|
Toronto Sailing & Canoe Club, Canada * August 8-14, 1976 |
   |
|
Toronto Sailing & Canoe Club, Canada * August 8-14, 1976 |
|
|
|
Toronto’s "horrible"
Humber Bay was characterized during Worlds week
by winds that were mostly in the 6-12 knots
range – with occasional stretches of 15 and
perhaps a puff or two of 20 knots. Unlike the
first Worlds where four boats clearly dominated
the field, this 7-race series remained wide open
until the very last race as boats were pretty
even throughout the fleet and the shifts
seemingly random.
 ... Colin Wilson and his
brother, Iain, (see photo above) – one
of two UK crews sailing their own boats, ended
up with the title even though they placed only
12th in the final heat while none of their
closest rivals could place high enough in that
final race to surpass them.
... There was little
doubt that Jeff Jones, then in his run of five
straight North American championships, was the
fastest boat there. However, Jeff’s easy wins
over the previous two years had not prepared him
well for the strategy that would be necessary in
this much tougher fleet. It is rumoured that the
essential total of one Jeff Jones seminar on how
to win races was: "I just like to get out in
front and stay there!"
That approach was
never available to Jeff in this series as he
consistently went well out to one side of the
first beat – and guessed wrong all seven times!!
Thus he was well down the fleet at the first
mark before he turned on the afterburners to end
each race back near the leaders. But not near
enough!! Meanwhile, not to be
outdone, your Uncle Al made the first of his
many not too smart Worlds experiments that year
as he installed a beautiful new home-made
centreboard with a half-round leading edge in
time for the event. It took him until spring ’78
to determine that, unlike on rudder blades,
half-round is terminally slow off the wind.
Belatedly, Al figured out that he had lost 20+
points’ worth of boats on reaches that should
have been "parades". Had he and Freddie
maintained their position in which they rounded
each first windward mark, they would have won
the series decisively.
Among the half dozen or so potential World champs who started race 7 in light airs were Canadians, Heider Funck and André Laframboise who had lost potential strangle-holds on the title when both were DSQ’d out of excellent race 6 finishes for (hotly denied) violations of the (then) 30-second Rule. Anyway, it turned out that the Wilsons’ 12th in the finale was just good enough as all the pursuers finished in just the right places to remain close behind. Meanwhile, defending champion, Alan Wilson, obviously suffered from the light airs and a borrowed boat, ending up 12th overall. Like the UK, the SWS
sent a full team of 6 boats but they seemed
rather lost in the light and shifty winds,
especially the three who were sailing "three
up"! Murphy’s Law was in operation as I remember
telling Søren Ejsenhardt and his two big, strong
crewmen who were borrowing my W4000 that it was
suicide to race with 3 in the boat, especially
in Toronto in August when it almost never
"blows". Naturally, as we got out of the car at
my club, the wind almost ripped the doors off
the car, and Søren and his crew just smiled
politely…...
|
 |
 |
|
... |
|
A page from Ken
Jensen's photographic memories of the 1976 Worlds
----- Original Message -----
From:
KEN-Krist. H. Jensen W1348
To: Al Schönborn
Sent: Monday, April 26,
2010 9:17 AM
Subject: Toronto 1976 Worlds
pictures
... Looking for pictures I found these, and you'll probably recognize some, but also see proof that - although not recorded - as YOU Just Don't Do That - we sailed 4'aboard with Scandinavian heavy-wind 'canvas'-sailcloth - to come very last! Likewise 4'aboard at Hayling 1974, where we fared quite a lot better... K.rgds. Ken t.o. |
 |
|
Original Message -----
From: Al Schonborn
To: KEN-Krist. H. Jensen
Sent: Tuesday, May 04,
2010 11:51 PM
Hi,
Ken:
...Those
pics from your trip to the Toronto Worlds 1976 are
great. Of course you had to take the family to Niagara
Falls. Did you go on the Maid of the Mist
tour? When we went to see the Falls in our first year
in Canada, my brother, Mike, and I, giggled when we
saw that name on the boat, since Mist as you no doubt
know, is the German word for manure (cow shit, etc.).
It was the same as when we first heard that we gave
gifts on people's birthdays, gift being the German for
poison.
Back to
the pictures page, the lower left: Looks like you had
Tom Gamey's boat W1185? Lower right: Lovely!! That's
the three Danish boys in my other boat (W4000 Beaver
Blues) right off your bow. How young they all
look!! Just found another pic of W4000 from June 1976
with Julia (then Julia Bond) in it:
 Ah,
those were the days!! Still, I have no complaints
about the present days, either!!
Talk to
you soon. Best regards,
Uncle
Al (W3854)
|
|
return to Worlds index |