International Canoe Worlds 1972

Oxelösund (Sweden)

Some contemporary newspaper press cuttings/reports in Swedish: here, here, here, here, here and here.
There's also an atmospheric photograph of boats at the event on this pdf, with the notorious rams horn tiller extensions well in evidence. Its easy to see why the IC fleet had a rule in their SIs permitting contact between tiller extensions decades before it became fashionable in other classes!

I haven't found an English language report for the event, but I have taken the above press cuttings, crudely translated them into English with Google translate, and attempted to precis this material into a readable piece. Tord Lawner, who competed at the event, has cast his eye over the resulting text and made some corrections and additions.

According to one of the press cuttings there were at least 28 entries, but I only have overall results for the top 15. Other names that turned up in the cuttings have been included in the results table.

Monday, Race 1

I don't have a press cutting for day one. It's evident it was very windy - up to 20 knots with big waves. The day two report states 13 boats had gear failure on day one - so getting on for half the fleet. The race was won by Ingemar Sandberg, Bengt Grinell second and Gunnar Aggefors in third. The first day was dominated by Swedish sailors, which, frankly, is pretty much true of the whole event.

Tuesday, Race 2

Fog, sleet and almost no wind. There was a long postponement and then a three and a half hour race. Tord Lawner led at the start, but Martin Rosell and Gunnar Aggefors contested the lead for most of the race, which was won by Gunnar Aggefors from Martin Rosell. Lars-Erik Lundgren came in third and Ingemar Sandberg fourth. The first Brit was Biddle in seventh place, and the first German, Günter Kahl, tenth.

Wednesday, Race 3

The course was set in a more sheltered area at Bråviken rather than the main estuary. The wind was around 14 to 18 knots.

Ingmar Sandberg retired with a broken forestay fitting, and John Biddle retired after a capsize before the start. Lars-Ove Söder won from Martin Rosell, with Leif Johanson third ahead of Bengt Grinell.

Thursday, Race 4.

A more moderate breeze, varied from around 15 to 5 knots later in the race. The course was set at Bråviken again. Lars-Ove Söder led from start to finish. Behind it was harder fought, with Tord Lawner ahead at first, but Leif Johanson taking second and Gunnar Aggesfors moving up to third.

Friday, Race 5

It was light conditions with a calm wind, 6 - 10 knots. Gunner Aggefors led the race at the last leg, but was disqualified, giving Peter Lundqvist the win. John Biddle was second, Lars Erik Lundgren in third and Martin Rosell fourth. Lars-Ove Söder, who was leading the series at this point, retired with rudder failure.

Saturday Race 6

There's not much in the press cuttings for this race either. It was held in winds varying from around 10 to 15 knots, and won by Leif Johansson, ahead of John Biddle and Peter Lundqvist. Lars-Ove Söder was disqualified for a premature start, and the second letter score put an end to his chances.

Sunday, Last Race.

Lighter airs, around 4 knots, and another long three hour race. Going into the race it was very close between Peter Lundqvist, Martin Rosell, Gunnar Aggefors. Lars-Ove Söder, the only sailor with two wins and the series leader after four races was out of contention after a retirement with gear failure on Friday and an OCS on Saturday. John Biddle, the reigning World and European Champion, who had not started the series well, led the race from start to finish, and the win was just enough to give him the bronze medal. Peter Lundquist did not relish the conditions and was never really comfortable, finishing in 14th which put him out of contention. Aggefors therefore needed to finish two places above Rosell to win the series. On the first beat Rosell was ahead of Aggefors, but by the second beat he had dropped down to sixth, and Aggefors had moved up to second. On the third lap, though, Rosell moved up to third behind Aggefors, which was just enough to give him the gold medal. Aggefors had to settle for silver as at the previous Worlds and Europeans.

The dominance of the Swedes was almost complete, with only John Biddle, the reigning World champion, managing a top 10 placing. Add to that Ingmar Sandberg retiring from the series with 1,4, DNF and Lars-Ove Söder out of contention after scoring 4,6,1,1 in the first four races and its evident that if anything the overseas entries were flattered by the final results!