Top of the World!
Simon scoops trophy...
A long drive across Europe, towing three boats saw three yacht club members take on an at times stormy Baltic Sea to fly the flag in the International Canoe World Championships...and come home with a trophy. Simon Hipkin won the Peter Nethercott Trophy, First One Design, taking 17th place overall. Torsten Marquardt was second, taking 18th place overall. Ed Evans was 5th, 26th overall. The fleet of 36 Canoes from Germany, France, Denmark, Australia, USA and UK was hosted by Lubecker Yacht Club, Travemunde.
“Conditions on the water were quite extreme for three of the days, and completely bonkers for one of them, but we gave a good number of the much faster new-rules boats a surprising run for their money,” said Simon.
“Torsten sailed incredibly well, with some phenomenal boat speed. Ed also had flashes of brilliance but was battling with a gammy knee after day one.”
Simon writes...
The Canoe class has a long and intriguing history dating back to the 1860s. The premier trophy for the week, the New York Canoe Club Challenge Cup, was first presented in 1886 making it the second oldest sailing trophy still raced for after the America's Cup. From its inception, the Canoe was a development class in which all boats were different but complied to a common measurement rule. In 1971 the class voted to move to one-design status and adopted a hull shape designed by Peter Nethercott. All Canoes built until 2007 were to this design, at which point the class voted to move back to development status. The ‘new rules’ boats are now narrower, substantially lighter and much faster. All the boats at the club are Nethercott one-designs and there is now a separate category and trophy for them at class events, for which they were primarily competing.
On arrival, a day of official measurement was followed by a gruelling programme of racing spread over 5 days with up to 3 races held per day.
The conditions for the first part of the week were extremely boisterous with huge seas and over 25kts of wind on day 1 leaving the fleet battered, bruised and broken. The wind and sea state moderated slightly for days 2 and 3 but conditions were still what could be described as boisterous. A lay-day on Thursday gave the fleet a much needed rest and Friday finally gave them the moderate winds and flat water in which the Canoe excels. The final day was abandoned due to lack of wind.
The world championships are held every 3 years and next in line is Australia followed by the USA so it will now be 2033 before they are next back in Europe.
...Shall we have a whip round for their trip to Australia?!