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GBR Quarter Tonner 'Diamond' is Heading for Kinsale Yacht Club

7th March 2017
Quarter Tonner Diamond is heading for a new owner in Kinsale Quarter Tonner Diamond is heading for a new owner in Kinsale

Another vintage Quarter Tonner will be joining the Irish fleet with the news that the Ed Dubois designed Diamond (GBR 6498) has been bought by a well known Dragon sailor from Kinsale Yacht Club.

The Quarter Tonner, built by John West of Lymington in 1984, looks to be a top notch addition to the local fleet with a hull faired by Ovington Boats in 2006 and dry sailed since.

Her rig was redesigned by the Dubois office in 2009 and structural work by Ian Lovering of Ashdown Marine.

A new single spreader Z Spar rig was added in 2010.

She has a complete suit of North 3DL sails, new in 2011 with only six regattas of use. The boat was advertised for sale at £15,000

Published in Quarter Ton

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About Quarter Tonners

The Quarter Ton Class is a sailing class of the International Offshore Rule racing the Quarter Ton Cup between 1967 and 1996 and from 2005 until today.

The class is sailed by smaller keelboats of similar size and is likely the world's most-produced keelboat class.

The Ton, Half, Quarter, etc. 'classes' were each given a 'length' and yacht designers had almost free rein to work the hull shapes and measurements to achieve the best speed for that nominal length.

The Ton Rules produced cranky and tender boats without actual downwind speed. Measurement points created weird, almost square hull shapes with longish overhangs.

They were challenging to sail optimally and lost value very quickly as any new wrinkle (e.g. 'bustles') to take advantage of the rule made older boats very quickly uncompetitive.

Although its heyday was 30 years ago, the boat class continues to make its presence felt by holding its own in terms of popularity against some fern race fleets.