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 reportsOwner 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.
\nWhen he was looking for his next boat he chose another Quarter Tonner, naturally. But the revived class doesn\u2019t allow newly built boats, and there is now a finite collection of potentially competitive boats since the class\u2019s rebirth in 2005 has seen a committed collection of owners restore many of the best vintage designs.
\nBLT 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.
\nGoing well upwind. Note the pushpit and stanchions in black powder-coated stainless steel. Photo: James Tomlinson
\nBLT 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.
\nHaving 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.
\nThere were already four Bullit designs in the Solent fleet, including Julian Metherell\u2019s Bullit and Louise Morton\u2019s 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\u2019s hands.
\nArticle continues below\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tBelinda: This refurbished 1980s quarter tonner is a real labour of love<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSpending around 1,800 hours and the price of a new boat on revamping a 30-year-old 26ft keelboat might seem extraordinary,\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t25ft quarter ton yachts have been having something of a revival racing in the Solent<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThey\u2019re old, small and decidedly quirky, but quarter tonners are providing some of the hottest handicap racing in the Solent\u2026<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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.
\nIt\u2019s 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. \u201cBasically I\u2019d come up with a concept and then Gavin would draw it and build it,\u201d Aarons says.
\nStructural changes
\nThe 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. \u201cThere was lots of rotting plywood in there, with some of it not properly attached, so it all came out,\u201d says Aarons. Some of the frames were also replaced and struts added to cater for the slightly different shroud base.
\nControl line runs below decks are kept as straight as possible, using string and pulley systems. Photo: Rupert Holmes
\nA 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 \u2013 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\u2019s also risk of little cracks opening up at each end of the keel.
\nBLT\u2019s 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.
\n\u201cThe new deck was a bit like a trampoline,\u201d says Aarons, \u201cso we put some extra beams in to stiffen it. I wanted an unbreakable structure, whereas Gavin wanted it as light as possible. \u201cHe\u2019s right in that it\u2019s better to build it light and then see what you need to reinforce.\u201d In total Aarons reckons close to 10,000 hours was spent on the refit over 13 months.
\nThe revived Quarter Ton Cup (raced under IRC), has been running for 13 years. Photo: Paul Wyeth \/ Cowes Week
\nDeck and rig
\nSince Laidlaw would be racing BLT with the same team as he sailed Aguila, that boat\u2019s 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.
\nBeyond that, BLT\u2019s 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.
\n\u201cA lot of boats have lines led all round the boat to a good place [for trimming],\u201d says Aarons, \u201cBut I made an effort to lead things direct so there\u2019s 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.\u201d
\nWhile a lot of boats have controls that are crossed over for operation from the windward rail, BLT has a generally much simpler arrangement, with outhaul, jib sheet barber haulers, pole up\/down and the jib tack cunningham all taken to single cleats in the aft face of the coachroof.
\nThe 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\u2019s no surprise Aarons says it was time-consuming to set up.
\nKeel and rudder
\nAll the competitive Quarter Tonners have replacement keels and rudders, with the former noticeably heavier than the original keels.
\nBLT 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.
\nSome of the newly revived Quarter Tonners have since opted instead for a later keel design, but Aarons felt it wasn\u2019t going to be right for the beamier BLT. \u201cThese boats are so wide I didn\u2019t feel we needed that much righting moment,\u201d he explains.
\n\u201cEven 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.\u201d
\nIn 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\u2019s 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.
\nSpecification
\nLOA: 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\/80Design: Jacques Fauroux
\nFirst published in the April 2020 edition of Yachting World.
\nThe post BLT: The inside story of the Quarter Ton Cup winner\u2019s 10,000-hour refit appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 reportsOwner Sam Laidlaw has enjoyed considerable success in the very competitive Quarter Tonner … <\/p>\n