ICs and Bees

June 21, 2010

Last weekend Richmond YC hosted the International Canoe North Americans. It was a pretty close seven race series. Seattle boatbuilder Chris Maas eked out a narrow one point victory over visiting Australian Hayden Virtue. In third was Erich Chase of Novato only three points out of first. Participants also came from as far away as Calgary, Canada, and exotic Rhode Island.

These are not the kind of canoes you paddle along singing Alouette - more like Mr. Rogers asking, "Can you say Carbon Fiber?" The sliding seat is just the beginning. Add in jibing daggerboards and a great big spaghetti pile of lines, self-tacking jibs, reverse sheer, cruiser sterns, extreme catamaran-ish hulls and you start to get the picture.

Top breeze in the long distance race hit 20 knots. Otherwise it was mostly in the low to mid-teens for the buoy races - hardly the demon's worst stuff.

The big surprise was Erich Chase in third. He hadn't been in a Canoe in seven years. Erich sailed a brand new Chris Maas design which Chris delivered only a couple days before the NA's. They epoxied it together during a couple of all-nighters. It left the shop with a barely primed hull. Erich was the early series leader. He even won the 'speed trials', where he hit an GPS measured speed of 13.4 knots. Not bad in a 17-ft Canoe - and it wasn't nuking either.

Another surprise was the 'youth movement': 29er star David Liebenberg, Mikey Radziejowski and Rhode Island's two Clark Brothers (of that famed Canoe sailing family) all competed and lost to the old farts.

Chris Maas of Seattle won the IC North Americans. ©2010 Richmond YC

Gail Yando put together this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cftMud8MZk

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A hazard in the exciting world of yachting journalism: I was taking those Delta Ditch Run digitals the previous weekend. Between shots I noticed a bunch of black flies. and thought the cliff swallows which nest on Mark 37 would make short work of them. Well the swallows stayed away.

T'weren't nicely edible black flies, it was swarm of bees coming right at me.

On the WylieCat 30 Uno is Steve Wonner who during his salad days was a helicopter pilot during Vietnam. He'd maybe had much worse incoming stuff.

Battle hazard in the Delta Ditch Run. ©2010 Richmond YC

Hiding under my Ultra Lightweight Displacement Royal Robbins long-sleeved shirt I prayed to my Buddhist spiritual guidance guy, "Please don't let them be Africanized."

- Seymour Dodds