Coutts Quarter Ton Cup 2009 - Overall
by Fiona Brown, RCYC 19 Jul 2009 09:12 BST
15-18 July 2009
Peter Morton wins final day showdown
There was a cliff-hanger ending to the Coutts Quarter Ton Cup in Cowes today as husband and wife adversaries Louise and Peter Morton faced each other down in a veritable gunfight at the OK Coral that was ultimately decided by just one second and half a point. Sailing their Farr designed sister-ships Espada and Anchor Challenge they went into the final day with Louise leading the regatta by 4.5 points from Peter.
The race committee exercised their right to run additional races if conditions permitted and laid on three final races making a total of ten with one discard. With the south-westerly wind ranging from 20-25 knots and occasional gusts up towards 30 the race committee set up shop over the Ryde Bank giving choppy wind over tide conditions and plenty to challenge the navigators.
In the battle of the Mortons Peter's Anchor Challenge won the opening salvo taking second place in race eight, a windward leeward, behind Howard Sellars and Mike Till's Bullet with Rob Gray's Aguila third and ASAP, owned by the Layton/Christie/Crawford/Churchill partnership fourth. Louise in Espada did not fare so well with an incident on the first beat and some confusion over their first mark approach and as a result finished the race in eighth place, her worst result of the series, putting Anchor Challenge half a point ahead in the overall standings.
For race nine the committee varied the course a little to add some close reaching and while Aguila romped to victory Anchor Challenge and Espada were scrapping away for second and third place. At the finish it was too close for the crews to call the corrected times and so they went into the final race unclear who was leading overall.
With everything still to play for the Committee set a longer round the cans final race finishing off Cowes and from the outset Espada and Anchor Challenge were neck and neck battling it out with Bullet and Aguila. The first few legs were relatively short mixing beats, three and two sail reaches and as the fleet rounded the final mark before the long beat back to Cowes Espada and Anchor Challenge were within seconds of each other. Initially everyone headed up the Bramble Bank, seeking shelter from the tide, but about half way up Anchor Challenge broke ranks and tacked off for the Island shore leaving Aguila to head the pack, including Espada, on the mainly port tack drag to the western end of the Bramble. It was a brave move by Anchor Challenge and it was only on the final approach to the line that it became clear it had made little difference. Aguila took the line honours to win the race, her second win of the day, with Bullet taking second on corrected time, Espada third and Anchor Challenge fourth just six seconds behind her.
As the crews came ashore it was still unclear who had won the regatta. Who ever had the upper hand in race nine had the series so there was a mad dash for the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club where trusty scorer Jo Chugg finally delivered the news that Anchor Challenge had beaten Espada by just one second on corrected time meaning that Anchor Challenge wins the 2009 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup by a mere half point with Espada second, Bullet third, Aguila fourth and ASAP fifth.
For Louise and her young team of Vicky Lenz, Colette Blair, Libby Deegan, Josie Gibson and Mike Edmonds it was a huge disappointment, but as she joked at the prize giving "It's probably better at home this way!" For Peter, sailing with Kelvin Rawlings, John Newnham, Jules Salter and Jason Carrington, this was his second Coutts Quarter Ton Cup win, his first being with Espada in 2007. At the prize giving Peter thanked the Race Committee and the Royal Corinthian for their sterling work before paying tribute to all the competitors for a wonderful regatta and thanking his own crew for getting him out of a number of tight situations. He closed by asking ruefully, "Does anyone have a spare room I can use tonight?"
Alongside the main prizes there are also a number of special awards presented at the Coutts Quarter Ton Cup:
The Ruff-As-Gutz Trophy is a legend of the event and is traditionally awarded to the boat that Quarter Ton Class Chairman Peter Morton judges to be the scruffiest in the fleet. This year Morty decided it shouldn't go to a boat as they were all far too well turned out and not one of them truly deserved it, so instead he looked around for an individual who might be worthy of the title. After much careful consideration he was delighted to confirm that he had indeed found a worthy recipient. With the unanimous agreement of the assembled fleet the trophy was awarded to Mark Brammer of Shamu, who travelled all the way from Blackpool for the event and having played a leading role in the revelries at last night's Gala Dinner, was last seen staggering up the road asking everyone he passed where he lived! It's still not entirely clear whether he ever made it home.
For the second year running the Oldest Bowman Trophy (a beautifully engraved walking stick) went to Mike Till of Bullet at 70 years young
The Trophy for the First Production Boat went to Laurent Beaurin's Farr 727 45° South, winner of the 1975 Quarter Ton Cup in Deauville for New Zealand. Laurent travelled from France for the regatta and with his multinational scratch crew of Julien Sellier (French), Humphrey Carber (English) and Piers Taylor and Ben Gladwell (New Zealanders) he put in an excellent performance to finish sixth overall including winning two races.
The award for the Oldest Crew went to Bullet, owned by Howard Sellars and Mike Till and crewed by Jamie McWilliam, who had travelled all the way from Hong Kong to take part, Yachts & Yachting MD John Heyes, and young nipper Henry Bagnall. Despite Henry weighing in at only 22 years of age this team still managed to register a combined age of 261 years!
Manzanita won the prize for the youngest crew with George Kenefick (20), John Downey (24), Nathan Kirwan (20), Donagh Good (18) and Gavin Laverty (19) between them clocking up a mere 101 years. These Irish lads also ably demonstrate how Quarter Ton sailing runs in families. Manzanita was originally sailed by George's father Neil, co-owner Joxer O'Brien, designer Ron Holland and legendary boat builder and bowman Killian Bush who have been keeping a watchful eye on the boy's progress and are no doubt delighted to hear that the lads are following in their footsteps both on the water and in the bar!
Last but my no means least the Marineware Concourse de Elegance Trophy was presented to the beautifully turned out ASAP owned by Simon Crawford, Paul Churchill, Adrian Layton and Alex Christie. With her all black livery ASAP is one of the most striking boats in the fleet and this was a most popular win.
With a record 27 boats competing at this year's Coutts Quarter Ton Cup it simply isn't possible to mention every one by name but the quality of racing this year has been exceptional and truly thrilling to watch. Throughout the fleet there have been battles galore and one of the most exciting of these has been amongst the Bolero class, which was designed in 1977 by David Thomas. The five Bolero's competing in this year's Cup enjoyed some of the closest racing of the regatta with the ultimate victor being Sergeant Pepper owned by David Thomas's son Richard and his wife Ann. Second place went to Tony Dodd's Purple Haze (the original prototype for the class) with Roger Swinney's Ayanami third, Peter Hewitson's Shamu fourth and Andrew Greensmith's Hazard fifth. We hope to see even more Bolero's competing at next year's event.
Speaking after racing Paul Lees of race three winner Echo, who finished 11th overall, was thrilled to be back in a Quarter Tonner once again saying, "My first Quarter Ton Cup was in 1973 and I also did 77 and 78. We are the smallest and oldest boat in the fleet, a 1967 design by the brilliant Van de Stadt, and it's all my son Mark's fault that we're here. I've got a soft spot for Van de Stadt boats and Mark was trawling the web when he spotted Echo and called me over saying 'Dad, Dad, I've found a really cheap boat...' It was only Euro 500 and lying in Spain - which should have told us something! She had been abandoned by her owner and was being sold off by the marina. My son completely rebuilt her and redid the deck, she has her original keel and rudder and I was in charge of the rig and sails. It's been a great event - we'll be back next year."
Rupert Holmes of the 1975 De Ridder designed Minestrone was equally effusive saying, "If I'd know about this event last year when I was compiling the Top 50 Regattas for Yachts & Yachting it would definitely have made my top ten. We'll be back again next year."
A very special thank you must go to event sponsor Coutts whose support of the Coutts Quarter Ton Cup has been invaluable. Coutts and their guests have been out watching racing and meeting the sailors after racing each day and their presence has helped to build a very special bond between the class and its sponsor.
Overall Results: (top ten)
1 Anchor Challenge, Peter Morton - 29.5pts
2 Espada, Louise Morton - 30pts
3 Bullet, Howard Sellars & Mike Till - 39pts
4 Aguila, Rob Gray - 41.5pts
5 ASAP, Layton/Christie/Crawford/Churchill - 52pts
6 45° South, Laurent Beaurin -56.5pts
7 Runaway Bus, Paul Kelsey - 58pts
8 Diamond, Graydon and Thomas Dawson - 70pts
9 Sergeant Pepper, Richard and Ann Thomas - 71.5pts
10 Snoopy, David Tydeman - 99pts
Click here for full results.