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ROBBER, S 2412
à jour au: 1973
1972 plan Ståhle Peter

Pictures from Facebook 2024,


1972 QUARTER TON CUP, La Rochelle, France: 1 - 2 - 6 - 12 - dnf = 10e/19. (DNF dans la grande course safran cassé.)
Octobre "Bateaux",

Novembre "Bateaux",


1973 Modifications: plus de franc bord et plus de voilures.
QUARTER TON CUP, Weymouth, GB: 7e/37, gagne 2 parcours olympiques, et comme en 72 DNF dans la grande course, safran cassé.
Paul Bishop's Pictures from Dutch QT Class Facebook 2017


Octobre "Voiles et Voiliers":

2016 Septembre, info from Dutch QT Class Facebook: "The prototype of the Swedish Robber 1/4 tonner sailed the 1972 QTC in La Rochelle (10th) and the 1973 QTC in Weymouth (7th).
Recieved this info some time ago from Håkan Lindqvist, one of the three designers of the prototype.
Looking back on the Robber design with modern eyes it is striking how many modern features that was introduced. Most obvious is of course the wide beam that was carried all the way back to the very wide transom, we had the open aft cockpit, the hard chine running all the way back and of course the light displacement. The first season she was also sporting a bulb keel on a high aspect blade, these were all aspects that were radical, not to say revolutionary at the time but more or less standard on modern boats today. The most obvious feature revealing her age is the masthead rig, A fractional rig would of course have been more efficient but the old IOR rule penalised that too much. There was also an innovative solution on the steering system. The rudder itself was hung on the transom but the tiller was positioned in the front of the cockpit. This was achieved by link arms along the cockpit floor connecting the rudderhead with the tiller axis. This setup gave the helmsman free vision of the genua tell-tales and the waves without obstructed sight from the crew. However clever that solution was, it proved to cost at least one, maybe two Quarter Ton titles!
Robber project started as a dream of an offshore dinghy. I made some sketches and got in touch with Peter Stahle who was a young designer at the time and a sharp rule bender especially with regard to the IOR rule. Together we managed to come up with a radical design that seemed to work.
The next challenge was the budget that was extremely slim. This meant that we had to form a consortium of five also sailing as a team. For the same reason the boat had to be partly amateur built in a swimming pool.
However, it was ready (?) for the first race of the season 1972. That race started with a light downwind dead run, Robber was hardly moving and soon we were last in the fleet, our dream and heavy investment was rapidly fading off. Then came the wind… On a 2 mile beam reach we passed through the fleet. With the genua barberhauled to the rail and the main vanged all the way down and the crew of 5 stacked on the windward rail we exploited the full with of Robber and she was flying. On the following beat to windward we completely left the fleet!
That first race revealed the very nature of Robber. She was extremely fast in a breeze specially upwind and beam reaching, but hopelessly slow in light downwind. Another weak spot was later to be presented: the rudder...
Later that season we managed to get down to La Rochelle for the 1/4 ton cup. Towed behind a Peugeot on a trailer without breaks and lights it was not exactly a pleasure ride, but we got there in time.
The first race was in light airs, we managed all right rounding up 9th for the last leg to finish. Then came the wind.... We cut through the fleet on a beam reach with the genua barberhauled to the rail and the crew well aft on the windward rail. We won the first race!
Before the last long offshore race we were in a podium position needing a top 3 to win the title. During the long and dark second night out to sea Robbers Achilles heel was displayed. The rudder fell off, and we finished 10th...
The next season 1973, Quarter Ton Cup was to be held in Weymouth UK. We had decided to make some alteration to the boat in order to improve weight distribution. The freeboard in the bow was slightly increased. This gave us a small rating advantage that led us to ease up the bow down trim moving some interior lead aft. We also changed the keel to a fin keelof a type normally found on IOR boats of that time.
This of cause reduced stability but stability was never an issue so we made that sacrifice.
All in all we had significantly concentrated weight and alsoreduced overall weight through less interior ballast. The reduced weight and the new keel also reduced wetted area, thus improving light air performance.
The QTC in Weymouth started off well. We won the first race in light to medium conditions. We also won one of the Olympic races in windy conditions where Robber could parade round the course.
The short offshore race started with a long beat to windward short tacking along the coast, seeking shelter from the current. We were fighting it out with 'Odd Job', sailed by Jack Knight, in a fierce tacking duel where we finally came out om top. On the long reach back we left the competition behind and had a comfortable lead when, only a couple of miles from the finish, the steering system broke down....
'Eyghtene' with Ron Holland won that race and we merely made it to the finish. Now our chances of winning were in practice disappeared.
The long Offshore Race turned out to be a rather uninteresting beam reach to Cherbourg and back. Through smarter navigation we managed to round the buoy outside Cherbourg first. On the beam reach back to Weymouth we outperformed the competition and left the fleet behind the horizon, only to get stuck becalmed off Portland Bill. Then the rest of the fleet, led by Laurent Cordelle in his Ecume de Mer, read the situation and circumnavigated the becalmed area by letting the tidal current carry them in a wide circle around us and finally scoring. Robber finished 4th in the race and 4th overall.
Robber was sold in England, directly after the races and we went back to start a new project for the next years venue, QTC in Malmö, Sweden.
The boat that emerged out of that project was called Rebel, and was campaigned in WTC in Malmö, finishing 4th and in Deauville 1975, finishing 3rd.
During the autumn negotiations were closed with BEBS Marine who acquired the commercial rights to the Robber design and production rights. The Robber III’s emerged out of that project and boat were placed at different places, some rather remote, around the world.
Good luck with the class! Håkan"

From Facebook 2024,