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 divisions enjoyed 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 width 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 opportunity to see if the boats would not only be faster, but also be capable of staying up-right!
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 sailmaker and flying fifteen champion Steve Goacher 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 Alastair 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 a stolwart of the fleet and captain of the beer tasting and social club was Mr Consistent showing that good average results would be the winning formula. 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 announced 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 ammusement when Steve Goacher performed an unscheduled 360 degree piroette under full spinnaker. As the downwing 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 within 100m. In the IC’s 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 decided to can the remaining races as the light north-easterly faded leading to drifting conditions, with an additional challenge caused by the turning tide.
Flat calm greeted sailors on Monday, but by 3.30pm 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 Alastair.
For the AC fleet, winning the the first beat was vital to getting a good position. With the oscillating winds over the course and strong tide 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. Dave Timson was finding speed with two good second places.
A light easterly on the last day gradually built to a force 4 as the day progressed. Phil Robin continued his winning ways in Race 7, followed home by Mark Goodchild, who, enjoying the stronger breeze, won race 8, followed by Alastair Warren, with Phil Robin’s 3rd place enough to secure the championship overall.
The AC fleet the situation was quite different. With 7 sailors all on similar points, the maths was complicated. In the quick running tide, the start became a battle to maintain speed to hold position on the line before the gun and many lost out in the queue behind the starting boat. Dave Timson sailed a good race to win race 7 with John Robson finally finding his way to the front in race 8.
The final race was the 15 mile long distance race, which involved a long beat to the Bradwell nuclear power station in the estuary mouth, followed by a run and reach to Osea island, to be left to starboard before beating to the finish. Both the ICs and ACs started together, with the IC of Mark Goodchild getting to the windward mark ahead of the new development rule boats sailed by Phil Robin and Alastair Warren and then a swarm of ACs led by Steve Goacher. Hoisting their 23m² spinnakers, saw the ACs leaving the ICs trailing in their wake, with a close tussle at the front between Steve Bowen, Colin Brown, Nick Morgan and Dave Timson. Bowen breaking his tiller extension after an unscheduled capsize was forced to retire effectively loosing his chance to improve his position to 4th overall even though he actually won more races than anyone else. Nick Morgan eventually fought his way to the front to win the race the prize of a new jib, kindly donated by Goacher sails, followed by Goacher and Brown in third. In the ICs, Phil Robin overtook Mark Goodchild downwind, and kept his lead to the finish Mark had a close nip and tuck race with Alastair Warren, but overtook him round the back of Osea Island.
The long distance race sorted out final AC positions but with 4 on equal points the top 7 places where largely based on countback. The final results showed that consitency in the championships is vital with second and third places won by sailors never outside the top 6. Colin Brown became 2009 AC National champion having won several times in the IC but never before in the AC.
Results:
IC
- Phil Robin, Hayling Island SC, 9pts
- Alistair Warren, BCU, 17pts
- Simon Allen, Hayling Island SC, 19pts
- Mark Goodchild, Wilsonian SC, 20pts
- John Ellis, Scaling Dam SC, 25pts
- Colin Newman, Draycote Water SC, 42pts
AC
- Colin Brown, Ullswater YC 19pts
- Tony Robertshaw, Weston SC, 25pts
- Steve Goacher, Royal Windemere YC, 26pts
- Dave Timson, Llandegfedd SC, 27pts
- John Robson, Ullswater YC, 27 pts
- Rob Bell, Emberton Park SC, 27pts
