Int Canoe Europeans 1971

Some film has sufaced of the 1971 European Championships. Starting about 6:30 into this clip, the film shows some of the leading boats of the era, complete with rams horn tillers and other now unfavoured features.

Peter Wells comments: "...this is 1971 European Championship won by John Biddle (K101) with 12.75 pts Gunnar Aggefors (Sweden) silver with 15.5 pts and Martin Rosell (Sweden) bronze with 25.75 pts. The event was held on Steinhudermeer, a lake near Hannover formed mostly from peat excavation, so quite shallow in places. ICF bureaucracy later made it impossible to designate this regatta a European Championship so we had to replace it with the Europa Cup. The Cup itself is an antique Dutch glass drinking vessel donated by Heineken.

In the film you will also see Alan Emus (K82). The week was notable for an intense line squall which swept across the European plain, causing considerable damage. Alan kept sailing longer and harder than other competitors and suffered most damage. For myself I was sailing a prototype from a new builder and was able to use this as an excuse to chicken out when I saw how the weather was developing. The IC fleet was scattered and I think a lay day was declared which enabled most to get back on the water, but it was not long enough to get Alan afloat. I recall that the Red Cross tent put up by the German army was completely destroyed.