Old Quarter Tonners -Magic Bus

Maybe not... Iain Murray won the Australian Cherub Champs in a home designed and built boat at the age of 15, and quite a ew other people built boat to that design...

 

gggGuest!
Obviously, Iain Murray is the design rookie! But if we limit the range to quarter-tonners (under this post) Briand still has an edge. As one can read at the Briand-site the quarter-tonner was built abroad (in Spain). He must have developed some reputation abroad already at an age of 16, when most of us took the first step from the Optimist-dinghy to the E-dinghy.
Regards,
Booster

 

When I visited the NZ Maritime Museum in Auckland a couple of years ago I saw a restored small skiff on display that was designed, built, and sailed to championships by then 13 year old Bruce Farr.

 

Paul B & gggGuest!
Obviously Bruce Farr is the design dookie. But listen to this one. At a 2.4mr regatta in Gävle (Sweden) 3 years ago, Peter Norlins son Isac (5 years old at the occasion) promised me to design a nice 2.4mr. Seems that he has about 5 years of design-work left if he wants to beat Farr.
Regards,
Booster

 

Hi!
Did some Google on the Magic Bus designer Paul Whiting.
Regards,
Booster

Debris may be from 1980 sea tragedy - National - NZ Herald News - Smackwater Jack racing off Auckland in 1977. File photo / NZ Herald ... Skipper Paul Whiting, wife Alison, John Sugden and Scott Coombes were on board when ...
www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10485721

 

Hi!
Recently the yachts of the Volvo Ocean Race was in Marstrand, Sweden. A lot of people traveled to Martsrand to see the boats. Daggerboards and kanting keels have now created an interest among dinghy sailors. Every boat having a daggerboard, kanting keel or something similar is hot stuff. One of these dinghy sailors sailed in the Swedish Westcoast archipelago. He started to feel hungry and stopped at Björkö (nearby Gothenburg) for a pizza. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Behind the Pizzeria in a small harbor, squeezed between the pier and a fishing- boat: There it was. Perhaps a scaled down version of an old Volvo Ocean Race boat? Perhaps something used for tank tests? The daggerboard obviously must be misplaced, he figured. Located in the centre of the boat, not one at each side of the boat, and oh my Lord where was the kanting keel? The Pizza guy informed the youngster that the boat was the quarter tonner “Ce si bon”, which placed about 8:th in the cup in Helsinki in -77 (when Manzanita won). The boat had been laying there for 20 years. Is it beyond repair? At least, it seems that something must be done to the deck. It is planned to lift the boat to check what the ice has done to it.
Regards,
Booster

 

Hi!
I have been in contact with maritime historian Noel Hilliam, regarding the post above dealing with Smackwater Jack tragedy:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10485721

he believes that the debris could belong to the yacht Smackwater Jack.

Re the grating no one ever came to view it to identify whether it was off Smackwater Jack - Noel Hilliam still have it in his possession.

Regards,
Booster

 

Smackwater Jack and Noel Hilliam





Noel Hilliam to the left

Regards,
Booster

 

The quarter tonner “Ce si bon”, (dealt with in post above) which placed about 8:th in the cup in Helsinki in -77 (when Manzanita won) has now been lifted. The boat had been laying there for 20 years. The first report says it is possible to repair. The ice has handled the boat nicely. However, the layer of debris/weed and such on the hull (havstulpander and blåmusslor) was about 0.5m. The centerboard looked like a stalaktit (like those hanging inside caves). A chainsaw solved the debris-problem. In the same process the remains of the centerboard was removed. Hopefully I will get dom photos from the owner.
Regards,
Booster

 

Ce Si Bon



Quarter-tonner designed by Peter Norlin in -77. Sistership to Butterfly (3:rd in the Helsinki World's). Owner Egon Karlsson mailed me this photo.

Regards,
Booster

 

Old Quarton's

Not that it matters too much now .... but to set the record straight: The 1978 Q-Ton worlds in Japan, won by Magician V was crewed by skippers, Roy Cundiff and Gerry Gavin, crew Makoto Kikuchi and Hakomori San. Garry Weisman was probably too busy with the "Big Boats" as was Lowell North, Dick Deaver, and others .... we got the "Crumbs" Gerry was from North Sails, Pewaukee and Roy was from N/S Seal Beach, Ca. We drew straws for the starting and principal helmsman and Roy got the job.
The 25 foot fractional rig boat was a custom design by Yamaha's designer Ichiro Yokoyama, one of the lesser known but possibly one of the best IOR designers of the time. Yamaha built two custom boats and many changes were recommended by Roy and Gerry and crew. They were implemented and the two sisterships proved that the mods were good. Magician VI got most of the mods. Another, a production boat was built for the regatta.
These boats do not resemble the Yamaha 25 cruiser. They were a beautiful design and probably nearly as fast as the two other great designs, SeaPlyer and 4 Samauri's of Germany's Axel Mohnhaupt. Seaplyer was probably the best, skippered by Hugh Treharne of Aussieland.
The interesting question now is ..... what ever happened to this kind of yacht racing ?
Submitted by, Roy Cundiff

 

Hey Roy,

How on earth did you find this thread?

Sorry about the mistake. I was sure that Gary was part of the deal there.


The world has needed a development rule since the demise of IOR.



For those who may not know, Roy is one of the most talented racers of the IOR/MORC era, winner of the Half Ton Worlds ('74) as well as the Quarter Ton Worlds ('78). In the '80s he led one of the most competitive MORC programs in SoCal. Any boat Roy was on in those days was going to be very hard to beat.

 

RCundiff!
Interesting to get detailed information from the quarter-ton cup in -78. From the mags it was evident that several Manzanias lost there masts. When I visited the Manzanita boatyard in Barcelona in -77 an updated vesion with lifting keel was prepared for Japan. The mast was shown as well. A very narrow section indeed.
Regards,
Booster

 

Q-Tonners

Dear Friends, Yes, there were a few masts lost and two boats sunk and others disabled in the long offshore race which proportedly had 55 knots of wind and 8-9 foot foam-blown seas, seemed bigger to me.

I located this blog when looking for info on the dear old "Magician V" I would love to own her and race her as she was a FUN boat even though a bit tippy. She loved 15 to 20 knots true, even with our smallish crew. I would sail today with five at around 800 lbs, in Long Beach. She was way ahead of her time and a beautiful design.

Crew, Kikuchi San is President and Owner of North Sails Japan, and Hakamori may still work at Yamaha and is a dingy coach as well.

The Yamaha boat was sturdy, but we broke the rudder shaft off in the 1977 trials as they had welded the shaft at the bend at the hull. The Finot design, Sailed by John Kolius, bent her rudder in '78 allowing us to pass her on the Long Distance race. Our score was 12345, not in that order but "Kamakazi Express" would have won except for the Finots' misfortune, sailed by "Tokono-San, Toshi Ohashi, Rob Frye (NZ) and another. I am in contact with many of the 1978 Q-ton sailors .... some who stayed with me at the pre-Olympics in Long Beach and partied at the Olympics. Saw and talked to Davie Ullman last week.

Gerry is retired in Wisconsin but still races on the "Big Boats"... the Mack anyone? I race sailplanes and boats and we have a 1961 Lapworth Cal 24 centerboarder that is tough to beat even if you have a 2 or 3 million dollar Gucci machine.

My direct e-mail is RCundiff@aol.com .... please tell me who and where you are.

RC

 

Eager beaver Quarter Tonner

I have a Bruce Kirby 1/4 ton, built 1974, one five West System cold molded cedar. Apparently came in 10th in Corpus Christi in 1976 or so, sailed by Fogh. Some of the older sails (12 on board) still have the measurer's stamp and initial. I restored this boat in 1995 and race it weekly in our local Yacht Club. A very competive boat against the bigger boats in the club (3 first place finishes this year so far). Any further info on this boat would be appreciated. For those looking for old quarter tonners, this baby is for sale. I have a Jeanneau Sunrise I want to launch next year.