2008 International Canoe World Championsh

Sail Melbourne IC link

International Canoe World Championships
McCrae Yacht Club, Victoria, Australia Dec 29 - Jan 8th as a part of Sail Melbourne 08

You all know what an IC/AC is by now, and if you don't please check out World website www.intcanoe.org or the Aussie one.

We're putting together the World Championships at the moment, so this is more about why you should test sail an IC and look at coming Down Under (or coming to Melbourne if you're already here) in 2008.

• The International Canoe is a high performance, restricted development single handed dinghy - which means you can set up the boat pretty much how YOU want it
• The IC's have a competitive helm weight range of between 65 and 100+kg, thanks to the use of the sliding plank (as opposed to wings or traps). This is not necessarily better, but is definitely a different sailing choice to what the majority of classes offer.
• The IC fleet is very social, with a good programme for the sailing and non sailing members of your team/family/ trolley girls/boys

As you know there is a bit of a push to open up the rules on the IC at present, if this is accepted by the committee and members then the new IC's will be apart of the 2008 programme. In 2005 we raced as 2 fleets: AC's and IC's with sailors like Anders Petersson and Robin Wood competing with the spinnaker, and Mark Goodchild, Ola Barthelson and a stack of others competing in the standard IC mode.

All this and more can be read off the website, or in these pages. Bottom line: What will it cost you/take to jump into an IC/AC and compete in the Worlds:

You'll need a good, well sorted boat (for either IC or AC- Asymmetric Spinnaker fitted)

You can currently get a Professionally built Australian Carbon hulled boat on the water for under AUD20k
Of course, that cost comes down depending how you fit it out, and whether you want a Carbon hull. Bare minimum you will need a Carbon mast, and a well sorted out rig. In Australia we are mainly going to proven skiff sailmakers (Tru-flo, Alexander, Irwin), and CST Composites supplies most of the Carbon sticks.

There is nothing stopping you obtaining a mold and building your own boat, but keep in good contact with some IC/AC sailors as they can really help you avoid costly (monetary and performance wise) mistakes.

There are plenty of experienced IC builders around the world, with Rob Michaels in the UK and Steve Clark in the US being the best known. Tim Wilson has built majority of the Australian Fleet.

You will need time in the boat

IC's/AC's don't have the 'grunt' feel of a skiff, but they are very quick and often remind you of your mistakes with a pleasant swim. You'll need to give yourself some time to familiarise yourself with your new boat, and sort out where you want the control lines and what you want.

You'll need to get to Melbourne

Thankfully Sail Melbourne provide a lot of assistanc through their sponsors, so this should be pretty easy. For reference 6 IC's fit nicely into a 20ft container, and there will definitely be containers coming from the US and UK.

When planning your trip keep referring to the ICAA website (and the worlds website, coming soon) for details on accommodation, events and things to do.

Post 2008 Worlds:
If you're only looking to join the class for the Worlds (quite common in AUS to class hop), you'll be glad to know that IC's stay competitive for a long time so the resale on your boat will be good. However we would always like you to hang onto your IC and sail in the next World Championships in 2011 (thats right, every three years. Good for budgeting, but scary as you get older and realise how many you have left in you).

So there it is, a completely shameless preliminary plug for the 2008 International Canoe World Championships with a little bit of information to get you thinking and talking. If you have any questions please email internationalcanoe@hotmail.com or PM me. I don't have all the answers but I'll try to put you onto the right person.