Old Quarter Tonners -Magic Bus

Hi Ramona. 9 foot draft isnt that much greater than the draft of most 40 footers. I used to race on a Cole 31 that drew 6 foot and an S&S 39 that have a 6 foot keel and given the hull shape, she was easily another 3 feet below waterline.

They just look damn odd.

Very impressive machine.

Craig

 

Craig,
Thanks for the photos, I found the boat on yachthub or Boatpoint after your first post. What I meant about the draft was the limitation if you live away from the major centres and have to use a "normal" slipway. My local will handle 6' 6" on a good tide. Otherwise its a short holiday away to where ever has a travel lift etc.

 

Paul Whiting quarter tonner on Ebay. Boats in Perth, good project for some one. Displacement is 1030 kgs. Looks like a great bit of kit.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280435216023&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

 

Ramona!
The Whiting boat seems to be sold now. Anyway a very interesting object. Regarding the mysterious may be Castro quarter-tonner. Yes, it is a Tony Castro design. My brother Carl figured it out and managed to contact the owner. It is for sale. The boat has been recondtioned, but the owner has got fed up with the project and not managed to re-install all fittings.
Regards,
Booster

 

fun in corpus christi 1976 i was skippering the fun boat

Gary,I helped build Fun,part owned and skippered Fun at 76 world champs.Good to see there is still interest in the history of those days.Perhaps i can answer any questions about that regatta.i am 3rd from the stern sitting on the rail in the picture of Fun going to weather.One thing we learned was never raise the centreboard while reaching!! Hope to hear from you. john bonica

 

gary,further to my post re Fun,My next boat Selfwhiting,i took to Japan in78 worlds.Another center boarder.wAY TOO MUCH WIND!Crossing tokyo shipping channel at night at rightangles,with shipping 10 lanes wide andquarter mile between ships,was one of the more suicidal adventures in my life.Had 2 canadian crew aboard.Both had nervous breakdowns and wouldnt come on deck!!!The boat gave no trouble.blew out the main so had to retire. john bonica.

 

John, have you any photographs and information about Self Whiting in Japan? That was the year the tuned but stock based Yamaha boat won? And a savage series. Other historian cranks here would appreciate your writing some information about that time. And about Fun too of course. Especially the reaction of the more established boat type owners to the Antipodean lightweights. There probably were some "told you so" comments after that hard series. I've done a little sailing there; the place is as weather volatile as NZ.

 

Hi!
So it was John Bonica who skippered Fun in Corpus Christie, when Laurie Davidson got ill. I Agree with Gary B, please write more about those days.
Regards,
Booster

 

I forgot to mention that Fun is here in Alameda, CA on the San Francisco Bay. It's been revamped considerably with a Melges 24 rig, new fin keel and new rudder. It's gold. The owner did a great job.

 

fun in corpus christi 1976

to put the record straight,laurie didnt get lll exactly.He realized he was a little long in the tooth for on the edge sailing in a frisky boat,so decided to import two hood sail gurus larry ?.... and akiwi phil steggal.If we had not been disqualified in a port and starboard issue we would have been second to magic bus.I wasnt steering that race! Bus and Fun were equal speed boats.Bus was better prepared and better sailed.Murray Ross was a great sailor.If we had the time and crew training and aKiwi crew,plus time getting to know the boat(2 evening sails in Auckland alone didnt cut it)we might have had an outside chance.1st.olympic race we finished 5 seconds behind Bus for 2nd place. john

 

Gary,I will dig for photos.Forgot to mention that SelfWhiting was Paul Whitings 1st centreboarder design.Twin boe chute launchers,self launching spin pole.very fine entry.Was very fast in light flat conditions(which was the 25 year prediction) WRONG!!!!Sagami bay was windy choppy and foggy!In the first olympic race the weather mark was a navy war ship.We couldnt see it until we got 100 yards from it.Rember in those days no gps.plotters,windspeed,.Just unreliable rdf.Yamaha boat won i believe because they were flown over the long courses just prior to the long races!!j Japan came to corpus,chartered a boat,came dead last,and won in 78.Always great imitators.Hired guns to helm and crew.2had to be locals.Harrold Cudmore was there Helmer Petterson and other greats.The long race a storm forced many boats to shelter for 2 days in the lee of an island 40 to 60 knot winds.Not having passports aboard,many were arrested by police as spies and didnt make it back to base for 4 or 5 days!not a regatta to remember with fondness.Selfwhiting suffered no structural damage apart from a shredded main in the long race.Upwind in 40 knots will do that to you.seas were short and very steep due to strong currents.i dont remember any other fractional rigs but with no in water mooring,most boats were hauled out and launched daily.Long delays,very little practice time.Most frustating was not being able to get to your boat until cleared by customs two days before the first race!even though it was sitting at regatta site.No wonder they never had another series in Japan to my knowledge.JohnBonica

 

Good stuff John .... but we want more, especially photographs.

 

Bonica!
I agree with Gary B, good stuff. I guess Harold Cudmore sailed a Manzanita? Helmer Pedersen, did he sail Seaply (Seaflyer), or what? I believe Helmer was olympic gold champion i Flying Dutchman and, among athor things, a great inspirer to Russel Coutts. By the way, Helmer Pedersen's name seems Scandinavian in origin.
Regards,
Booster

 

Do you have the complete results list from QTC-79, San Remo?

 

Booster, have you any drawings or photographs of Psycho. She sounds something like Gordon Trower's Warbird. And those extreme boats are very interesting, especially after a couple of decades have gone by ... and the rest of the world catches up.