Int. Canoe Nationals at Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club Day 3

The International Canoe is the fleet that just keeps giving, if by 'giving' different sailing conditions on each day is what your looking for.

With the first course set and started in a south westerly 10 knots it took a couple of laps before the wind filled and came round to the west. With the first mark set under Fort Picklecombe the wind there became very strong, gusty and with large shifts making sailing very difficult with helms struggling from being out on the end of the sliding seat in 20+ knots to jumping back to the centreline in sub 5 knots within seconds. Alistair Warren jumped into a large lead early on in the ic fleet but as the breeze changed Chris Hampe Charged down the downwind leg on Monkey to challenge for the lead in a full on the limits drag race to the bottom mark. In the end Alistair Warren capsized as Hampe drew level and Simon Allen closed up.

The final lap was a one way affair although it would not be plain sailing as each lull under the cliffs provided a risk of capsize. With a change of position of the gybe mark the boats closed together, Hampe lead Warren and Allen with a short beat towards the final mark before a fetch to the finish. The boats split upwind with Alistair Warren making a gain on the left But rounded the final mark level but outside of Hampe it was a final drag race to the finish line and by the narrowest of margins Hampe took the race win both boats overlapped and unsure as to who was the victor. In the Ac fleet the wind direction change meant that for the last lap the spinnakers had to be kept within the boat on the final round at this point however a pecking order had been established with Robin Wood taking the victory from Steve Bowen with Arne Stahl from Germany in third place.

Race 2 of the day was the Sailing challenge cup a long distance race with a trophy of reputation equivalent to the 14's POW or N12's Burton Cup. Both ic and AC boats started together and a very short first beat saw Alistair Warren pop clear of the pack. There was quite a pack of boats together as the second leg was a tight reach towards New Grounds that saw a big hole develop on the course forcing most boats to have to beat back to the mark. This allowed Alistair Warren to open up a large lead from Simon Allen, Chris Hampe and John Ellis who rounded some time after mixed in with the lead AC boats of Robin Wood and Steve Bowen. On the downwind legs that took the boats towards the centre of the breakwater and on to Jennycliffe bay John Elllis passed and put distance on Chris Hampe who continued to fall back until the second lap of downwind action. In the AC fleet it was Arne Stahl who was moving forwards through the fleet eventually finishing 3rd behind Robin Wood and Steve Bowen. Alistair Warren finished first in the ic fleet being able to extend to a five minute lead but it was Chris Hampe who came back from nowhere on the final four legs to first pass Simon Allen on the final beat and line up for another close finish this time with John Ellis. The final run to the finish line was from Ash Buoy to the Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club and Chris closed the 100m gap at the final mark but would finish 5 seconds behind John with Simon Allen close behind in 4th.

Tuesday sees the final day of races with two back to back races starting at 10:30am.

Results after Day 3:

IC Fleet

AC Fleet