CYCIKC

by John Colver

If you are trying to convert the above letters into a word, good luck! The letters do nothing more than identify the Corinthian Yacht Club and the International Knarr Championship which will be held at the San Francisco Yacht Club during the last week of August. The IKC is held each year in either San Francisco, Norway or Sweden. In 2004 Corinthian Yacht Club is scheduled to host the regatta if someone wants to run it. Qualifiers from three countries meet to celebrate the regatta and to do some sailing in what will hopefully be a wind-filled series of races. Some of the European regattas have suffered from "wind lack" and thus were not terribly exciting.

Jim Skaar, sailing boat #128, is the only CYC member to qualify for the regatta. However, all of the Knarrs berthed in our harbor will be participating in the regatta. Chairman of the IKC is John Colver, whose committee has been laboring for the past year to guarantee a quality event. With visiting participants arriving from Norway and Sweden, housing is being sought. Any members wishing to provide housing for visiting sailors should call Rosalind Colver at 435-4032. CYC members who will be hosts for visiting sailors are Virginia Shalz, Soren Axelson, Bill Canada, Julle LeVicki, Jim Skaar, Jeff McQueen, Karin Dilou and Randall von Wedel. Others participating in the event are Else-Liv Skaar who will chair the mid-week party dinner committee, Al Blair who will handle boat repairs (this is a tough fleet), and Ros and John Colver who are supervising the project and chairing the housing committee as well.

An excerpt from the Danish Knarr Admiralty web page

In 1943, while dark clouds were hovering over Europe, the Knarr was born in Norway. Designed by Erling L. Kristofersen. Over the next 25 years approximately 150 Knarrs were launched in Norway, and she became the most popular boat of her size. Today, the Knarr fleet numbers approximately 120 boats in Norway, approximately 50 in the USA, and well over 120 in Denmark. In 1954 she was approved as a national one-design class in Denmark. Borresen's yard in Vejle, Denmark, is the only licensed builder of the Knarr, with a production so far of more than 160 yachts, since 1974 built in fiberglass.

The International Knarr Championship has been held each year since 1969, rotating between Norway, the USA, and Denmark. The host nation supplies the racing fleet and participates with 12 crews; the other two nations are invited to race each with six crews and the reigning champion always holds a sure invitation. All 25 boats race for six days in an absolute top scale of competition. Racing tactics and skillful boat handling are more important than a crew of sheer muscle and power - this is the state-of-the-art in racing, and that's what it's all about in the Knarr Class.

[next page]