5-0-5 Worlds 1989 / Felixstowe, England

I did not arrive until the second day of measurement and so had missed the Pre-Worlds. I had spent most of my summer holidays at the Ferry and was delighted to see the hive of activity amidst a calm friendliness.

Apparently the Pre-Worlds had been a great success. It had set the stage for an inevitable struggle between the Titans Krister Bergstrom from Sweden and our Peter Colclough. Both had displayed uncanny consistency. The performance of the rest of the British team was less sparkling. Even the locals, apart from Pete White who came 8th, did not show signs of home advantage. However, the weather had been fine and everyone was walking around with smiles on their faces.

This was a championship I was going to enjoy � come what may! ... And I did!

The organisers and measurers were demonstrating a smooth control as I entered the end of a two day queue. Nearly six hundred sails had been measured and duly returned to their owners, with smiles and jokes from a stoic team: this included the whole of the Z Spar team from Hadleigh, plus John Davies and his wife who kept me well under control. Val May, Jack Edwards, Jim Berry and many from the Ferry were providing a well organised operation.

It was a relief to discover I had been sailing a legal boat.

At this stage I was still on my own. Tim, my nephew and regular crew, had opted out with the dubious excuse of getting married in the South of France. This had also caused a further upset in that my family, including myfirst reserve crew (Gillie), had also scarpered. The breach was to be filled by a work mate, Duncan Ross, who had been in a Five 0 two weekends earlier for the first time. It is great credit to him that we have still not been swimming.

Reporting of the races has been well covered by Steve Carson, and his fine article follows this bit of drive!. For me the Monday's race, in a gusty force five, was one of the most exhilarating I have ever had. White caps sparkled over an unusually clear sea, with fairweather clouds scudding across a blue sky. Screaming down the reaches in this setting was fantastic!

The organisation on shore was first class. Given that there was no cure for the steep stony beach, everyone mucked in to get the boats up and down. It was quite like the good old days at the Ferry, when Piggy Thompson brought the local fleet on parade each Sunday morning. Foggabolla was up to his best 'hen' clucking and ensured that even if you forgot your head y6u would still have posted your tally. The photo of him in this edition captures some of his style. Well done his trusty team!

The social scene was well balanced with some nice touches. The 'Tropical Beach Party' at the Leisure Centre provided a pleasant evening splashing about in the pool, whilst keeping an eye on some of the more well endowed ladies climbing the steps to the water shute!

Special award to organising chairman, Mark Wincer from Race Officer, Graham Henderson.

The Medieval Banquet was held in the setting of Felixstowe College. This building is a well-preserved 16th Century mansion entered through a heavy wooden door into a remarkable hall. At one end of this is a large open fireplace, and at the other a staircase which leads up to a series of cantilevered balconies. Beautiful carved wooden balustrades adorn the whole structure. The efforts of Chris and Diana Barnard provided an excellent spread which ensured a happy evening.
 

Left to Right: Les Everitt, Bruce Edwards, David Shelton, Chris Barnard, John Woodhouse, Per Anders Hallberg, Krister Bergstrom, Di Barnard, Phil Brown, Peter Colclough. Now, I wonder what they are talking about!

A truly cosmopolitan fleet of 90 boats gathered at Felixstowe Ferry for the two week International 505 World Championship Regatta.

Visiting teams from the USA, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Kenya and Japan joined the UK competitors in this restricted entry event, places being allocated in relation to the size of each National fleet.

The purpose of the PreWorld series of five races was twofold, a warm up for the prequalified crews and, this year, five further places were available for the Worlds for the highest placed non-qualifiers.

The British squad had been training at Felixstowe during the summer and, in theory, were well prepared for the tides and their variations across the race area, however the visitors seemed to learn very quickly in the difficult predominating conditions, marginal trapezing 2-3 and a short chop.

Over to you Steve!

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Defending World Champion Krister Bergstrom (Swe) and his crew Per Anders Hallberg posted their intent by winning the first race from Jeff Miller and Bruce Heckman (USA) and Pevensey winners Bo Petersen and Soren Storm (Den). First Brits were four time Champion Peter Colclough and Phil Brown in 6th, '73 Champ Peter White and Paul Young 7th and Chris Haworth and Nigel Appleton 8th. Race 2 saw Graham Bailey and Bill Masterman take line honours from Colclough with Kalle Nilsson and Frank Bach 3rd. Bergstrom was 4th, Peter White put in a 6th and Clive Robinson and John Ironmonger 9th.

Petersen took the first race on Monday, showing signs of the form that had enabled him to dominate the European meetings this season, fellow Danes Jorgen Holm and Finn Jensen were 3rd and Ian Barker and Mathew Flint took 2nd. Race 4 was probably the windiest of the pre-world series and Miller (USA), who had shown bursts of speed earlier, powered his way to first place from Bergstrom and compatriots Jim Wondolleck and Jay Kuncl.

The final race on Tuesday saw the difficult conditions persist but Colclough closed his account with a win from Haworth. Aussies Neil Long and Les Evans spoiled a British 1, 2, 3 by finishing ahead of Barker but it was a good, morale boosting day for the home team. Bergstrom shared an experience already gained by the bulk of the fleet ie DTP at the first mark and seemingly unable to make progress, but as he had won the pre-worlds anyway decided to beat the queue for the showers! Colclough was 2nd overall and Petersen 3rd.

Apart from allowing recovery from the excesses of the preworld prizegiving dinner the next couple of measurement days gave the crews opportunity to appraise the situation, their own performances and the considerable opposition. Most agreed that there had been 4 preregatta favourites, Bergstrom, Colclough and Petersen, who had all put together a good series but Australian speedsters Stephen and Andrew McConaghy had been a bit out of it with 7th as their best race result.

Miller looked good and Haworth and Bailey had both had some good races. Other respected names, Blatchford, Kyrwood, Schonherr etc had all been taking a fairly low profile but in the warm up it is difficult to tell and no one really knew whether any of it was deliberate. One thing was certain though, the friendly rivalry between Colclough and Bergstrom was still well and truly alight!

So, on Friday 25th August at 15.00 hrs the first gate of the Haymills International 505 Championship opened in a shifty 10-15 kt North Easterly. Early starters that banged the left hand corner were plugging into less adverse tide and first mark leaders were Bruce Edwards and David Shelton (USA) from Jorgen Schonherr and Anders Kaempe (Den) and Graham Bailey. Edwards showed the fleet the way round the rest of the triangle but Schonherr got him on the second beat and Colclough and Bergstrom were both piling their way up.

By the top of the third beat, and round the second triangle, Bergstrom was leading from Colclough and Schonherr but on the last beat Bergstrom and Colclough, swapping places a couple of times, went right and the Dane went left, that did the trick and he took the winning gun. As he approached the line, covering Bergstrom, Colclough put in a short hitch to the favoured end of the line, whereupon the wind shifted and lifted Bergstrom to 2nd. Edwards was still in there at 4th and Mark Upton-Brown and Pete Bishop put an encouraging 6th under their belt.

The Danes had 3 in the top ten but what was even more impressive was the apparent quality of the fleet. No one had won 2 races in the preworlds and there was no room for error, any form of mistake was obviously going to be expensive.

Race 2, on Saturday, was started on the ebb tide in a shifty 8-12 kt South Easterly. There was advantage in going right hand side to catch the 'tidal squirt' out of the mouth of the River Deben. Upton-Brown hit the corner and had a good trip to get to the top 4th, Neil Harrison (Aus) was 3rd, Patrick Vincent (USA) 2nd and, even though he started in the middle of the gate Bergstrom was there in front.

On the tight second reach Upton-Brown was up to 2nd buton the next windward leg the wind had shifted right, he judged the lay line right but those that had apparently overstood got the tide under themand rolled over the top so some major place changing was going on and by the bottom of the run Ebbe Rosen (Swe) was 3rd chased by Kyrwood, Blatchford and Colclough.

The third beat produced still more changes but 'Stromberg' was in control. Blatchford had pulled up to 2nd and Miller was 3rd with Colclough 5th and staying in touch, and Schonherr, having recovered inpressively from an early start, 6th. These places held round the final triangle but at the finish of a onesided last beat it was Bergstrom, Blatchford and Colclough, who had found the gear he needed to roll over Miller in the last couple of hundred yards.

Sunday's race 3 had, sadly, to be postponed. Whilst conditions on the race track may have been sailable for this fleet, the problem was the notorious shingle bar across the mouth of the river. If any of theguys had gotthrough the intimidating standing waves on the way out they would not have got back in at low water.

Monday provided a good breeze, from the tail of the previous hoolie, a North Westerly at 15-20 knots. Petersen seemed to have found his form and rounded the weather mark well clear of Jorn Erdman (Ger) and the McConaghy bros, Bergstrom was 5th, Colclough 6th and Blatchford 7th. By the time the leaders had screamed down the first of the typically long reaches McConaghy was 2nd but Bergstrom out-gybed him and rolled straight over the top to hold 2nd at the leeward turn.

Windshifts were by now turning reaches from tight to broad and back again and, with the top of the course being in the lee of the Suffolk coast there was also a lot more wind down at the bottom end and a few crews were experiencing their first swim round the North Sea. At the top of the second beat spectators were perplexed to find that the leader was Erdman, from Petersen and Phillippe Boite (Fr) with Colclough 4th. It transpired that Petersen's mainsail had fallen down and Bergstrom had actually been for a dip.

Down the run the 'highest climber' was Bruce Edwards but up the next beat Colclough pegged him back and got through Erdman to lead, he then tacked to cover and in the process went for, what would turn out to be, an expensive swim which dropped him to 3rd round the mark after a rapid recovery.

Bergstrom was back in the teens and looked to be out of this one. Edwards however had got the bit between his teeth and took Erdman on the second triangle to hold it to the finish and Colclough got Erdman back on the last beat to get second. Disconcertingly, for any of the title contenders, in what was a portent of things to come Bergstrom had 'returned from the dead' by taking a flyer on the beat, and finished 4th! Bo Petersen did not enjoy the same divine guidance and, after a couple of lengths of freestyle ended up 33rd. At this stage Bergstrom held the overall lead by 3.4 points from Colclough.

On Tuesday competitors were greeted by a Force 2-3 Southerly. The ebb tide inshore was slacker and there really was only one way to go, hard right. At the top Upton-Brown lead round the mark from Robinson, Mike Punnett (USA) and Edwards. Ian and Giles Fryett, Peter White and Ian Barker were all in the top ten with another pack of Brits close behind. Colclough and Bergstrom had decided to go left and rounded 45th and 53rd.

The wind remained relatively steady and the beats were tending to be drag races to the right. At the finish Punnett scored a second win for the USA with Upton-Brown, sailing a good race, crossing the line ahead of Schonherr who had made impressive progress through the fleet, talking of which the Houdini brothers PC and KB ended up 4th and 6th with Edwards in between. This was enough to give Colclough the overall lead by 0.3 points.

Tuesday evening provided a choice between a Sponsors cocktail reception and, importantly, round two of the Optima series. The reception promised free food and booze and was thus assured of popular success and the Ferry Boat Inn provided the race track for an evening, which as it progressed made coordination of the car controls more and more difficult. The feeling was that Clive Robinson probably won, showing awesome acceleration and handling. His, also, was the only car to survive.

The fleet was taken further offshore for the race on Wednesday in an attempt to even up the course. Beyond the Cutler Bank therewas a slight chop and a 10-12 knot breeze. The idea seemed to work and, probably, for the first time windshifts were the predominant consideration. The bulk of the fleet started middle to late and with the wind shifting right, Petersen got to the windward mark in front of Neil Long (Aus) and Erdman, with Miller and Blatchford hot on their heels.

Bergstrom and Colclough were both in the pack but at the bottom of the first triangle had pulled up to 9th and 17th. On the sausage Miller, Blatchford and Kyrwood all got past Erdman and Colclough was up to 11th. Petersen was not in any danger on the 3rd beat but Colclough had slipped ahead of Bergstrom. He was however unable to hold him on the reaches and at at the bottom of the last beat it was Petersen, Miller, Kyrwood, Bergstrom. Long climbed from 5th to 2nd on the final leg and Bergstrom up to 3rd against Colclough's 7th to give him a 5.7 lead going into the last day for the sailing of Sunday's postponed Race 3. Bergstrom's 'worst' result had been a sixth place 11.7 points against Colclough's seventh place 13 points so, to win, Colclough had to stay within the top 6 and beat Bergstrom by at least 5.7 points.

Under the new rules it is possible for a World Championship to be a draw but that isn't quite the same is it? Bergstrom obviously had the advantage and realistically Colclough had to go for a win and hope that, somehow, Bergstrom would be third or lower. Again on the offshore course in a force 23 Northerly and bright sunshine the scrap began well before the start, just as it had in La Rochelle in '86 when Colclough had to sail Bergstrom down the fleet.

Tailing, circling, tacking and gybing, this time Bergstrom got Colclough Port and Starboard, forcing him into a 720' but, unruffled, Colclough and Brown found the space they needed and made a text book start. Not so Bergstrom, he missed the gate, had to tack off and cross behind most of the fleet. Nervous smiles crossed the faces of the British spectators, surely Bergstrom and Hallberg were 'buried' this time and Colclough was flying. Sure enough the British pair flew all the way to the top with a lead round the mark of at least 150 yards from the second boat, but the British smiles turned to looks of total disbelief because who was in second spot? Mr Magic himself Krister Bergstrom. The Finns Hannu Merikallio and Tom Lindstrom were chuffed to find themselves in third place but all eyes were on the two yachters at the front. Bergstrom closed a little on the reaches and by the leeward Mark Kyrwood was through to 3rd with Punnett and Rosen close behind.

At the top of the second beat Bergstrom, who seemed to have a slight speed edge, had closed further but Colclough still led him round the mark, some 400 yards ahead of Kyrwood, Rosen, Merikallio and the rest of the supporting cast. At the bottom of the run Colclough knew he had to go for it, try to slow Bergstrom down to let the fleet catch up and attempt to put some boats between them.

So the tacking duel started and Rosen and Kyrwood caught up, the problem was Bergstrom's compatriot Rosen popped out in the lead and stayed there round the last triangle so, with Kyrwood having fallen back a bit at the bottom of the last beat of the championship it was Rosen, Colclough, Bergstrom. Colclough's attempt to break away didn't work out and at the finish it was Rosen, Bergstrom, Colclough.

'Lobster'on brief visit to collect tape recording

Bergstrom had got his richly deserved hat-trick and whilst a hundred cliches spring to mind this really had been an epic battle, made all the more extraordinary by the quality of the fleet left in their wake. Again, nobody won two races but the ability to put it all together on the big occasion and recover from nowhere, in a World class fleet, when something went wrong, is an abilitytowhich all serious yachters aspire and anybody that watched this regatta would agree that the International 505 Class has to be the biggest winner.

Americans Bruce Edwards and David Shelton sailed well to take third overall and it is good to see the Americans back in the frame with 5 boats in thetoptwenty, the Danes had 4, the Swedes 3, the Australians 2 and the French, Finns and Germans 1 each.

The Brits had 3, Colclough, Upton-Brown and Haworth, but had expected to do better on their homepitch, there is a lot more work to be done before Kingston, Ontario, next year. Maybe the opposition was underestimated, the Americans and most of the Europeans have certainly raised their game, but make no mistake guy this fleet was 'wicked, ya know wot I mean, well hard!

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