International Canoe May Cup Invitational at Weston Sailing Club
by Chris Hampe 28 May 21:41 NZST
Clive Everest looking very smooth and quick, before testing the water cleanliness - International Canoe May Cup Invitational at Weston © Dougal Henshall
Warm Sunshine and a building sea breeze greeted 14 International Canoes as the fleet gathered at Weston Sailing Club on Southampton Water for the May Cup invitational.
Anticipation was high with the forthcoming World Championships as part of the Travemunde Woche fast approaching and several new helms joining in for their first canoe event.
The racecourse was a classic Western course, start on starboard, play chicken with the sailing club wall and pick the right time to tack out on to port hoping you didn't fluff the tack and could emerge in clear wind. The beat would then open out through the choppy waters to the windward mark near Netley Cliff Sailing Club. From here it was a broad reach to a gybe mark off the deep water channel and a tighter reach back in towards the shoreline just northwest of the club.
The final short beat through the finish line would provide another opportunity to play chicken with the Weston shoreline with those who placed their tacks correctly being able to tack through the start line and continue up the beat without further manoeuvres. Even laps would omit the gybe mark and the first race was a total of four laps before breaking for lunch before two further races as the wind continued to build through the afternoon.
The racing would prove to be very close at the top of the results with a different top four in each of the racing. Eventually it was Chris Hampe who would emerge victorious after a slow start his boat handling enabled him to turn the corners better than the rest to edge out the others as he started to revel in the building breeze and chop. Clive Everest finished in second place and was particularly quick upwind while maintaining a higher pointing angle than most.
Philip Robin finished third and again was enjoying the stronger conditions in the later races, Mike Fenwick and Tony Robertshaw also had great bursts of speed and Alistair Warren was quickly getting up to speed with his new boat Roobarb.
The Asymmetric boats were unable to match the pace of the newer narrower and lighter ICs but were closing fast at the end of each downwind. James Hofman would finish on top the trio with his fifth place finish in race 1 giving him a significant edge over Tony Phillips and Chris Duffin.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 340 | Chris Hampe | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 2nd | 339 | Clive Everest | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 3rd | 328 | Phil Robin | 6 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| 4th | 341 | Michael Fenwick | 2 | 5 | 5 | 12 |
| 5th | 329 | Tony Robertshaw | 1 | 6 | RET | 17 |
| 6th | 357 | Alistair Warren | 10 | 4 | 3 | 17 |
| 7th | 299 | James Hofman | 5 | 7 | RET | 22 |
| 8th | 271 | Tony Phillips | 12 | RET | 6 | 31 |
| 9th | 296 | Chris Duffin | 11 | RET | 7 | 31 |
| 10th | 349 | Martin Robb | 7 | RET | DNC | 37 |
| 11th | 308 | Tim Garvin | 8 | RET | DNC | 38 |
| 12th | 353 | Perham Harding | 9 | RET | DNC | 39 |
| 13th | 354 | Harry Stratton‑Brown | RET | DNC | DNC | 49 |
| 13th | 280 | Henry Warren | RET | DNC | DNC | 49 |
| 15th | 338 | Steve Clarke | DNC | DNC | DNC | 51 |
| 15th | 347 | Andy Gordon | DNC | DNC | DNC | 51 |