International Canoe 'Not the Nationals' at West Kirby Sailing Club 2024

by Liz Potter 10 Sep 2024 18:19 BST

The UK International Canoe Class had a spare Nationals date set aside at West Kirby, as a backup for their Dale SC Nationals in case their numbers were low, as it was very close to the date of the Worlds in Travemunde. It so happened that the Dale week was blessed with good weather and attendance, but the spare date was left standing.

By September, the West Kirby canoe sailors were twitching for more action and an invitation was sent out on the jungle drums by IC guru Tony Marston for a 'Not The Canoe Nationals'.

Of the replies, several were from club Not A Canoe sailors, which set the tone for a wonderful week of racing, tuning and development.

The week started with a practice day on the lake, where the younger newbies were enticed into Tony's Canoe on the lake and introduced to the thrills of the mighty flighty. Holly Wright performed exceptionally well and, as the youngest sailor to try the IC in the week, shows great promise for the future of the class.

Also practicing in his recently purchased 'new rules' Canoe was Steve Fleming. In the coach RIB was Dan Skinner of IC Worlds fame and Jude Stratton.

By Wednesday, the wind had increased. After a tentative lake start, the ICs took to the sea for a series of short races held over three days. The complexities of racing New Rules boats against the Old Rules canoes; novices versus experienced, young versus older, were dealt with fairly by Tony, who is also the club handicapping officer.

After 4 sprint races, visitor Pete Smith was leader of the day. Top junior was WKSC novice IC sailor David Bromilow, who dealt with the tricky conditions well.

On Thursday, the wind was still strong and squally, coming off the cliffs. It was a day for the New Rules boats, with a close tussle between Dan, Pete and Steve. In race 5, Steve's tiller exploded, followed by a dramatic capsize.

The rescue RIB with Tony and Bob Shepherd at hand was quick to assist, pulling the sliding seat of the now righted boat onto the rubber RIB gunwale. The boat was not quite done yet and threw itself across the RIB in another capsize, which turned out to be a better way to bring the boat ashore.

The most appropriate response to the day's drama was the Not The Nationals Championship dinner, which was held at the Royal Bengal, West Kirby.

By Friday, the wind had moderated for all but a few of the hotter curry eaters.

On the racing schedule were three pursuit races. The first was won by the now infamous IC Worlds New York Cup winner, Dan Skinner in his new rules dark steed "Black Betty".

The second race was won by Andrew Potter in his old rules "Icarus", a 28-year-old boat. The last race was won by Liz Potter in Tony's loaned boat "White Knight", incidentally numbered 333, in case she parked it somewhere and forgot its number plate.

Finally, the event came to a close. Plenty of fake news had fed the 'Not The Nationals', including rumours of Donald Trump presenting the prizes. In reality, Laser and Dart legend Gareth Owen was the surprise visitor of the day, helping on the RIB and giving a coaching debrief as part of the prize-giving. ("Try harder," I think he said.)

Overall, a wonderful week worthy of a Nationals. Well done all; the IC Spirit lives on!

Results:

1. Pete Smith
2. Dan Skinner
3. Andrew Potter
4. Liz Potter
5. Tony Marston
6. Steve Fleming
7. Holly Wright
8. David Bromilow
9. Stuart Dawson
10. Alastair Alston