Sailing in Marin: International Knarr Championship draws talented Marin skippers

The 50th edition of the International Knarr Championship (IKC) kicks off this weekend on San Francisco Bay, with the first race start scheduled for Sunday. The regatta, which moves annually between Denmark, Norway and the US, will be hosted by the St Francis Yacht Club and is expecting 25 registered skippers — 13 of these from the US, six from Norway, and six from Denmark, all of whom must qualify to compete and the host country taking the most number of slots.

One of the more colorful sailing regattas anywhere, the IKC is unique in that competitors draw for the boat that they will use on any given race day, international competitors are always hosted
by home fleet members and as such, friendships between competitors run deep and long. In keeping with fleet tradition, the IKC format is almost always the same every year; a practice day
followed by three race days, then a lay day which is designated as a special trip day outside of sailing, then another three days of racing and finally the awards ceremony on the final day of racing.

First built in Norway in 1946, original Knarrs were wooden and in the 70’s, a fiberglass version was introduced. The Knarr may be a slow old boat but by being slower the fleet goes almost the same speed, so it becomes very tactical. A team needs not only an accomplished driver but a solid tactician to be able to work the current and tide, especially on San Francisco Bay. The boats take time and patience to learn because they are so slow, and starts are critical; in order to finish in the top five a decent start is mandatory, as Chris Perkins, a Mill Valley resident, knows well.

Perkins has been racing Knarrs since he was a teen. He broke a Danish winning streak that ran 1981 to 1991 by winning his first IKC in Denmark in 1992 and has won the regatta four times mostly on his home turf on San Francisco Bay. He notes that while the Knarr is considered one design, still, the boats aren’t quite the same.

“We have English-built wood boats, we have Norwegian-built wood boats and Danish-built fiberglass boats in our fleet and each of those three boats are very different,” Perkins smiles “Nonetheless, we are very lucky in our local fleet that we have as good racing as we do – at the beginning of the racing season when everyone is really excited we get 16-20 boats out and that has been fairly consistent for a very long time.”

The Knarr fleet is very special in a lot of ways because it maintains decades-long traditions while promoting camaraderie and friendship at the highest level, making it different to conventional competitive sailing, Perkins notes.

“When you win in an IKC everyone around you is really excited and supportive – a lot of times they won it previously so they know what it takes to win. You got to sail really well, you got to get a little lucky, your boat draw has to be lucky – you can’t have any slow boats in your draw! I’ve seen so many IKCs where someone takes off like a bolt and they are way ahead, then the two or three behind slowly chase them down and pass them right at the end. It’s very competitive racing and the camaraderie is amazing especially with the Europeans who will always come up and congratulate you, they are truly happy that you have won. It is a very different feeling than winning another regatta.”

An impressive group of Marin skippers will be racing the IKC including Perkins, Jon Perkins, Randy Hecht, Don Jesberg, Mike Ratiani, Risley Sams, Sean Svendsen and Mark Dahm.

Jesberg won the 2023 season championship on the Bay, the Perkins brothers won the IKC in Norway last year, and recently, Dahm won the Woodies regatta.

“As a borrowed boat regatta switching boats each day makes it unique and when we go to Denmark and Norway, it’s the same thing,” Dahm explains. “It gives you respect for the use of these boats because a lot of these boats are incredible pieces of furniture! We go through great pains as a fleet internationally to maintain them and our plan is to put the best local boats we have on the line so at the end of ten races we’ve truly found a champion.”

The IKC is 10 races over the course of seven days so keeping up with the racing is one thing and keeping up with the social schedule is another, Dahm smiles.

“On the race course level of competition is as steep as it has ever been; it’s not only just the American fleet who have their share of Olympians but the Danish folks have three or four as do the Norwegians,” he says. “The social schedule is almost more demanding in preparation than the racing. It takes a lot of effort by a handful of people, we’ve been pushing and pulling on a lot of different disciplines to be ready but the festivities will be epic as they always are!”