quarter tonner yacht

Published on December 3rd, 2013 | by Editor

Quarter Ton Class: Balancing history and passion

Published on December 3rd, 2013 by Editor -->

Efforts are underway to organize a “ One Ton Cup Revisited ” regatta, in Auckland, New Zealand, in February/March 2015. The regatta would celebrate the (near) 50th anniversary of the One Ton Cup switching from metre class yachts to offshore racers in 1965, using an international handicap rule to measure and rate contestants.

This was when interest in the Cup went global and led to One Tonners being regarded as the Formula One class of ocean racing. The rule increased the boat size in 1984, with the last One Ton Cup held using the IOR in 1994.

The smaller Quarter Ton boats have remained active in the UK, with the 2014 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup on June 25-27 to celebrate its 10 edition since being reborn in 2005 under the IRC rule.

Here are the Quarter Ton Class Rules 2013 that seek to balance the history of the boat and the passion of its sailors.

1. All boats shall have a current IRC Certificate with a maximum rating of 0.920.

2. All boats shall have a Series Age Date prior to 1996.

3. All boats shall have a Hull Series Date prior to 1996 (Note: Any hull changes should be pre-agreed with the Rating Authority to ensure that modifications do not alter the boat’s Hull Date.

4. All boats or a sistership shall have had an RORC Rating of 16 ft or less between 1967-1970 or an IOR Rating of 17 ft-18 ft for the years 1971-1978, or an IOR Rating of between 17.5-18.5 for the years 1979-1996.

5. Crew. The maximum number of crew shall be 5. However, where a boat is crewed by 5 females, that boat may carry a 6th crewmember.

6. The owner or joint owner shall steer the yacht in all Quarter Ton events. In exceptional circumstances, where the owner prefers not to helm, dispensation may be given for an ISAF Category 1 sailor to helm the boat (Alternate Helm). Permission for the Alternate Helm must be obtained from the Quarter Ton Class Secretary at least 7 days prior to any Quarter Ton event. Being ISAF Category 1 does not mean automatic acceptance as an Alternate Helm. The Alternate Helm will be expected to be a regular member of the crew.

7. Applications will be considered from boats for Quarter Ton events who believe that they were genuine Quarter Tonners but who are unable to prove an IOR or RORC Rating. The Secretary will seek the guidance of the RORC Rating Office whose decision shall be final.

8. Sail Numbers. In order to preserve the heritage of the Quarter Tonners from the early days, it is permitted to use the original sail designation and numbers. ie. K (GBR) I (ITA) F (FRA). The reasoning for this is that unless it is a class rule ISAF require the new three letter designations.

9. Bow Sprits and Prodders are not allowed, either fixed or retractable unless originally designed prior to 1996. All spinnakers must be tacked down to the yachts spinnaker pole, except when hoisting, gybing, approaching the bottom mark and dropping the kite.

Tags: IOR , IRC , One Ton Cup , Quarter Ton

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Sailboat-Data

Quarter tonner.

Quarter Tonner is a race sailboat range that enables all boats of its type to compete each other in real time. Inspired by One Tonner and Half Tonner , Quarter Tonner type evolved gradually from a common sailboat rating called RORC. This rating was originally for 15ft, from 1967. Later it was fixed at 18ft within the International Offshore Rule (IOR), and changed again, in 1978, to 18,55ft. This rating stayed unchanged until the last IOR based Quarter Ton Cup in 1996.

There are 2 "Quarter Tonner" sailboats on Sailboat-Data.

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BLT: The inside story of the Quarter Ton Cup winner’s 10,000-hour refit

• April 21, 2020

The famous winner of the 1980 Quarter Ton Cup, BLT was tracked down in Tahiti before being smuggled back to Cowes for a 10,000-hour refit. Rupert Holmes reports

Owner Sam Laidlaw has enjoyed considerable success in the very competitive Quarter Tonner class . He gathered an impressive collection of trophies in the eight years he raced his Aguila , including the Quarter Ton Cup twice and the class at Cowes Week on four successive occasions.

When he was looking for his next boat he chose another Quarter Tonner, naturally. But the revived class doesn’t allow newly built boats, and there is now a finite collection of potentially competitive boats since the class’s rebirth in 2005 has seen a committed collection of owners restore many of the best vintage designs.

BLT was the Jacques Fauroux-designed Bullit, winner of the 1980 Quarter Ton Cup in New Zealand. In all just seven Bullits were built, three of which won consecutive Quarter Ton Cups in 1978, 1980 and 1981, and they have become increasingly sought-after.

Going well upwind. Note the pushpit and stanchions in black powder-coated stainless steel. Photo: James Tomlinson

BLT had been living out her retirement in the Pacific before she was rediscovered by Rob Gray, who has sailed with Sam Laidlaw for a couple of decades, including as joint owners of the classic Sparkman & Stephens One Tonner Clarinet .

Having recently sold Clarinet, the pair decided to take on the project together, and shipped BLT back to the UK. She was transported over to the Isle of the Wight under cover of night to be rebuilt in Cowes, and, amazingly the project stayed under the radar until shortly before she was launched for the 2019 Quarter Ton Cup.

There were already four Bullit designs in the Solent fleet, including Julian Metherell’s Bullit and Louise Morton’s Bullet , the latter winner of the 1979 Quarter Ton Cup in San Remo. Another Bullit design, Protis , winner of the 1981 championship, also won the 2019 Cup, in Ian Southworth’s hands.

Article continues below…

Belinda: This refurbished 1980s quarter tonner is a real labour of love

Spending around 1,800 hours and the price of a new boat on revamping a 30-year-old 26ft keelboat might seem extraordinary,…

25ft quarter ton yachts have been having something of a revival racing in the Solent

They’re old, small and decidedly quirky, but quarter tonners are providing some of the hottest handicap racing in the Solent…

Given the potential for confusion with boats called Bullet and Bullit already based in Cowes, the name of the new boat was truncated to BLT . She’s the second or third iteration of the original design, but uniquely has a 2ft extension on the transom. This was added to improve performance in the heavy winds predicted for the New Zealand championship back in 1980.

It’s impossible to get near the top of this fleet unless a boat has been fully updated, so a full refit /rebuild was necessary. Gavin Tappenden at Composite Craft did all the boatbuilding, while Brett Aarons was responsible for deck layout and systems, paintwork, cosmetics, rig and some of the design work. “Basically I’d come up with a concept and then Gavin would draw it and build it,” Aarons says.

Structural changes

The hull was sheathed inside and out with extra layers of epoxy and glass to create a more solid base. However, everything needed to be removed from inside the boat. “There was lots of rotting plywood in there, with some of it not properly attached, so it all came out,” says Aarons. Some of the frames were also replaced and struts added to cater for the slightly different shroud base.

Control line runs below decks are kept as straight as possible, using string and pulley systems. Photo: Rupert Holmes

A big change was running new foam sandwich bunk fronts all the way aft to add a lot of extra longitudinal stiffness. Aarons says this is something learnt from sailing Aguila – the bunk fronts had to be extended in a similar way to prevent the top guard wire going slack when the backstay was heaved on tight. When that happens there’s also risk of little cracks opening up at each end of the keel.

BLT ’s original cambered deck and large coachroof needed replacing. The new coachroof is little more than a vestigial blister, which gives a larger cockpit and lots of room for moving around the side decks and foredeck, despite the diminutive size of a Quarter Tonner.

“The new deck was a bit like a trampoline,” says Aarons, “so we put some extra beams in to stiffen it. I wanted an unbreakable structure, whereas Gavin wanted it as light as possible. “He’s right in that it’s better to build it light and then see what you need to reinforce.” In total Aarons reckons close to 10,000 hours was spent on the refit over 13 months.

The revived Quarter Ton Cup (raced under IRC), has been running for 13 years. Photo: Paul Wyeth / Cowes Week

Deck and rig

Since Laidlaw would be racing BLT with the same team as he sailed Aguila , that boat’s deck layout was replicated as far as possible. The thinking was this allowed the crew to focus on boat speed, without worrying about different procedures for manoeuvres.

Beyond that, BLT ’s layout prioritises simplicity and minimising friction. Lines are run below deck wherever it makes sense to do so, including to purchase systems, which makes the deck layout look neater. The downside is a lot of string and pulley systems in the already cramped space below decks.

“A lot of boats have lines led all round the boat to a good place [for trimming],” says Aarons, “But I made an effort to lead things direct so there’s no friction. If you wanted to make the interior look really good you could have lines hidden under the bunks, but that would add friction and the reality is no one is going to spend time down there.”

The pole up/down and jib in-hauler controls adjust both sides simultaneously, so after a tack you will be sailing with exactly the same settings as before. This looks like a very neat system, but it’s no surprise Aarons says it was time-consuming to set up.

Keel and rudder

All the competitive Quarter Tonners have replacement keels and rudders, with the former noticeably heavier than the original keels.

BLT has a new rudder built by Composite Craft, and the Mark Mills-designed keel that was created for the Quarter Ton class revival and became a default choice among many owners refitting boats.

Some of the newly revived Quarter Tonners have since opted instead for a later keel design, but Aarons felt it wasn’t going to be right for the beamier BLT . “These boats are so wide I didn’t feel we needed that much righting moment,” he explains.

“Even then, at the Quarter Ton Cup we felt very upright and struggled to heel the boat, so we cut some lead off the bottom of the keel. That was much better.”

In her first season BLT was third at the Quarter Ton Cup, when she was fresh out of the sheds at Medina Yard. She followed that with an overall class win with a day to spare in a very windy Cowes Week. With Laidlaw’s team now having had a season in the boat, and with a few teething problems being fixed this winter, the prospects for BLT for the 2020 season look very strong.

Specification

LOA: 8.48m (27ft 10in) LWL: 5.98m (19ft 7in) Beam: 2.83m (9ft 4in) Draught: 1.6m (5ft 3in) Displacement: 1,404kg (3,090lb) Built: 1979/80 Design: Jacques Fauroux

First published in the April 2020 edition of Yachting World.

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Quarter Ton Review

The Quarter Ton revival is no nostalgic flash in the pan — the fleet is still growing rapidly, with owners of all financial means attracted by the class’s camaraderie, great racing and superb fun. Rupert Holmes reports…

The revived Quarter Ton class has a universal appeal which has attracted a very broad spectrum of sailers, from 17- year-old Oscar Mead — who spent eight months last winter restoring his Starflash 25 ‘Wild Bean’ — to Tony Dodd, owner of ‘Purple Haze’, whose crew is the oldest in the fleet, with a combined age well into three figures.

Although it’s the south coast Quarter Ton fleet that tends to get the bulk of the publicity, boats are being restored or recommissioned all around the UK, and there are now more than 80 listed on the class website. The boats can provide extremely competitive racing for a modest outlay and manageable annual costs.

The first Quarter Ton Cup was held in 1967, with yachts having a RORC rating of exactly 15ft eligible to compete. With the advent of the International Offshore Rule (IOR), in 1970, the Quarter Ton rating was set at 18ft; eight years later it was raised to 18.55ft, until the Cup was last held under IOR in 1996 — note that the name has nothing to do with the weight of the boats!

Following the revival of the class, designs that once rated at any of the above values are eligible for racing. Although the Quarter Ton class was conceived as a level-rating competition for boats of differing designs, the wide variety of boats spawned by the rule over the years means that racing is now under IRC, with the majority of the fleet rating between 0.840-0.910.

This year 26 boats competed for the Quarter Ton Cup, of which about one-third were fully reconditioned. Most boats however, are much more original, providing their owners with enormous fun on a relatively modest budget. Other events in the packed calender include the Vice Admiral’s Cup, Red Funnel RORC Easter Regatta, the Benodet Regatta (south Brittany) in May and the Jersey Regatta in September.

Class secretary Louise Morton says: ‘The class still has huge potential for growth — if you can show it’s a class that has fun, people will want to join in.’ It’s a very mutually supportive organisation, with much goodwill and help and sharing of knowledge, expertise and equipment.

Design and development

There is no single stereotypical Quarter Ton design. Many were production boats that sold by the hundred — Westerly’s GK24 being an example. The boats at the very top of the fleet were more likely to be one-off designs, although if successful they frequently spawned a class of production boats. Some — particularly later designs from the early 1980s onwards — were very stripped-out full-on raceboats. However, there were also some much more cruising-oriented designs, such as the 26ft Trapper 300, which also rated as a Quarter Tonner.

During the 1970s and ‘80s yacht design progressed at a rapid pace — at the beginning of the period long keels had only recently been eschewed for racing boats in favour of fin and skeg underwater profiles. But by 1974 the winning boats were all flat-bottomed designs with short fin keels and spade rudders. At this time, however, they tended to have very narrow pinched transoms, which made control downwind something of a lottery in a strong blow.

The overwhelming majority of early boats were masthead-rigged, with the characteristic very short boom and big unwieldy overlapping headsails. As time passed fractional rigs gained more favour, with many being a three-quarters configuration. Boats that have recently been optimised for IRC are likely to have a modern nine-tenths rig, and headsails with minimal overlap. The boats in French fleets tend to be more original and less optimised towards IRC than some of the UK boats.

The list of current owners of Quarter Tonners reads like a boating hall of fame, including Ed Dubios, Peter Morton, David Tydeman (who introduced the Melges 24 to the UK) and many more. With the number of high-profile boats that have been professionally revamped at sometimes considerable expense, it would be easy to assume that the ordinary budget sailor has been pushed out of the fleet, but that’s not the case at all. There is much help and advice offered freely as well as the swapping of gear, sails and so on. In addition, when funding or sponsorship becomes available to the class — for example for the class’s trip to Jersey in September — it’s directed at owners with low budgets. In this case of the 12 boats travelling from the UK, half were happy to pay the entire cost of transporting their boats, leaving the remainder with a free trip.

Many owners are attracted to the class because it’s possible to compete at the highest level without spending a fortune. Roger Swinney is one example — he has owned his David Thomasdesigned Bolero ‘Ayanami’ for seven years, having previously owned a Limbo 6.6 Mini Tonner of similar vintage. Initially he sailed ‘Ayanami’ mostly in Tuesday evening races from his home town of Cowes, as well as for the Solent Points weekends and Skandia Cowes Week. However, with the growth of the class he has been able to join in with the growing class at events such as the Quarter Ton Cup, Vice-Admiral’s Cup, as well as regattas in France and the Channel Islands.

On the water

The second boat I sailed is Roger Swinney’s ‘Ayanami’ a Bolero 25, a David Thomas design from 1979 and built as a production cruiser-racer, with much larger internal accommodation, but less deck space. She is in much more original condition than ‘Espada’, although she has been updated throughout her life.

Our sail on ‘Espada’ was initially in light winds of 5–8 knots, although later this built to give gusts of 13–15 knots. In the light airs the boat was wonderfully responsive, rewarding careful positioning of weight (to keep her bolt upright upwind and heeled a touch to windward downwind), with a perfectly neutral helm.

In seven knots of true wind happily we closehauled at over 6 knots of boat speed. When the wind increased the need to depower the rig when sailing upwind was immediately apparent, with the boat’s low stability (compared to modern designs) showing up clearly.

Many IOR designs, with their narrow transoms, have a reputation for being a handful downwind, providing plenty of opportunities for spectacular broaches. ‘Espada’ however carries her beam well aft and two distinct chines just above the waterline help to give a broad and flat run aft which helps to promote easy surfing — we managed a shade short of 8 knots in stronger conditions towards the end of the test sail.

‘Espada’s’ accommodation is limited, and there’s just a small blister coachroof, with just two berths and very limited headroom. Her deck layout could easily belong to a much newer design — there’s a large and long cockpit with space for navigator, helmsman, two trimmers and pit. Side decks are a good width for a boat of this size and the foredeck will win praise from crews.

‘Ayanami’, a first production Bolero, is much more of a cruiser-racer than ‘Espada’. She offers fourberth accommodation in two cabins, including a proper galley, chart table and headroom that’s comfortably over 5ft, although short of full standing height. This helps to make the boat more of a dualpurpose design — Roger and his wife Liz have, for instance, cruised ‘Ayanami’ along the south coast.

Despite the cruiser-racer aspect, and the ordinary budget that ‘Ayanami’ is sailed on — the boat is kept afloat on a swinging mooring, and expenditure on sails is normally restricted to two new items per year — this is not a boat you can expect to find at the back of the fleet. Sailed with a group of long-standing friends, she was 11th in this year’s Quarter Ton Cup, and a very creditable 23rd overall among the 800-plus IRC rated entries in the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race this year.

‘Ayanami’ is also raced two-handed — she was fourth in class in the two-handed Round the Island Race two years ago, for instance. In total she completes in about 50 races each year.

One of the trade-offs for the boat’s extra accommodation compared to ‘Espada’, is that cockpit space is much more restricted — the helm must also trim the mainsail, for instance. ‘Ayanami’s’ three-quarter rig is larger than that of other Boleros — it was changed for a taller spar with greater sail area by her first owner, Peter Dixon (now commodore of the Island SC). This was matched by a new keel, with a small lead bulb to provide additional stability.

‘Ayanami’s’ instruments are a complete contrast to ‘Espada’s’ banks of Tackticks: a combined log and depth-sounder, plus VHF and hand-held GPS are the only electronics on board.

Her crew have spent time on maintenance, particularly the small items that can make a real difference on the racecourse, including time spent each winter getting the keel and underside as fair as possible. Updates for the 2007 season included a new improved rudder shape, and a carbon spinnaker pole. Previous changes include a modern powerful purchase for tensioning the backstay, and modifying the genoa cars. ‘Ayanami’s’ test sail took place during a lightwind Tuesday evening race from Cowes, in a handicap class including an MG Spring 25, Hunter 707 and 1720 Sportsboat. In light winds ‘Ayanami’ can be raced with a crew of four, but a fifth person is needed in moderate conditions for stability. Key roles are helm/mainsheet trimmer, genoa and spinnaker trimmer, pit (and guy), plus foredeck.

Starting on a tight spinnaker reach, we sailed round the entire fleet in super-light conditions, as with ‘Espada’ the boat proving very responsive and rewarding to sail. At the other end of the spectrum, the hull shape is relatively moderate by IOR standards and Roger and his crew have achieved speeds of 12-13 knots plus downwind.

Quarter Ton Review: Verdict

Overall, the class offers huge opportunities for fun and competitive racing at the highest level for a modest outlay and with the benefit of socialable and supportive owners and class association. If it sounds as if I’m really keen on the class, you’d be right — I’ve just bought one! It’s a Jac de Ridder-designed Extension 24 from 1975 — watch this space…

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Listang : IOR quarter-tonner was ahead of its time

Matthias Beilken

 ·  31.12.2023

Those were strange times with strange boats: The wild seventies, the heyday of the then leading handicap system of the International Offshore Rule (IOR), were influenced by a spirit of experimentation and innovation that has only reappeared today in the age of foiling boats and yachts.

This was particularly true of the so-called quarter-tonne models, the smallest of the popular tonneau classes, which were derived from the famous single-tonne models. The quarter-tonne models became a playground for designers - with sometimes visually questionable results.

This boat here, for example, not only screams bright seventies orange in combination with lush green superstructure flanks, but is also a back deck boat with a spoon bow that looks like the beak of a puffin. From the stem to the mast, there is quite a lot of ship, as the rig is so far aft that it could easily pass for a mizzen mast. Behind it, the remaining length of the boat is just enough for the forecastle deck to merge into a curved, wide cockpit. But that's how it was in 1970 - when IOR was being developed and designs were chasing each other and becoming increasingly radical.

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During this IOR slime phase, it couldn't be screaming enough; the new formula roof triggered a huge boom in construction and experimentation worldwide. The large single-tonne models that emerged were serious ships; the quarter-tonne models that followed them by the dozen always remained a bit punky. An early contribution from Germany to the sporty pocket cruisers won the world championship and caused quite a stir in the already colourful scene.

The sheet steel boat was light and fully gliding

This Listang quarter-tonner, designed by Karl Feltz from Hamburg, belongs to a series of what were once the fastest ships in the world. The exquisite crew won the world championship in 1969 off Breskens in the Netherlands - something that Germans were never to achieve again until the end of the quarter-tonner era in 1997.

Harald Schwarzlose, then navigator and later editor-in-chief of YACHT, remembers: "'Listang' was a collaboration between Ulrich Libor, the Olympic silver medallist in the Flying Dutchman, and Feltz. Ulli wanted a sea cruiser that could glide. Feltz drew a boat whose hull was as flat as a flounder, similar to a dinghy cruiser, the bow round and full as it is today, not sharp like the sea cruisers of the time. The stern was wide and flat, like today's modern yachts, with a sharp trailing edge. The keel was a short fin with low ballast. This was also new at the time. The hull (Ulli: 'light, light, light!') was welded from paper-thin sheet metal on very narrow steel frames standing close together. The yacht scene had never seen such a lightweight construction before.

The Freundeskreis Klassische Yachten calls the Listang the first "consumer yacht", because the small backdecker was later built en masse in GRP (like many other successful quarter-tonne yachts) and offered small cruiser families a space miracle. However, the original Listang was built from steel.

Harald Schwarzlose again: "Even on the Scheldt, the Listang showed its superiority over the other conventionally wooden yachts. The flexible rig proved its worth and the mainsail could be adjusted to the prevailing wind conditions without reefing. We won all the inshore regattas."

All of them! A revolution was taking place here! However, this was felt even more strongly by those members of the yachting community who had not been keeping an eye on current developments in dinghies and the Olympics. Because those who, 50 years ago, as young men, won the world championships of the quarter-tonne dinghies with this probably weirdest of all avant-garde boats, came from the dinghy corner.

Listang unites top crew

Skipper Ulrich Libor - top sailor in the Flying Dutchman dinghy - made a pact with the virtually invincible Englishman Rodney Pattison. Libor won two medals in Pattison's wake (Acapulco and Kiel), and a total of five FD medals were sailed on board "Listang".

"The decision - and the fiasco - came during the ocean night regatta that everyone feared. The wind had picked up strongly and was expected to reach gale force during the regatta. The weather forecast: north-west five to six increasing, in gusts seven to eight."

The legendary FD champ Pattison (twice gold, silver, three-time world champion) may not be on board for the visit, but Harald Schwarzlose and Ulli Libor are enjoying the revival below deck of this bright orange series boat, one of the last Listangs still sailing, like a class reunion after 50 years, even without him.

There is almost nothing on and below deck that owner Karl-Heinz Grünberg has not changed. He got married on board, toured as far as Norway, gave the boat an effective battened boom jib and remodelled the interior several times. But he still has the original sails.

When sailing, you can still feel the special nature of the Listang today. Because the quirky bundle of boats is somehow fun, even if it looks more like a mini-scow than a quarter-tonner - because it invented a dancing gait and the gliding of larger boats. Although this production boat lacks the then almost unknown, extremely flexible 7/8 rig, the funny sail geometry has remained. The huge genoa far exceeds the surface area of the tiny mainsail, which merely acts as a trim tab. Grünberg: "looks like a pirate's main".

Listang: Beautiful sailing is different

"Ulli contributed a trimmable rig that he knew from the Star. The mast could be bent like a bow so that the main opened at the top." Listang works. The huge powerhouse mainsail called the genoa gives the impression that its centre of gravity is directly above that of the ship, pulling it forward with power. Shrewd courses on small waves are clearly a strength, even compared to today's boats.

However, an extreme IOR characteristic of the Listang soon becomes apparent: it pushes early and hard; you always need a little speed and the balance of both sails. If only one sail pulls, control is quickly lost. The Listang anticipates an IOR-typical extreme, but there is another way. The narrow fin keel may be radical, but it is small and the lever is huge. And with a righting moment of 45 kilograms at 90 degrees (measured by YACHT), the boat is clearly in the top league.

"Our biggest competitor was the Dutchman Hans Kortekaas. He sailed a modified Waarschip '725 Vierteltonner', a plywood construction and therefore very light with a displacement of 1.10 tonnes. He coped better with the choppy seas and sailed away. The Listang pitched heavily in the short seas, its rather flat, round bow hitting the waves hard. As soon as we had left the Scheldt and were on the open North Sea, it started to roar. The swell became rough. The cross went as far as the lightship 'North Hinder'." Because the small keel quickly became a typical feature of IOR yachts, yachts often carried centreboards or canards, including "Listang".

During a regatta, the boat's welding points give up

"As navigator, I usually sat below deck and checked our course on the nautical chart. The noise was deafening. The thin metal skin rattled and groaned. Suddenly my feet splashed into the water. We were making water! I quickly located the source: the centreboard box in the foredeck! I stuffed a duffle bag into the opening."

Blackless navigation was mainly based on couplings. "We did have one of those handheld radio direction finders that was supposed to be able to hear Bushmills or Stavanger, but I doubt anyone ever got a proper fix with one of those things. Apart from the radio beacons, you could hear everything."

Pitch-black night on the North Sea. "White foam heads on huge waves. Where was the lightship's blinker? 'Listang' hammered its way through the roar. Gusts of eight! Finally, around midnight, the redeeming call from the helmsman: "Blink ahead!" No sign of the competition. Slowly it dawned on us: we were last." Did the spectacular race to catch up start with a demolished but gliding ship? No, the catastrophe was only just beginning.

"Suddenly there was a loud crunching and cracking noise below deck. Startled, I saw in the light of the torch that the frames in the bow area were beginning to bend inwards. The sheet metal outer skin had torn off and the spot welds had failed. Every time the boat entered a wave crest, the outer skin flapped against the bent frames with a loud bang. The sheet metal outer skin would crack and we would sink in a few minutes. I shouted outside: 'We're sinking!

"I think it's spinnaker time"

Now it was time to get going. Ulli dismantled some of the furnishings, sawed the spinnaker pole into pieces and supported the sheet metal skin from the inside. Later, Peter Schweer came into the cabin with a Puk saw. He continued sawing, smashing and wedging. The flapping and banging of the outer skin stopped! Then the four of us sat outside in the cockpit. I had put my feet up on the life raft lying on the cockpit floor, ready to throw overboard. I couldn't get over the trembling in my knees. Ulli was sailing a little lower now, and the movements of the ship became more bearable."

It's amazing how the small boat reacts to minimal changes in angle. One of the many things that owner Grünberg has changed is the rudder keg. As with the prototype, there is now a balance rudder in the boat. "The downwind course back into the Scheldt was on the cards. Huge wave crests overtook us. Rodney stuck his head out to the companionway and announced: 'Well, I think it's spinnaker time. I thought the guy was crazy. A few dots on the horizon - our competition. No one had set the spinnaker on any of the boats. After an hour, we had caught up with the yachts ahead. Only on one other boat had the spinnaker been hoisted: Hans with his Waarschip! But against 'Listang' it behaved like a lame duck."

Whilst in the lead, there was a misunderstanding about a barrel that needed to be passed. At the mention of this, Libor's facial features still look a little pained today. Which proves once again that navigators can't win races - only lose them. Harald Schwarzlose: "My carelessness almost cost us the victory. But now it was out of our reach. We crossed the finish line triumphantly with the badly battered Listang. Then we lay in each other's arms, laughing and shouting our happiness. We had won the trophy, we were world champions in sea sailing."

Listang goes into series production

When series production began, the later Professor H. Dieter Scharping took care of the GRP structure, and the Listang went into series production with the blessing of Germanischer Lloyd. This was because the "sidewalls-slightly-higher-and-top-on" construction method was new in Germany at the time. It proved to be extremely favourable and created space miracles, so that YACHT was already asking with concern in the seventies: "Are we going to bake the deck now?"

Feltz, Scharping, Blohm + Voss: the original German trio with their Listang project had something of Udo Lindenberg about them. At the beginning of the seventies, Lindenberg also promoted German music with very avant-garde approaches and made it socially acceptable.

"Listang" was even relaunched - as a half-tonner. Fiddling with the formula allowed the boat to grow relatively in IOR, and with more sail area and ballast it now fitted into the larger measurement. What wasn't new was the ability to fly low on the centreboard. They almost won that world championship too. Because the plan was to flatten the others on the centre of the sail, and they had a chance of winning before the long distance, which was rated many times. Ulli Libor: "During the race, we were too fast for a buoy layer who threw a buoy behind us without realising that we had long since passed. But our protest was useless."

Technical data of the "Listang"

• Construct. / Shipyard: Karl Feltz
• Torso length: 7,50 m
• Waterline length: 5,70 m
• Width: 2,50 m
• Depth: 1,20 m
• Weight: 1,26 t
• Ballast/proportion: 0,32 t/25 %
• Mainsail: 8,8 m²
• Furling genoa: 19,0 m²
• Spinnaker: 46,0 m²

This article first appeared in YACHT 8/2020.

Other special boats:

• "Peter von Seestermühe": Germany's most widely travelled yacht
• "Coriolis": Concordia Yawl infatuated after refit due to fire damage
• 55 mm pointed gate: "Neptun", the penultimate of its kind
• "Bremen": Archipelago cruiser with a stand-up mentality

Most read in category Yachts

Quarter Tonner Class

Events this year.

20-21 and 27-28 April

Warsash Spring Championship

24 – 27 May

IRC Nationals

Poole Clubs

Round the Island Race

Royal Yacht Squadron

25 – 30 July

Quarter Ton Cup

Royal Yacht Squadron – Class revival 20th Anniversary www.rys.org

27 – 30 July (or 2 August)

Dates may change depending on format of racing

14-15 September

Vice Admirals Cup

RORC www.rorc.org

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Email: [email protected] Phone: +44 7973 362520

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Quarter Tonner Racing Yacht

• Designer: David Thomas
• Builder: Fank Hoare
• Location: Hants
• Length on deck: 28'
• Tonnage: 1680kg

Enquire about Quarter Tonner Racing Yacht

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Full specification

Wooden ships comments quarter tonner racing yacht.

Designed by David Thomas as a one-off Quarter Tonner racing yacht, built by Bob Hoare in 1975.  Hoare was well known for building fast racing boats Gold Medal winning Flying Dutchman ‘Superdocious’ for Rodney Pattison.

Proved to be a very fast and competitive boat over decades of racing.  Her most recent IRC Rating from 2016 was 0.866 which gives her a favourable handicap compared to the majority of Quarter Tonner yachts.

Light enough to be towed on the road, she comes with a double axle trailer.

An interesting, competitive and slightly unusual boat which could be back racing this summer with relatively little effort.

Length on Deck                 28’

Beam                                    9’

Draft                                      5’

Weight                                   1680kg

Construction

Cold moulded hull made from 3 layers of mahogany all bonded with epoxy.  The inner 2 layers are double diagonal with a full length fore and aft layer on the outside.

5 longitudinal stringers each side of the internal hull with 2 structural plywood bulkheads.

Fin and bulb ballast keel of 1550kg with a lead bulb.  Fastened with stainless keel bolts.

Yacht laid teak decks epoxy glued to a marine plywood subdeck with full length teak planks.  Varnished mahogany coverboard with stainless stanchions.

Low coachroof with varnished mahogany coamings and a sheathed plywood coachroof deck.

Lewmar forehatch with a well in the bow.

Open backed cockpit with a teal laid sole.

Blade rudder with a laminated wooden tiller.

Fractional ¾ bermudan sloop rig on a deck stepped alloy mast with alloy slab reefing boom.

Spars are Proctor spars, mast, boom and spinnaker pole.

Stainless steel standing rigging to internal stainless chain plates.  Lower and upper shroud each side with swept back spreaders.  Adjustable single standing backstay.

Twin groove Tuff Luff on the forestay.

Full wardrobe of sails of varying ages used for racing in the past.  Possible that a new owner would wish to replace these with new sails if the boat is to be raced competitively again.

Pair of Lewmar 25 non-self tailing cockpit sheet winches

Pair of Lewmar 7 non-self tailing winches on the coachroof deck with clutches for the running rigging.

Mariner 4hp 4 stroke outboard engine from 2002 mounts on a stainless frame over the stern.

Accommodation

6 berths including 2 saloon settee berths and 4 pipecot berths.

Companion hatch with a step down into the saloon.

Saloon settee berth either side with a pipecot pilot berth either side under the side deck.

2 pipecot berths can be rigged aft under the cockpit.

Joinery either side at the forward end of the main cabin with lockers under the side deck with louvered doors.

Centreline door into the forepeak which is used for storage and the Porta Potti heads compartment.

Ritchie steering compass

Raymarine ST60 depth, speed, wind

2 x CQR anchors

Horse shoe life buoy

2 burner camping gas cooker

Porta Potti 335 chemical toilet

Bunk and berth cushions

2 x Lewmar 25 winches

2 x Lewmar 7 winches

Disclaimer:

These particulars have been prepared in good faith from information provided by the Vendors and are intended as a guide, Wooden Ships cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy of this information nor warrant the condition of the vessel. The Purchaser should instruct his agent or surveyor to validate all details as necessary and satisfy himself with the condition of the vessel and its equipment.

Wooden Ships classic yachts brokers have an extensive database of boats for sale. With a wide range of sailboats , classic yachts , motor yachts and small classic boats , Wooden Ships has one of the largest selections of traditional wooden boats and yachts for sale in the UK.

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Quarter Tonner by JOUBERT, 1/4 tonner

€18,000

VAT included

• Reference ID 501
• Builder One-Off
• Model Quarter tonner Joubert
• Joubert Nivelt
• Location Spain
• L.O.A. (mtr) 7.77
• Beam (mtr) 2.75
• Draft (mtr) 1.534
• Displacement (Kg) 1314
• Engine Renault

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Yacht description.

Proto Quarter ton designed by Michel JOUBERT and built in Sandwich carbon-Kevlar 

1/4 tonner in very good condition, she had a full refit in 2018

• 2 folding blades propeller
• Antifouling Hempel SlicOne February 2020
• New hull paint Riveryachtcoating feb. 2020
• Standing rig full dyform 2018
• Main One Sails Vector3 2019
• Main for training / transport good condition
• Genoa 1 130% One Sails 2020
• Genoa 2 110% Quantum, old
• Genoa 3 105% dacron, old, good condition
• Spi large Quantum, Perfect condition
• Midium medium Quantum, good condition
• Spi small, old

Deck and Cockpit

Deckhardware renewed totally 2018

Complete electrical system 2018

• Mastervolt battery charger
• Two Bosch 2018 batteries
• Navigation lights and masthead
• LED interior lighting

Electronics and Navigational Gear

Autopilot Raymarine St6000

The Company offers the details of this vessel in good faith but cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy of this information nor warrant the condition of the vessel. A buyer should instruct his agents, or his surveyors, to investigate such details as the buyer desires validated. This vessel is offered subject to prior sale, price change, or withdrawal without notice.

Contact Details

• Name Site Broker | Racing-Yachts.com
• Email [email protected]
• Phone 1234567
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