Old Quarter Tonners -Magic Bus

CT, maybe you mix with polite and well mannered Aussie liberals??
And I guess Kiwis are all loud mouth, opinionated, outspoken, far right wingers throwing raw meat onto the barbie??
Because when the worlds first sport boats appeared (NZ? - maybe the odd backwater corner in the US too?) there was plenty moaning and carping on the bar here - because I was a journalist then with ear to the ground/sand/polluted mud/tidal bank.
Sure, the LD believers were happy the way the tide was turning against backward conservatism ...but they were in the minority. A few years had to go by before LD acceptance became the norm in this country - but I guess those polite and liberal thinkers in OZ, they had seen the light (no pun) from the moment of sporty boat inception?

 

You could argue that's a case of rules not keeping up with their environment... In 1946 12ft was a reasonable length for a boat for two late teens or small adults, and 14ft was a reasonable length for two average size adults, what with the size people were, the amount of rocker boats had then, and all the rest of it. But if you were writing de novo rules today for boats for those 1946 sailors' great grandchildren then those lengths would probably be 14ft and 15'6 just because people are larger and rocker is lower...

 

I would argue that it was wings (racks), trapezes and to a lesser extent hiking boards lead to the development/need for longer hulls on sailing dinghies. A 12 foot hull carrying twin trapezes is a very twitchy beast. Push the hull length out 14 - 16 feet and the beast is stabler if not tamed.

 

Gary, I was also a sailing journalist at the time, which is part of the reason I sailed so many of those boats, and I also had my ear to the ground. I was often switching from IOR, JOG boats and Etchells to Young/Elliott type and back again, as were many of us.

Nothing I said indicated that Aussies are more polite and well mannered. Maybe the reason I didn't see the moaning and carping was because I recognise that the people who preferred other types were not "backward conservatives", but simply people who had other interests and who sometimes (and sometimes rightly) were concerned about the impact of the new boats on existing events. If people went in with the view that their taste in boats was the only right one of course they were going to cause reaction among people who were less narrow-minded.

Depending on one's definition of "sportsboat" of course, the type could be seen to be 165 years old (early 'sandbaggers'), or 120 years old (Raters), or 85 years old (Jollenkreuzer), or 40 years old (Highlander 25, Toucan) or 30 years old (Libera, Asso 99, etc) and to come from a range of countries, and to have caused only a few people to get their knickers wired up.

 

Yep, one of these days I must calculate the all-up weights (including wet sailing gear and equipment) to see how much they have changed.

To look at the issue I pondered a few posts back in a different way - we have several 12' development classes; the 12 Foot Skiff, the R Class*, the Oz Cherub, the UK Cherub, the N12. The class with the massive rig is obviously faster, but while it's a wonderful boat can it really be called "better" than a R or Cherub?

The Rocket 7.8 could be seen to be like the UK Cherub or the R Class; a boat with limits on dimensions, but few restrictions on shape. The theoretical Rocket 780 with 10'+ beam would end up more like a 12 Foot Skiff. Seems to me that both are interesting but that one is not really "better" than the other.

Nick, good point. On the other hand, it's interesting to see how much slower short boats were in comparison with longer craft, a few decades ago. I think the Rs and Cherubs were rated slower than Finns, and Mander thought it was pretty cool when the Rs could beat the Xs. So arguably in performance terms length is less important these days when high-performance boats spend so much time planing, and hulls are lighter.

 

Hi Guys, new here, but an interesting thread. One of the boats mentioned in this thread a few times is Alcatraz, which i own. she is going through a pretty big refit at the moment including removal of the wings, new transom design, new keel, new cockpit, new engine, big interior makeover, full paint, new rudder etc. She is on my back lawn and we only recently removed the shed.
feel free to ask any questions.http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=106521&stc=1&d=1457849564

 

Gary Mull 1/4 Ton

Recently found the Gary Mull "Tequila Sunrise" in very bad shape at a private Dock in the Bay Area. Anyone willing to save her?

 

Great looking design. Masthead or fractional rig?

 

Masthead rig

 

Probably from same hull mould as Expresso, which is here on the Gulf Coast. One of the big 1/4 Tonners at 27 feet LOA. Good boat in breeze, but not really designed for the light air we have here. This cockpit looks a lot more user friendly though.

http://www.histoiredeshalfs.com/Quarter Tonner/Q Mull.htm

 

As you said Paul Whiting got a distributor in the US after winning quarter-ton cup in Texas with Magic Bus (MB) in -76. At least two quarter-tonners were imported. Maybe also other tonners like the half-tonner Savoy Truffle. Do you anything about this yacht?
SAVOY TRUFFLE half-tonner designed by Paul Whiting, Berkeley Marine Center in SF Bay CA, pic by Cree Partridge

From inside, pic by Tony Carr