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By International Canoe Class Association

The IC class and Stone SC go back a long way, with the club having one of the strongest fleets in the 1970s and 1980s. At that time boats were beautifully cold moulded varnished wood, complete with double wishbone tiller extensions, many of them made by local boat builder Tony Miles, who was on hand and took great interest in recent changes to the class. Wood no longer features with all boats now constructed in carbon fibre, but no less stunning painted in every colour of the rainbow.

The 23 entries split into IC and AC (asymmetric) divisions, enjoued a variety of winds for the 9 race championship held from 20-23 June, generally light, but towards the end of the event sea breezes ensured some exciting sailing with choppy conditions caused by the ebbing tide. The hospitality and excellent race management by Stone SC ensured a memorable championship.

For the IC fleet, this was the first championship since the adoption of a development box rule (which allows boats to be a minimum waterline aidth of 750mm with an all-up weight of 50kg). The boats built to the new rules demonstrated that the rule allows considerable scope for experimentation. For everyone it was the first real oppurtunity to see if the boats would not only be faster, but also be capable of staying upright.

In the AC fleet, the competition was wide open with many experienced canoe sailors all fancying a shot at the championship title. The fleet was joined this year by new boy but highly experienced sailor and Flying Fifteen champion Steve Goached and a welcome return by Nick Morgan.

Light and variable winds from the north west caused some challenging racing on the first day, with plenty of place changes in the 2 races held. In the IC fleet, boats built to the new development rules showed bursts of speed with Alistair Warren sailing a boat to his own design, winning the first race, but Simon Allen taking the second race in a lightening wind demonstrating that the one-design is no walkover. The AC similarly found boats changing positions as the shifts and tide made life interesting. Race 1 winner Colin Brown swapped places with race 2 winner Steve Bowen towards the back of the fleet, such were the fortunes of the day. In his new AC Crunchy Frog, Tony Robertshaw was Mr Consistent showing that good and average results would be the winning formular. Steve Goacher was showing promising form with a 2nd in only his second race in the boat.

The second day starting with no wind but with the promise of a sea breeze. As the wind developed, the race start was annouced and the fleet sailed the half mile or so to the course. It wasn't looking promising as the tide become difficult to combat with a dying breeze. When the race started, the first beat looked less appealing and a strange vortex at the windward mark caused amusement when Steve Goacher performed an unscheduled 360 degree pirouette under full spinnaker. As the downwind leg turned into something of a lottery, the initial leaders in the AC's found themselves becalmed as Rob Bell and then Colin Brown and Peter McClaren found a zephyr seemingly from nowhere which carried them straight to the finish going from a spinnaker run to a beat in 10km. In the ICs all boats managed to finish with Phil Robin in his Phil Morrison designed boat taking the gun from the ever consistent Simon Allen. The race team wisely desided to can the remaining races as the light north easterly faded leading to drifting conditions, which an additional challenge caused by the turning tide.

Flat calm greeted sailors on Monday, but 3:30 the wind had built to a force 3 easterly, allowing 3 races to be held. In the ICs, John Ellis took a commanding lead in race 4 and managed to hold off Phil Robin to the finish, who again showing great downwind speed. Race 5 saw Phil leading at the Windward mark and never looking back, with Alistair Warren overtaking Simon Allen to finish second. Race 6 was very much a re-run, with Phil taking his second bullet of the day, but this time Simon kept ahead of Alistair.

For the AC fleet, winning the first beat was vital to getting a good position. With the oscillating winds over the course and strong tides a strong nerve was needed to reduce mistakes hold position and stay with the group. Steve Bowen won races 4&5 and Colin Brown in Race 6.

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