Thirty Years Ago: 1981 International Canoe Worlds; The Prelude

Thirty years ago, this very week, I raced in the International Canoe Worlds in Marion Massachusetts (Buzzards Bay). Organized by Steve Clark, it was the first International Canoe Worlds held in the U.S. I had been racing the International Canoe for about six months, definitely a greenhorn in these very tricky craft, and I arrived with no great expectations. Setting up the International Canoe at Tabor Academy (the dinghy park, the dorm housing, and the meals were completely run out of this school), I was gratefully surprised to find that most of the fleet was new to the International Canoe as well.

In the fall of 1980, Steve Clark had very generously given me one of his production International Canoes as a Chesapeake Bay fleet starter boat. Steve had started building composite (glass hull/wood deck) International Canoes in a converted grocery store in a sleepy upstate New York hamlet on the eastern shore of Lake Cayuga, a town named King Ferry, a town with one crossroad and four buildings staking out the four corners. Steve had picked up a used Manana design International Canoe in the mid 70's, and had become completely smitten with the speed, the twitchiness, the feel of the International Canoe as a racing dinghy. Steve had found the U.S International Canoe class (or the decked sailing canoe as the old timers would say) in a sorry state, had been for years. Moribund, geriatric, and insular, the American-style International Canoe was only raced out of Grants Boat Yard in City Island. To change that, on a true believers mission, Steve had set out to find some converts.

Like a true Johnny Appleseed, Steve had decided to seed his modern English-style "King Ferry" International Canoes around to the major yachting centers of the U.S, putting them into the hands of those who had backgrounds in tippy dinghies. I became a seedling, Del Olsen and Scott Young of San Francisco became West Coast seedlings. And these seedlings were now arriving at Tabor Academy for a World Championship, along with the British, Germans, Canadians, and Swedish.

The pre-regatta form book certainly had the Swedes and Steve Clark as favorites, they at least had several years experience and Steve, coming out of nowhere, had given the Swedes a major fright when he competed on their home waters in the 1978 World Championship. The English International Canoe fleet had seen a recent influx of top ranked International Moth sailors, Colin Brown, Chris Edwards, and Chris Eyre. But they were all new to the International Canoe and, though certainly used to sailing tippy boats, an unknown quantity.

As far as the American newcomers; we had raced a couple of drifter regattas on the East Coast that summer; we were expecting the Buzzards Bay Southerly Buster, we were expecting to be hammered and upside down quite a bit, we were young and ready for the challenge. The battle to come would be not so much against competitors but against this strange, narrow, wonderfully fast sailing dinghy with a sliding seat.

Geezer International Canoe Design Redux - IC Fatso

If you dig far enough back in Earwigoagin, you'll suss out the blogmeister's history as an International Canoe sailor. (Though, truth be told, I had more-or-less completely stepped out of the class a long time ago, seventeen years ago, way back in 2000, long before this blog.) The International Canoe's are really great performance single-handed dinghies, and they are proving to be a good fit for top-notch (and I mean top-notch) oldster dinghy-ites who have kept up their fitness and boat building skills (ref. Chris Maas, Robin Wood, Steve Clark, Alistair Warren, Colin Brown and others (many of these skippers I competed against in the 1980's) - though you do need a bit of extra dosh to play at the top level; carbon this, carbon that, jibing daggerboard, T-foil rudder, mylar this, super control that... it all adds up).

What prompted this post was this recent comment by Steve Clark (ruminating after the recent International Canoe Worlds in Pwhelli Wales, UK) over at the Sailing Anarchy forums.:

"The elders are thinking nice thoughts about a little more stability. Remember that the old development rule allowed boats as skinny as the new rules (750mm) and the boat that emerged as "best compromise" was 1014 mm wide. So I had been meditating about what I can do in a beamier hull form. It will probably give something away upwind and in a short chop, but there isn't much slower than a capsized IC. I have an idea, based on Lou Whitman's Phoenix that was probably faster than the Nethercot in 1970, but never got much of a chance after the ICF made the Nethercot the only approved shape."

Being humble as I am (Oh, what the heck, push your brilliance out there) -- I was echoing Steve's most recent thoughts for a oldster International Canoe over ten years ago!

When Steve Clark proposed his new rule back in 2005, which favored very narrow IC's, I, being the maverick, thought - why not have an IC that was 18.5 feet long and beamy -- should end up about the same speed and easier to sail. So I drew this one up based largely on the Whitman Phoenix design. Predictably, there was not a lot of support from the class to add 1.5 feet (457 mm) in length to the IC rule and this design became an interesting but ultimately a dead-end footnote in International Canoe history. (Note this design was done in 2005 - 12 years ago.) (ed. note: The Phoenix International Canoe, drawn up in the 1960's, was a very fine-lined, shallow-V, beamy International Canoe design by American International Canoe designer wunderkind of post-WWII - Lou Whitman.)



Two years later, 2007, I pulled in my elongated, mod-Phoenix design IC into the normal International Canoe length - 17' (5.182 meters) and did a new design, the IC-Fatso.

The sections (I kept a tall bow to hopefully keep green water from sluicing over the foredeck.):



The topview of IC-Fatso:



Maybe if you wait long enough, you find yourself sitting on the right part of the circle as it comes around again ... and then maybe not. Dinghy designs are always food for thought and more often than not, there is nothing new under the sun.

The IC-Fatso remains a design exercise. I've never checked to see if the IC-Fatso would fit the current IC rule (it would be an OK design to the older one). The IC-Fatso would, under most conditions, be slower than the current narrow IC's and the IC-Fatso wouldn't qualify as a Classic (the Nethercott, Slurp are the two designs in that fleet). It would be a safe design that would get you around mid-fleet with less trauma than the current designs and possibly faster than the Classics but it seems to fit in a tweener world - which makes it a difficult proposition to build for the class.

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The blogmeister sailing his Nethercott "No Eyes" at the International Canoe Nationals at Lewes, Delaware in the early 1980's. We made it a family vacation that year and, in 2017, some 30 odd years later, returned a second time for a family beach week (no sailing).

2014 International Canoe Worlds - New York Canoe Club International Challenge Cup

The New York Canoe Club International Challenge Cup is the world's oldest small sailboat international race, dating to 1886. From the cup's history pulled from a short article put out by the British Canoe Union:

"An early Baden-Powell design was exported to the U.S.A. and international competition began when Warrington Baden Powell and Guy Ellington challenged for the New York Canoe Club International Cup in 1886. They found that the Americans gained extra power by sitting up on the deck of their canoes, using bodyweight to counteract the pressure of wind in the sails and the British were outclassed by this new technique.

Those dastardly Yanks were actually sitting on the high-side of their canoes instead of, as the English were doing, laying prone on the bottom of the hull - imagine that!

The International Challenge Cup is still competed in the International Canoes though the New York Canoe Club is long gone  [ed. note: Oops. Wrong about that one. Lloyd Herman, Vice Commodore of the North Shore Yacht Club writes in his comment, "The New York Canoe Club is not long gone - it has changed its name to the North Shore Yacht Club and is located in Port Washington, NY."] It is a three boat per country team race, two international teams, first canoe across the finish line wins that race for his country, best two out of three races wins the International Challenge Cup. The modern competition is held the day after the end of the World Championships. Fran DeFaymoreau has the report on the 2014 competition:

"Monday September 14, 2014. After the International Canoe World Championship it has been the custom in recent years to compete for the New York Cup. This is one of the oldest challenge cups still in competition dating back to the mid 1880's. Two teams of up to three canoes each compete and one sailor from from the team wins for the team. The USA was holder of the Cup and was challenged by the UK. The American team was Mikey Radziejowski, Chris Maas. and Del OLsen. The British team was Robin Wood, Phil Robin and Alistair Warren.

Race 1- "The first race was held at about the same location as the worlds but on a shorter course of triangle, windward leeward, finish to weather with 0.75 nautical mile legs. At the first rounding Del Olsen led followed by Alistair Warren. Alistair passed Del and won the first race. Mikey and Robin Wood were over early and not in the race. [ed. note: Race 1 to the English.]

Race 2 - "Chris Maas developed an early lead and held it to the finish in increasing winds up to 14 knots. He Was Followed by Mikey Radziejowski.

Race 3 - "With one race apiece The UK and USA needed one more race to decide the cup. This time Mikey developed an early lead with Chris behind but going fast enough to catch everyone but Mikey who, with a large lead, defended the cup for the USA.

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And from the Earwigoagin archives! I have in my collection a newspaper article on the first race in 1955 of the New York Canoe Club International Challenge Cup.

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September 1955

U.S. Trails British in Canoe Sail

By Ed Sinclair

Sea Cliff, L.I. Sept 6 

"Great Britain, the mother of many of history's greatest sailors, today commanded a clear-cut advantage over the United States in the International Canoe sailing championship series being conducted on Hempstead Harbor off the Sea Cliff Yacht Club.

"Finishing first, second, fifth and sixth after knocking out America's ace at the start, the British scored 34 1/4 points in the first of three nine-mile races which will determine possession of the seldom publicized seventy-year-old International Challenge Cup.

"With two disqualifications within 400 yards after the start of the three-mile leeward-windward-leeward course which had to be traversed three times, the Americans were lucky to return to land with 23 points. All hope for the trophy defenders has not been abandoned , however, for they have two more races over the next two days in which they can regain lost water.

"Graham Goodson, the challenging team's captain from Aldeburgh, Suffolk, took immediate aim at the canoe being handled by Louis Whitman, the American team captain from Brooklyn and the fellow who brought the cup back here from England three years ago, and luffed him out of the race in the first 200 yards.

"Goodson then zeroed in on Joe Farrugia, a Queens member of the United States foursome and luffed him out within another 200 yards. Each time the Briton was to leeward and came about and then nicked the hull of the American. In as much as he had the right of way, the Americans were disqualified in each case because they didn't give way, and an embarrassed pair they were later.

"Goodson's maneuvers were not illegal or unsporting, let it be known immediately, for luffing in team racing is a most effective tactical bit of strategy if the victim leaves himself vulneralbe. Thats exactly what the Yanks did.

"Meanwhile, Ronald Head, the British champion from Twickenham, Middlesex, had taken the lead, and he never relinquished it. He covered the nine miles in 1:23:05 and was far ahead of his teammate, John Stothert of Ahterton, Lancashire. Frank Jordaens of the Bronx, was third, and Adolph Morse, of Yonkers was fourth.

"Goodson, the wily leader who had done his job at the start got home last among the six fininshers, just a few seconds after William Kempner of Brighton, Sussex.

The Americans must have come back to win the remaining two races in the series for they are listed as the winners in 1955. Here is a photo of Brit Ronald Head winning the first race. IC's have changed a lot in the past 60 or so years.

1981 International Canoe Worlds; The Racing

The racing for the 1981 International Canoe Worlds at Marion was breezy as expected but the famed Buzzard Bay seabreeze only made a late appearance for one race; we spent most of the week in good Northerly breeze courtesy of a strong cold front; a rare weather occurrence for the U.S East Coast in August.

The regatta was fought between the four Swedes and Steve Clark, the rest of us were nowhere close in boatspeed or boathandling. For me, tacking was a 40/60 proposition in the breeze, it being very easy to stall these craft head to wind and then end up going backward.

The drill for tacking an International Canoe goes sort of like this (everyone has their different techniques).

1. Ease main while scooting back into the boat.
2. Get both feet aft of the seat.
3. Blow the jib sheet.
4. Helm over and at about the same time, grab sliding seat and give it a good heave to get it from the old side to the new side.
5. Cross to the new side (some cross on their knees, some walk around the end of the boom),
6. Hopefully you've got the bow around enough on the new tack to sheet the jib on the new side. (A partial sheet will do).
7. Here the decision tree branches out a little. Any indecision will see you get blown over. If you haven't got the seat far enough out on the new side, you need to heave it out and quick. If you have got the seat out far enough to land on, land your body on it hard, hopefully butt first but many times I've done a belly flop.
8. Simultaneously (or as near to it as you can accomplish), finish extending the seat while you're sliding out to the end, sheet the jib in and sheet the main in.
9. And you're off (unless you got it wrong, in which case you may be going backward, or capsized on the old tack, or maybe capsized on the new tack, or maybe you stepped off the boat, or maybe the seat is still stuck on the old side, or maybe the tiller extension has ended up under the boat trapped in front of the rudder, or.......)

There were thirty boats at the regatta from five countries; US, Canada, England, Sweden, Germany. I ended up smack dab in the middle in fifteenth. I made it into the top ten twice with two eighth places but by the end of the week I was exhausted. I made a hard landing coming in from Thursday races and bent my rudder shaft. I did my best at straightening it out but I sailed my worst race on the last day. Since I had already racked up a DNF as my drop race, adding a 22 didn't help my overall score.

But it was a great regatta and I was going to spend the next fifteen years of my life trying to learn how to tack these beasts (and gybing them in a breeze was no picnic either).

Oh! I did have one fleeting moment of glory in the regatta. I wrote about it for the U.S Canoesletter.

From the April 1985 issue of the Canoesletter


"In the second race of the 81 Worlds at Marion three canoe neophytes, the author, Tim Prince and Martin Herbert went the ‘wrong way’ (according to local knowledge) on the first beat to round the weather mark 1,2,3. Heady stuff and, with soon to be world champion, Swede Max Tollvist, in fourth place, this trio of North Americans fought like demons to hold their positions down the next two reaches. The first beat had been the lightest of the series, a 5-8 knot southerly, but as we approached the leeward mark the famed Marion seabreeze had started to kick in at 15-20 knots. Tim and Martin had sneaked past your author leaving me to round in third, one boat length ahead of Max. I resolved to sail as fast as my limited canoe experience would allow and not bother worrying about Max (for the Swede had already proved devastatingly quick in a breeze). Around the leeward mark I hardened up on port tack, attention riveted on snaking up and over the waves, the senses devoted to keeping US 163 flat and driving; sailing totally absorbed, sailing with blinders on. Two minutes passed wrapped in this hyper-concentration. It was time to check on my competition. I quickly stole a glance over my aft shoulder. No Max? Had he capsized? Not that I could see. I rotated my torso forward and peered upwind. Shock and despair! Max was 50 yards upwind and going twice as fast. My first hard lesson on the distance an International Canoe planing upwind could put to an International Canoe that, in relative terms, was only mushing along.

As it turned out there were 30 of us mushers at the Worlds and only five (the four Swedes and Steve Clark) who had mastered the art of upwind planing in an International Canoe. It was not surprising the North Americans were so deficient. Most of us were lucky if we had six months of tiller time on the International Canoe."

Photographer Gail Scott Sleeman just happened to capture Tweezerman (US 163) on film whilst leading the second race. Here, I'm still holding the lead but being chased hard down the first reach by two other International Canoe neophytes at that regatta, Tim Prince (US 160) and Canadian Martin Herbert (KC 11)



Another Gail Scott Sleeman photo showing Tweezerman launching off the starting line.



The World Championship title came down to the last race. Steve Clark was battling the two top Swedes, Max Tollvist and Olle Bergqvist. Steve ended up tied for second with Olle but lost the tie breaker. A photo of Steve (looks like he's coming into the launch beach) from staff photographer Ren Elliot, scanned from a yellowed article in the local newspaper, Sippican Sentinel.



Two other scanned photos of the launching beach off Tabor Academy, again from Ren Elliot of the Sippican Sentinel newspaper. Tweezerman is getting ready to shove off in the background of the first photo.






And another one from Ren Elliot of the Sippican Sentinal; Swede Olle Bergqvist (2nd overall) on his way out to the race course.

Boat Watching from the Highway

I'm always on the lookout for boats going down the highway.... sort of like bird watchers or those who sit by airports watching the planes landing and taking off; its a secret test to see if I can correctly ID that boat that is quickly disappearing in my rear view mirror. I was floored about two weeks ago with an extremely rare sighting. I was bombing westbound over the Rt. 50 Severn River Bridge about 4:30 pm. The eastbound lanes were slowed to a crawl as they came up on the bridge, as is typical at that time of day. And then I saw a strange boat being cartopped on what looked to be a Volvo station wagon. In that one or two seconds I had available to glance over....bingo.....paydirt! For I knew immediately that there were probably only 20 or so people in the U.S who had a chance at ID'ing this craft and I was one of them.

The sliding seat strapped next to the hull gave it away. It was an International Canoe, but not just any International Canoe, the low chine indicated the latest generation International Canoe and not the old Nethercott hull. The long mean bow with the rig set aft looked like the latest Chris Maas design, probably the fastest IC going at this time.

Well, the Maas International Canoe is known to primarily reside on the West Coast; it was indeed a rare event to see one on the East Coast. I needed a confirmation since it's been close to eighteen years since I was active in the class. I called up good friend Bill Beaver and, "Yessiree Bob", I mean Bill, who said it must have been Chris Maas driving up to Rhode Island to catch a container to Germany for this year's World Championship.

Well, this sighting of a cartopped International Canoe brought back memories of an eccentric fellow from Annapolis who cartopped an International Canoe on a rusty Karmann Ghia during the 1980's. Never too far mind you, maybe 30 miles max. Believe it or not, the IC never fell off.

All my International Canoe Posts can be seen here .

Throwback Thursday: International Canoe US 132 "Rosie Cheeks"

Sometimes the question of what next to post on this blog just falls into your lap. Case in point - Andre' Cloutier of Ravenwood Canoes up in Canada posted last Sunday about a 1980's International Canoe he now owned and was intending to restore. As I perused the post and looked at the pictures I realized this was the last International Canoe I owned, US 132, Rosie Cheeks. Originally owned by Chris Converse, who built the aircraft plywood interior into a single skin King Ferry fiberglass hull, this was one of the top U.S. International Canoes in the 1980's.

Somewhere around 2001-2003 time frame I bought,on the cheap, only the hull of US 132 from Steve Clark. My kids were in college, there wasn't much extra cash kicking around, and I had been out of IC's for about 8 years. I was under no illusion that, as a competitive endeavor, putting US 132 back on the water was probably doomed.  A lot of development had gone into the International Canoes in those intervening twenty plus years and what was fast in the 1980's was not likely to be fast in the early 2000's. I threw some experimental stuff on the hull I still had kicking around. (A rotating mast, a wowee-looking NS-14 mainsail; problem was I was under the permitted sail area with this rig.)

As soon as I got on the water, my speculation was confirmed. US 132 was just not up to snuff with the fleet. But the International Canoe is a fun dinghy to just sail, really a neat ride, especially upwind, that I still have fond memories of US 132. I found some pictures of my last travel regatta in International Canoes. Chesapeake fleet stalwarts, Bill Beaver, George Saunders, and I went out to Geist Reservoir, Indianapolis, Indiana for the U.S Nationals. It was intended to support the small Midwest fleet but the turnout was not good. We had, if I recollect, about 9 International Canoes, that sailed the weekend in very little wind. Rosie Cheeks finished somewhere middle but like all road trips there are some great memories.

International Canoe sailors do a lot of standing up between races when the wind is light.

There was some breeze after the racing concluded.

This was typical of the racing. I'm trying to hold off my two Chesapeake team-mates in their two carbon/honeycomb hulls (plus, as I stated above, my rig was undersized). Didn't work for too long.

Most of the fleet scattered over the Indianapolis Sailing Club lawn.

After the racing on Sunday concluded, the wind filled in to about 8 knots, coming down the lake. I went up and down the lake for about an hour, nothing too strenuous, but enjoying the heck out of the daysail (I had crewed a Y-flyer Nationals on Geist when I was in my early twenties, about 1971 - thirty years later the shoreline was now dotted with expensive waterfront homes.)

I came back from this regatta convinced, with some remorse for the International Canoe is a great dinghy, that given the reduced time and money I wanted to put into competitive sailboat racing, the Classic Moth was where I would devote my efforts.

2014 International Canoe Worlds - Practice Race

Today's report from Earwigoagin's on-site reporter, Fran DeFaymoreau, at the Richmond Y.C.:

"Saturday September 6, 2014. Practice race. The start line is set west of Albany Hill in the east bay between Richmond and Berkeley. Wind direction 225, velocity 5 to 8 knots. This is a typical San Francisco pattern, with the marine layer covering the entire bay [ed. note: marine layer as in fog]. As the Central Valley heats up and pulls cool ocean air into the bay, wind speed increases and continues to increase as the afternoon progresses.

"By start time, 12:25, the wind is at ten knots, at 220 degrees. At the first weather mark Chris Maas [ed. USA and reigning World Champion] is 100 yards ahead of the second boat. By the time they go around the reach mark he has stayed out front and at the leeward mark he peels off and retires back to the harbor having demonstrated that he is still the one to beat. Robin Wood [ed. GBR and winner of the last Worlds in San Francisco - 1993] wins the practice race showing that he is still one of the front runners.

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Everybody to the back of the bus!

One of the things etched in my mind about the 1993 Worlds was how differently we set the International Canoe up to race in the San Francisco breeze and chop. Back then, as it is today, the sliding seat on the International Canoe is on a track so you can adjust the live trim. In the Chesapeake Bay we would crank the seats back for heavy air reaches and move them forward for the beats. In San Francisco, once the breeze was on, the seats stayed back, upwind and down. In 1993, I set my seat forward for the first beat which usually was in lighter winds, 12-15 knots, then pulled it back for the first reach and never touched it again. It was full on - stay at the "back of the bus" sailing.

Similarly when setting the daggerboard. Even though I was using one of the smallest daggerboards in the fleet in 1993, I was "reefing" it by pulling it up a foot or more. I usually had it down for the lighter first beat. After that, as the breeze came up the daggerboard came up, stayed up, never to be adjusted for the rest of the race. Completely out of the norm compared to our Chesapeake Bay racing.

Here is a video of "Big Dave" Gilliland reaching in an International Canoe with the seat cranked all the way back. This is a good approximation of the view I had bombing around the 1993 Worlds courses. (To complete the visualization, add some boats crossing this way and that, plus some marks I had to get around, waves I had to avoid stuffing the bow into, tacks that were a bear to complete...the entire drill of racing an International Canoe in a breeze.)

Header Photo: D-class Swedish Sailing Kanot

Torsten Sörvik

The previous header photo was of the Swedish D-class sailing canoes (kanot) racing to the weather mark. Several countries, Sweden, England, United States, Germany, created cruising or open sailing canoe classes during the early 1900's. (As compared to the faster and more out-of-control decked sailing canoe, which evolved to the modern International Canoe.) At least in this photo, the modern D-kanot now races with a very refined, hi-tech, square top rig. The Swedish "cruising" sailing canoe classes as I could find from the Internet are:

• B-class. A 3.9 meter cat-rigged sailing canoe for young sailors. Max sail area 8 square meters. For a glimpse of a Swedish B-class kanot (blue hull with, what appears to be an OK rig at 1:20 and 1:58 into the video), click on the video in this post. Also, more info here.
• C-class - 4.8 meters to 5.2 meters. Max sail area 10 square meters. Minimum weight 81 kg.
• D-class - 5.4 meters to 6 meters. Max sail area 13 square meters. Minimum weight 360 kg. I've lifted the header photo from the website of boatbuilder Torsten Sörvik, who appears to be the kingpin of the Swedish D-class kanot's.
• E- class - 5.4 meters to 6 meters. Max sail area 13 square meters. Minimum weight 130 kg.

The Swedish sailing canoes all feature hiking boards which extend the hiking skipper out about 300 mm or so. There is a German canoe class, the Taifun, of which I know very little, that also uses these hiking boards. A video from this years Eurocup on a lake in Berlin shows both the International Canoe and the Taifun class racing. I must admit the Taifun looks to be a very sensible singlehander (or a two-hander for smaller crews). Click here for a more detailed post about the German Taifun sailing canoe.



And a Taifun at speed.



And a Taifun at speed, take 2.



All this crusing canoe research was brought about when I was called upon to help identify a sailing canoe model that was picked up by sailmaker, Douglas Fowler. More about this later.

16X30 Sailing Canoe; EZ build Gilbert design

I know of several sailboat classes that have been reborn after going bust, but I know of only one where the class is being revived despite most of the existing boats (built pre WWII) being safely ensconced in museums.

John Summers has developed a stitch and glue plywood 16X30 sailing canoe; the 16X30 being the premier American racing sailing canoe that existed up till 1933 when Brits Uffa Fox and Roger DeQuincey thoroughly trounced the Americans on their home waters and the resultant new class rules produced the modern International Canoe class (the International Canoe just recently revised their rules again).

John has taken the lines of a hard chine Gilbert sailing canoe (circa early 1900's) and offers detailed set of plans through Antique Boat Museum . John writes the interesting history of bringing the 16X30 sailing canoe back to modern times over at the online "Canoe Sailing Magazine".

16X30's are being built and John sent me some photos of activity from 2009.












I had a chance to sail the round bilged Tomahawk 16X30 a couple of years ago. An interesting ride but I'll leave that to another post.

A YouTube video on 16X30's sailing and pictures of the original and prototype Gilbert canoe.

1981 International Canoe Worlds; The Epilogue

What other memories do I carry from the 81 International Canoe Worlds?

1. I've done three other regattas where the housing, food, and dinghy park were based out of one site (excluding Sugar Island Week, where everyone is stuck on the island for a week). Today, it's not common to do that for regattas (except, like Sugar Island, camp regattas seem to be getting popular, which uses the same concept of throwing everyone together after racing). Having everything at Tabor Academy was good. Since most of us were on a steep learning curve, shared experiences across nationalities took on even more meaning.
2. I had a one year old infant at home that was an early riser. Keeping my morning routine, around 6:30 am I'd be up in the dim beginnings of daylight, sauntering among the different International Canoes scattered about the dinghy park. Just me and one of the Germans, who, very punctually, would hoist his sails with at least 3 1/2 hours before he had to launch. There's still something about racing dinghies waiting in the half morning light that I find very picturesque.
3. I developed later in the week, a physical affliction known only to sliding seat sailors; severe abrasions on each butt cheek from sliding in and out (several International Canoe sailors from that era slyly referenced such malady in the names of the IC's, i.e "Sticky Buns" and "Rosie Cheeks"). Mid week a lot of us were walking bow legged like cowboys. I thought I had enough padding but as I was to find out later, any movement whatsoever of the piece of clothing or wet suit that was layered next to your butt would act like sandpaper. The physical hurt ratcheted up so, that come Thursday, I was desperate enough (and I alone) to come up with the solution of taping up my butt cheeks with duct tape. It worked well enough for Thursdays racing but when I decided to remove them after the racing, the real pain began. I had no idea how many little tiny hairs you have on your butt. And with duct tape, there is no quick rip it off. Picture Steve Carrell's chest hair removal (movie '40 Year Old Virgin') in very, very, slow, slow motion.
4. I roomed with a young English sailor (I think Adrian was his name), who would attack his IC with a saw, hammer and nails every evening after sailing. On measurement day, Adrian found out his IC was considerably overweight. After determining that the previous owner had squirreled away lead weights in the hull (ostensibly to prevent nosediving), Adrian proceeded to cut huge square holes in the deck. He found the weights and then closed up the holes by nailing some scrap plywood he found laying around the dorms. He had seat carriage problems which he fixed by nailing some large 2X4's to the carriage. In all my time racing dinghies, I have never seen someone destroy in a week, what had been a very pretty cold molded International Canoe.

Finally a picture of a youngish Tweezerman standing (probably because it was too painful to sit) in the Tabor Academy dinghy park alongside his first IC "No Eyes". Thirty years ago, the sailing kit appears prehistoric!

2010 Mid Atlantic Small Craft Festival; 16X30 Sailing Canoe

I blew off a Classic Moth Regatta the first Saturday in October to attend the MASCF at St. Michaels. My wife surprisingly wanted to come and we rendezvoused with our friends Chebacco Bob and his wife Glenda at the Festival. Back in 2008, Bob and I did the full three day MASCF event , me in my Classic Moth, Bob in his Bolger Light Schooner. We camped, like most of the participants, in the small piney wood strip bordering the entrance road to the Museum. We did the informal sailing race on Saturday. A very fun weekend! However, this year, Glenda was wheel chair bound, having broken her leg, so for Bob and I the 2010 MASCF turned into a day trip sans boats.

I generally poke around looking at the small sailing dinghies, canoes, and kayaks. Bob is more interested in larger craft; pocket cruisers, Crotch Island Pinkies and such. My wife, after the obligatory hour watching me immerse myself in boats and more boats, ended up cruising the tourist traps on Main Street.

With all this variety, I like to take the opportunity to test sail something different. This year, thanks to owner John Allen, I sailed on one of the John Summers/Gilbert 16X30 EZ-build sailng canoes . You need some street cred to be able to con a ride on one of these tippy canoes. Fortunately John Allen had heard about me from Bill Beaver and I was allowed to take out his pride and joy for a short spin, street clothes and all.

The 16X30 was America's premier racing sailing canoe from the years 1900-1933. In 1933, the International Rules were rewritten and the sloop rigged International Canoe came into being.

On the 16X30, sailing a cat/ketch rig is different, as well as getting used to the pushme/pullyou crosshead tiller (the sliding seat hiking aid would also be different for most other sailors but I've had experience with the International Canoe version).

John has rigged his reproduction 16X30 with modern blocks and lines, carbon spars if you want; a great improvement over the vintage hardware I sailed on one of the early 16X30 Tomahawk reproductions. I found in sailing this plywood 16X30 in 5 to 7 knots that their were no obvious vices. Once I determined how tippy the 34 inch wide hull was, she tacked with authority and small adjustments on the mainsheet kept her on her feet in the puffs. With two low aspect sails and short sliding seat, the Summer/Gilbert certainly was an easier proposition to step into and sail than the International Canoe. I didn't get wet, even my shoes stayed dry!

One of the special thrills in dinghy sailing is being suspended outside the hull (trapeze, wings or sliding seat) and watching the hull slice along. The Summers/Gilbert EZ-build is a probably the best option for a home builder to experience that thrill. It may take a while to master but it's not out of reach for most with reasonable agility.

Thanks again to John for the great ride.

Some pics of John Allen sailing his Summers/Gilbert EZ-build 16X30.






John Allen kibitzing with a spectator. Note how he tethers the 16X30 to the dock by standing on the sliding seat.

Some pics of the small boat dock...........





Tip of the hat to friends I ran into at this years MASCF; Bill Parks, Chuck Sutherland, Marilyn Vogel, and Larry Haff.

I'll cover some of the other sailing craft in upcoming posts.

Header Photo: The Taifun Sailing Canoe

The previous header photo is of the athletic, full-on hiking skipper powering the modern German Taifun sailing canoe upwind. The Taifun is a racing canoe class that is the only extant sailing canoe that has similar dimensions to the original English B-class sailing canoe of the early 1900's.

A history of the Taifun sailing canoe from Christopher of the German Sailing Canoe Federation:

"The sailing canoe is one of the representatives of the small sailing craft with elegant, sleek lines. Early on, the most frequently built was the 7.5 square meter sailing canoe of the German Canoe Association. There were Rundspant, Knickspant- and Doppelknickspant boats. They are 5.20 m long, sloop, and were sailed by one person. The sail logo of class was a red dot. Typical for the boats is the Spitzgat shape - the double-ended shape of the sailing canoes. The 7.5 square meter sailing canoe was a restricted design class where the length of the boat, the sail height and sail area were fixed. Many different sailing canoes were built to this rule and the most up-to-date knowledge in small boat construction was adopted. However, the variety of types made a large spread in speed and finishers in regattas were very spread out.

"From an issue of the "Yacht" (1951, Issue 6, p.133): "The Bremer, after seventeen years of experience in the design and building of sailing canoes, five years after the end of the Second World War, developed a type 'Bremen" canoe, a 7.5 square meter racing and hiking canoe- and they have achieved a certain standard form, which has proven an excellent sailing craft. The boat has a "spoon bow", the underwater shape has no hollow lines, so that it does not hobby horse, and remains dry even in heavy weather Of course, it is equipped with all the latest technical finesse, the canoe is light, fast, stable - and in combination with a large cockpit it is not only a superb racer, but also an ideal hiking boat.The owner with wife and 1-2 children can sleep comfortably in the long cockpit. The cockpit can of course be covered except for a small opening- which has proved to be unnecessary even in hard regattas and heavy waves on the lower Weser from Bremer Werft to the DM 1000.-. "

The designer of the 7.5 square meter sailing canoe type "Bremen" was Walter Mater. As a trained boat builder, he worked in the post-war years as a part-time home builder. He himself operated a small boatbuilding company in Bremen before the war began. Later (about 1963) he developed a motor canoe. In 1985, Walter Mater died at the age of 77 years. Drawings of his canoes, Canadian paddling canoes and regatta dinghies were sent to a large number of interested parties and clients at the time.

On the Hamme near Bremen, the German Championships took place in 1955 in the 7.5 square meter sailing canoe. However, there were only 10 boats. In 1956 the 7.5 square meter class were up to 17 boats from Bremen, Westphalia and southern Germany.

In 1964/65, the Taifun, based on the Bremen canoe, was introduced - a further development that included short hiking boards, to enable more hiking leverage on this narrow hull. The boat numbers G1 to G 99 are 7.5 square meters sailing canoes, numbers G 100 and up are Taifun's. The Taifun was a one-design, and the old 7.5 restricted rule class was abolished. As can be read in an issue of the "Yacht" from 1963: "Unanimously, the German Canoe Association decided in the autumn of 1963, the introduction of a standard sailing canoe The existing free design class is no longer allowed New builds and basic conversions of the 7.5 square meter canoe will no longer be measured ... From this standardization, the German Canoe Federation promises to intensify canoe sailing on a national and international level. "

Some photos of the Taifun class racing. The Taifun sports little hiking seats to get the skipper out further. Juniors race the Taifun two-up; after age 19 the Taifun is a singlehander.

Some videos of the Taifun are over at this post.

Woodenboat's Small Boat Edition 2009

Woodenboat magazine puts out a Small Boat issue every year. It is a smorgasbord of small boat disciplines; kayak, open decked dayboats, sailing canoes, skiffs, wherry's, dory's, catboat's, mini hydroplanes ...... and etc. etc. For a boat nut, it's a must read.

WoodenBoat Small Boat Magazine

Some of the boats have a personal connection.

John Summers has put together a stitch and glue 16X30 sailing canoe. I've seen the plans and they are comprehensive. The 16X30 Gilbert sailing canoe is not for everybody, but if you want a challenge of sailing a sliding seat canoe (not as athletic as the International Canoe) this is the one to build.

Build and Sail a Decked Sailing Canoe

I sailed against Ben Fuller in International Canoe's in the 1980's, and in the 2009 magazine; he has his "Rai Tan" lug sailed open camp cruiser featured. An Antonia Dias design, it looks to be very competent either under oar or sail.

Followup to Mystery International Canoe on Severn River Bridge

Update to my spotting a a new generation lime green International Canoe stuck in traffic on the Severn River Bridge .........
The owner/designer/builder of that mystery IC, grey-haired, oldster Chris Maas won the International Canoe Worlds at Travemunde Germany held late July. And Chris also anchored the US team (with teammates and youngsters, David and Willy Clark) in winning back the New York Cup (first competed for in 1887) over the English team. The New York Cup competition is a semi team race; three vs three but the winner of the race is determined by the first one to cross the line. In the New York Cup, if you have a particularly fast canoe sailor you can spring to the front, it's game over. Dave and Willy were able to spring Chris to win the first two races (best out of three races) and the cup comes back to the U.S (Australia were the previous holders).

Pictures of various IC's sailing at the Worlds can be viewd over at Chris Hampe's Flickr account .

What I didn't get to do this summer; Sugar Island Encampment

One of the events I missed this summer, to my immense disappointment; I didn't do my annual camping/boating trip to Sugar Island during the American Canoe Association Encampment. Though I've retired from International Canoe racing, Sugar Island is my yearly chance to reconnect to the IC guys still hammering around in these pure, balls to the wall, sailing machines. My post on my 2009 Sugar Island campsite is over here (for some reason that video has my co-workers cracking up).

I filmed the 2009 Round Sugar Island Race (traditionally only raced once during the week but, in 2009, the IC sailors enjoyed it so much they ran it a second time). The course is twice around Sugar Island. After the first lap, you reverse direction. Start and finish is off New York Bay. I caught the action from Hurricane Point which, in the prevailing westerly's, has the most wind and a tricky cross chop bouncing off the shore.

The class has changed it's rules since I raced. The new rules International Canoe is much thinner (30") and much lighter than the ones I raced. In the video, Bill Beaver is racing "Lust Puppet", an IC I owned during the 1990's.

Round Sugar Island, 2009............

I ran into Paul Miller, another retired IC sailor this past week and he directed me to another International Canoe video, this one of the 2010 North American's in San Francisco (capsize city!).

Shot by Gail Yando, significant other of Del Olsen (Del, USA 243, who I must reluctantly report is my age, and still racing these beasts hard in a breeze).

Did you notice Erich Chase's partial wardrobe malfunction at about 7:38 into the video?

International Canoe Nostalgia Week

Today, Saturday, September 6, is the start of the 2014 World Championships for the International Canoe Class, hosted by Richmond Y.C. of San Francisco. Twenty one years ago I sailed my last International Canoe Worlds hosted by the same club. There are still some of those competitors from 1993 who are still going at it in these tippy beasts and who will be present on the start line for the first race on Sunday. Some names I recognize are the American's Steve Clark, Del Olsen, Dave Gilliland; the Canadian Bob Lewis; the Brit's Colin Brown, Simon Allen; the Swede Ola Barthelson and the Australian Hayden Virtue. San Francisco Bay always makes for a great windy regatta where sea stories spun on shore after the racing become legend and are told again and again.

For me, in 1993, I didn't cover myself in glory, finishing 44th, but glory wasn't the purpose as the regatta was sandwiched by a cross-country automobile family vacation with enough memories in and of itself. I raced not all the races, but finished enough of them to consider it a success. Participating in a World Championship in the big wind and waves of San Francisco was reward enough.

To commemorate the San Francisco Worlds, the hope at Earwigoagin is to post something on International Canoes every day this week. I also hope to have some reports from the current regatta as I have cajoled another ex-IC geezer to be Earwigoagin's on-site reporter . And you will definitely get some geezer nostalgia from the 1993!

I wrote some on the 1993 IC Worlds in this previous post.

Here is the only known photo I have from 1993. I'm in US 208, center-right in the photo, bailing out onto port tack after a very late start at the Race Committee end. I have a dim recollection of maybe getting a late push-off from the club and not quite making the start, or maybe I was doing an onboard repair (there seemed to be more than enough mucking around in the middle of the IC that regatta, fixing something that had broken). I was using a Kevlar jib back in the early years of mylar sails for dinghies. This particular sail was shedding large chunks of mylar every time I  had it out, hence the large patches of black sail number material. Amazingly the sail never ripped apart, despite large areas where you could see all the way through. I did revert back to a dacron jib later in the regatta.

New York Bay, Sugar Island and Decked Sailing Canoes

As the 12 meter yachts will be forever linked to Newport, Rhode Island, the North American decked sailing canoe and its modern incarnation, the International Canoe, will always be inextricably linked to a tiny inlet on Sugar Island called New York Bay. Bay is a grandiose term for a body of water you could easily throw a baseball over, but it has been the center of decked canoe sailing for over a century. During the July ACA encampment, the International Canoes race for trophies that arguably are the oldest in small boat sailing; the Crane, the Mermaid, the Butler, and the Championship.

The campsites for the decked canoe sailors and families ring New York Bay. There is a constant bustle of kids swimming, kayaks coming and going, boat tweaking for the next race. On one side of the Bay are the wooden floats where most of the IC's are kept. On the promontory, just beyond the floats, is the Steve Lysak cabin with a expansive view of the St Lawrence. There is a small beach where kayaks and IC's on dollies reside. New York Bay is tucked away out of the prevailing southwesterly's, so much so that one can leave the sails up during the day with no excitement.

Some photos...... As always you can click on the photo for higher resolution.

From the Edwin Schoettle book, Sailing Craft, published in 1928, there is a photo of the floats on New York Bay filled with 16X30 decked sailing canoes. The tent on the left occupies the same space the Steve Lysak cabin sits today.



Canoe floats on New York Bay over 80 years later. Some of the fleet at this years Encampment..........



Looking out from New York Bay onto the St. Lawrence. Marilyn Vogel sailing her ACA rigged open canoe. The Canadian town of Gananoque is about 2 miles in the distance.



Finally, International Canoes launch for the afternoon races. Note the varying techniques to navigate out of the windless New York Bay.


Note; There is an error in one of the titles of the video. Sugar Island is in Canada, not New York.

Header Photo: IC's at Loch Lomond

The previous header photo is of the International Canoe's at their European Championships held at Loch Lomond, Scotland. In reading through the regatta reports this looks like the race where the fleet came ashore after a storm rolled through. Two of the toughest dinghy classes to land downwind on a lee shore are the Laser and the International Canoe - the Laser because it has no halyard so the sail cannot be lowered in a seamanship manner - the International Canoe because it has no stability and once the single skipper bails out, it wants to fall over. Most International Canoeists let that happen as a matter of course, as the photo shows. The release of the main halyard usually takes place in a relaxed manner, when the IC is on its side, the IC is then easily righted, the main slides down and the beast is tamed. I did, early on in my IC career, when I was exhausted after a day of racing, run the IC downwind, at speed, too close to shore, grounded and bent the thru-deck rudder. It took a fair bit of whaling away with a maul to get that stainless steel shaft straightened enough for the next days racing. May I also direct you to previous post in Earwigoagin of someone having a heckuva time getting off the lee shore.

2009 Sugar Island Encampment

I was off last week, camping on Sugar Island, Canada. Sugar Island is part of the Lake Fleet chain of islands in the Thousand Islands and is owned by the American Canoe Association (since around 1903) and they have been hosting the Annual Encampment even before that time. In the 1920's and 1930's, the Encampment was a big deal; canoe clubs from up and down the East Coast attended, paddling and sailing competitions were held over the two weeks, there was a large dining hall and a ferry stopped over at Headquarter Bay to take on and offload passengers. Plus, during the Prohibition, Sugar Island was just inside Canada and you could legally imbibe alcohol, something that was readily enjoyed by American canoeists.

Today the Annual Encampment is on a much, much smaller scale, most of the canoe clubs from the past are long extinct, the dining hall either burnt down or was razed and the Island has returned to a wilder state, replete with raccoons, mink, deer. The International Canoes (I know they don't look like canoes but their heritage is very definitely grounded in the sailing canoes of yore) race the first week for some very old trophies. I haven't owned a race boat Int. Canoe since the mid 90's so I attend as a Int. Canoe alumni and help with race committee, connect with old sailing buddies, kibbitz with the current crop of International Canoe sailors and paddle my surf ski hither and yon.

More about the Encampment later but here is a video of my campsite.



Oh, I forgot to say that they cliff dive (into the water) off of Island 48. International Canoeists are masochists but they usually don't throw themselves off cliffs to the ground below.

Header Photo: International Canoe launching over a wave

The World's most popular "planker" class (boy, do I like the Aussie term for the sliding seat!). I lifted this photo of an International Canoe from the Internet. It shows Swede Johan Elfström racing his one-design (Nethercott hull) International Canoe at the 2011 Championship at Travemünder Woche. Johan finished fourth in the one-design fleet.

And from a world far, far, away, here is a somewhat fuzzy photo of the blogmeister riding "No Eyes" hard (pic from Buzzards Bay in the mid 1980's). (Photo from Leslie White)