Please select your home edition
Edition
Marine Products Direct 2023 - Calypso LEADERBOARD

Coutts Quarter Ton Cup at Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Cowes Day 1

by Justin Chisholm 12 Jul 2011 08:13 BST 11-13 July 2011

Rob Gray's 'Aguila' leads

Day 1 of the 2011 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup dawned bright and clear but with an almost total absence of the most necessary ingredient for a regatta - wind. With the glassy conditions meaning that there was very little chance of racing getting away at the scheduled 10.30 start time, Principal Race Officer Robert Lamb sensibly held the fleet ashore whilst he and his race team headed off onto the Solent in search of some sort of usable pressure. Having persevered in their quest for some several hours, Lamb and his team were eventually rewarded for their patience at around 14.00, when a pleasant 10 knot south westerly breeze materialised, enabling the eager fleet to finally put to sea for what turned out to be two excellent and closely fought races.

Despite the wide range of sizes and designs making up the 30 boat fleet, the racing could hardly have been closer both on the water and on handicap, with every startline and mark rounding fiercely contested throughout the day. In Race 1, Louise Morton's 'Espada', (helmed at this event by Colette Blair standing in for the injured Morton) turned in a line honours performance in the first race, which was good enough to also give 'Espada' a corrected time race win by just under a minute. Second in that race was last year's Quarter Ton Cup winner 'Cote' owned by Darren Marston & Ollie Ophaus, who edged Sweden's Rickard Melander on 'Alice II' into third place by just 16 seconds on corrected time. Fourth was Rob Gray's 'Aguila', ahead of Ireland's Eamonn Rohan on Anchor Challenge.

Race 2 saw a compelling three-way battle for line honours between 'Aguila', 'Alice II' and George Kenefick's Irish entry 'Tiger'. 'Aguila' eventually prevailed to take the gun and a narrow 8 second corrected time victory over 'Tiger' in second and 'Alice II' in third. 'Espada' rounded out a solid day with a fourth place ahead of Ian Southworth's 'Whiskers'.

With two races completed at the end of Day 1, only 7 points separate the top 6 teams. Rob Gray's 'Aquila' holds the overall lead with a total five points, tied with Louise Morton's 'Espada' in second. Rounding out the top three just one point adrift of 'Espada' is Rickard Melander's 'Alice II', who holds a 4 point advantage over George Kenefick's fourth placed 'Tiger'. Fifth at the end of Day 1 is 'Cote' owned by Darren Marston & Ollie Ophaus.

As the fleet returned to the dock this evening, the smiles on the faces of the sailors was a clear indication of a fun day of Quarter Tonner racing. Having travelled from Russia to compete in Cowes this week with his French Quarter Tonner 'Bullit', Dmitry Borodin said that he had thoroughly enjoyed his first experience of racing in England. "To have the chance to sail here in Cowes is a real pleasure. There are so many fantastic boats and just being here in a town with this sort of sailing heritage is fantastic. On the water I think we have much to learn but we are enjoying our first Quarter Ton Cup and we will take the message back home with us. Hopefully in years to come there will be more Russian boats coming to sail in this regatta."

Colette Blair from 'Espada' declared herself happy with her team's first day performance. "We are fortunate that Espada performs well in all conditions, but today we seemed to be going well and we are pleased with the way we sailed." Blair also commented that Espada's only non-female crew member, mainsheet trimmer Stuart Childerley, had coped well with being the only man on-board. "It's great to sail with Stuart although I think he found the general conversation onboard today rather different to what he is used to."

Anchor Challenge's Eamonn Rohan, a first timer at the Quarter Ton Cup, had also clearly enjoyed his day on the water but was quick to pay tribute to the quality of the fleet. "This is the toughest Quarter Ton racing that we have done since we bought the boat. There are so many really fast boats and competitive crews sailing here this week, it's been a bit of an eye opener. We are having fun though and looking forward to tomorrow's racing."

Despite lying in last place overall Richard Johnson & Sarah Lyle on 'Hannah J' were still amongst the most enthusiastic owners checking the results in the clubhouse after racing. "We had a great day out on the water and we are really pleased not to have finished last in the second race! Can you tell this is our first time? What we are really hoping for is an overall wooden spoon prize!" commented Sarah.

Day 1 Highlights Video:

Racing at the 2011 Quarter Ton Cup continues tomorrow Tuesday 12 July with three more races scheduled. The regatta concludes on Wednesday 13 July.

For further information about the 2011 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup please visit www.rcyc.co.uk

Related Articles

Poole Regatta to Host IRC Europeans in 2026
4 days of competitive racing in a spectacular environment The enviable track record Poole has built for hosting unmissable regattas continues in 2026 with the inclusion of the prestigious IRC European Championship as an integral element of racing, alongside multiple class starts. Posted on 1 Apr
Entries open for Cowes Week
199th edition of the world's biggest annual keelboat regatta Cowes Week Ltd is delighted to announce that entries for the 2025 Regatta are now open. Posted on 17 Jan
Hamble Winter Series 2024 Race Week 8
Miserable weather to finish the series At last, some normal winter series weather came to the Solent, for the final Race Week of the 2024 Hamble Winter Series, sponsored by Greene King. Posted on 4 Dec 2024
Hamble Winter Series 2024 Race Week 6
Just like London buses, two IRC 1 boats came along at the same time Robert Hillman's Exuberant was the Committee Vessel for Race Week 6 of the Hamble Winter Series, sponsored by Key Yachting. Indeed, exuberant was how everyone was feeling, with the prospect of two races for the second week running. Posted on 20 Nov 2024
The oldest footage of Cowes Week
A look back into the depths of our video archive Cowes Week 2024 has just concluded. But how has it changed since the early years? England has certainly changed, and so have the yachts. Let's look back at the 1920s to 70s at the oldest video footage we can find in the archive. Posted on 4 Aug 2024
Cowes Week Day 7: A classic finale
Downwind finish against the tide on the Royal Yacht Squadron line A spectacular final day of racing at Cowes concluded with a classic downwind finish against the tide on the Royal Yacht Squadron line, with competitors sailing tight into the beach off the Green in a thick and fast procession that lasted for hours. Posted on 3 Aug 2024
Cowes Week Day 6
Close racing and clear winners Competition is always close across many Cowes Week classes, but few can rival IRC Class 3, where Adam Gosling's JPK 10.80 Yes! and David Franks' J/112e Leon have been match racing each other all week and are only two points apart at the top. Posted on 1 Aug 2024
Cowes Week Day 5
Gladiator wins Britannia Cup In a stunning performance Tony Langley's TP52 Gladiator beat 34 of the highest rated IRC yachts competing at Cowes Week to lift the prestigious Britannia Cup, after a long postponement while competitors waited for a stable wind to materialise. Posted on 31 Jul 2024
Cowes Week Day 4
The short series has now concluded, with nine of the 12 scheduled races completed Today dawned bright and sunny with a northerly breeze that faded during the morning as the land heated up, but a stable sea breeze failed to materialise, forcing racing for all classes to be abandoned. Posted on 30 Jul 2024
Cowes Week Day 3
Sun, spectacle and tight finishes Racing today kicked off in a dramatic fashion, with the fastest yachts at the regatta, competing in IRC Class 0, starting close inshore and manoeuvring only a few boat lengths from the beach, before heading east from the Royal Yacht Squadron line. Posted on 29 Jul 2024