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Displaying items by tag: Emergency Appeal

In the UK a Southampton based sailing charity has launched an emergency campaign to raise £1m by tomorrow (Friday 5th July)  or face a bleak future.

The trustees of Jubilee Sailing Trust (JST) according to the Southern Daily Echo, has launched the rescue effort to address "serious financial challenges" and to continue operating.

If unable to reach the £1m target by the end of the week it will "cease to exist immediately", unless another solution is found.

Based in Woolston, the JST has been struggling financially for the past year following a number of mechanical problems on both of its ships.

Similarly, a poor uptake for its winter 2018 programme has had negative financial impacts.

Founded in 1978, the JST owns the Tenacious and Lord Nelson which are two specially adapted traditionally-rigged sailing ships.

They are the only ships in the world designed to be sailed by a crew with a variety of physical impairments and health conditions.

Click here for more on the story. 

Published in Tall Ships

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.