was great to see such a diverse group of boats (the Quarter Ton Class encompasses boats built to three very different version of the Quarter Ton Rule over more than three decades from the late 60s to the late 90s) going head to head and trading tacks and gybes all the way round the course.
Louise Morton, sailing Espada, was the most consistent performer of the day with two second places plus a win in race six and she now leads the regatta by 4.5 points from husband Peter Morton sailing Espada's sister-ship Anchor Challenge. Speaking after racing Louise assured us that marital harmony in the Morton household is being maintained, just, although Peter is perhaps ruing the day he handed Espada over to his wife. "We had really good team work on the boat today and Josie Gibson and Colette Blair made some great calls to get us out of a few tricky spots and up the shifty beats. We've still got a lot of racing to go tomorrow and anything can happen." Commented Louise after sailing.
This week a mysterious male bowman, whose identity was not initially revealed to the press office, has joined Louise Morton's usually all female crew. Naturally rumours ran rife that he was a ringer brought in especially for the event and tales of his sailing prowess ran riot. In fact it transpires that he was a last minute stand in and the reason his name wasn't declared on the media form was that Louise didn't know what it was! We've now established that he is 20-year-old New Zealand match racer Mike Edmonds. Apparently he's not quite sure about all the girly chatter between races, but the girls assure us he is holding his own.
Peter Morton's day got off to an excellent start with a win in race five but then he scored a sixth in race six followed by a seventh in race seven, his worst result of the series so far. His team's efforts were somewhat hampered by their second Chinese gybe in two days - something they naturally got well ribbed about at the daily prize giving. Speaking after sailing Peter proudly acknowledged the time and incredible hard work that Louise and her team has put into their sailing this year and encouraged the rest of the fleet to get their Quarter Tonners out racing more often too. He and his crew are naturally hoping for revenge tomorrow.
Howard Sellars and Mike Till's Bullet scored a ninth and two fifths and go into the final day of the regatta in third place, ten points behind the leader. For fourth placed ASAP owned by the Layton/Crawford/Christi/Churchill partnership it was a day of unexpected drama. Race five went well enough with a tenth place and they were very happy with their sixth in race seven, but it was during race six that things took a momentarily frightening turn as they made their way upwind. Bowman Simon Crawford takes up the story, "Going into a tack I hit my arm very hard and then suddenly lost the use of it completely. I thought I must have broken it as I could barely even wriggle my fingers. One of the crew helped me scrabble off the bow and we pulled out of the race and called for help. By the time a support boat arrived I was beginning to get the sensation back and ultimately it started working again so I felt like a bit of a fraud. I think it's just bruised and certainly tonight it's really starting to ache!" At the daily prize giving Simon received one of the class's famous "special" prizes - for being a Big Girl's Blouse!
There were a number of spectacular broaches during the day but none were more spectacular than that performed by Manzanita, which is this week being sailed by 21-year-old George Kenefick and a crew of his student friends. On the run during the second windward leeward they forgot the fundamental rule of Quarter Ton sailing and failed to keep the rig above the keel. The resulting broach was spectacular enough in itself with the boat laid flat for several minutes, but things became even more exciting as the battery broke loose and started a small fire below. Fortunately the boys quickly had the situation under control, but they were forced to retire from racing for the day.
Laurent Beaurin and his crew aboard 45o South also had a day of mixed fortunes. Things got off to a bad start when they were over eager on the start line of race five and did not realise their error until several minutes into the beat. They eventually returned across the line, but had lost so much time that they ultimately did not finish the race. They went on to score ninth in race six and to win race seven, making them the only boat to have won two races in the series. Sadly the combination of their 17th in race one and this morning's DNF mean that they are now lying in sixth overall, just one point ahead of Rob Gray's Aguila.
Today's stronger winds helped the smaller boats and whilst the Mortons finished first and second in race five it was Graydon and Thomas Dawson's Diamond that took third place ahead of Rob Gray's Aguila who had to accept a Z Flag penalty dropping their score for the race to 9. In race six Richard and Ann Thomas sailed a fantastic race in Sergeant Pepper to take second place behind Louise Morton as Paul Kelsey's Runaway Bus and Aquila shared third place on corected time. As Espada won race seven and 45o South came second Aguila again came third with Diamond fourth.
This evening the sailors and their guests are enjoying the traditional Coutts Quarter Ton Cup Gala Dinner. Guest of Honour Bob Fisher commented on how thrilled he is to still be associated with this great class after so many years and to see so many beautifully maintained and restored boats out racing at this year's event. Speaking on behalf of event title sponsor Coutts, Stephen Kemp thanked the Quarter Ton Class for providing such exciting racing for their guests to enjoy and also spoke of the incredible synergy between Coutts and the Class and the great benefits that their three-year sponsorship of the Coutts Quarter Ton Cup has brought them.
Following an excellent dinner brothers Jules and Guy Salter, who hail from Gurnard on the Isle of Wight and are well known characters on the Cowes yachting scene, spoke of their recent roles as Navigator and Media Officer aboard the victorious Ericsson 4 in the 2008/9 Volvo Ocean Race. Jules, who has been crewing for Peter Morton this week, put their two Quarter Ton Cup Chinese gybes into perspective as he talked the audience through footage shot by Guy of three terrifying high-speed broaches they experienced during the Volvo. Guy also talked the audience through a slideshow of his incredible photography from the race, after which they answered questions from the audience. To see some of the photographs and video Guy took during the race visit www.ericssonracingteam.com
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