International 505
Open Nordic Championships 1983
Helsingfors, Finland

□ Original report in Swedish English

One weekend at the beginning of July, the circus left again. Everything was pretty much as usual except that the playground equipment was loaded on the roof instead of on a trailer. For most, the car journey was more reasonable than usual, namely only to Stadsgårdskajen. Even the citizens of Gothenburg did not have to travel far, because they never left. 

Unfortunately, I don't know what happened on that ferry, but based on previous experience, I can form a fairly clear picture of the situation: After eating, the whole gang is near the bar. Lasse E. loudly tells anyone who will listen about how they lost 49 boats in a round in San Fransisco, while discreetly keeping a watchful eye on Oskar who is getting more and more drunker, and with a significant wide smile invites Annelie to the dance floor. Mikael discusses spinnakerchutes and sails with Staffan, who politely listens. Faste raises beer after beer and listens with half an ear to Göran S's anecdotes from the time when it started.

But like I said, I wasn't there so I don't know. Financially a bit depleted after the sunny holiday in Kiel the week before, we chose a low-cost alternative via Kapellskär. There we were immediately exposed to a bearded idiot in green overalls: "-How the hell are you going to get on board, you're three meters tall," he informed us politely.

Helmsman considered it pointless to discuss, and also thought that the Sea of ​​Åland could be an excellent training opportunity, which is why he quickly threw me the trapeze belt and began to methodically stow the car into the rough. After I desperately stroked my beard along with my hair for a while, at least there was a gap between two buses and we were on our way.

Helmsman won the lottery for who would drive the remaining 120 km in Finland, and disappeared down to the bar and into the fog. The Åland archipelago was both beautiful and exciting, where it spread before my eyes. I dreamed of sun and calm keelboat sailing between the islands, with a beautiful woman stretched out comfortably on the foredeck instead of a bearded slob yelling at you just because you can't hook the spin boom in 0.8 seconds. Back to reality after being trampled by a horde of pensioners on our way to the duty free shop, we committed a smorgasbord before it was time to disembark in Turku and head to the Finnish capital.

The Helsinki Yacht Club turned out to be a really decent facility, with double ramps by a small sheltered harbor basin, plenty of space on land and the "Blue Peter" restaurant in the middle of it all. The restaurant turned out to be quite expensive, but it was actually the most in Finland. Just like in Germany, there was also no filmjolk, do you really have to drag this basic and important breakfast ingredient from home to these uncultivated states? Well, they had beer.

In the harbor we met a gentleman who looked exactly like a harbor captain, with a Vega cap, beard and faint smell of alcohol, which is why we politely asked for help with information about tent pitches etc. However, he looked completely incomprehensible as to why we switched to speaking English. This produced no response whatsoever, and after trying Finnish, Russian, Latvian, and burping like an Onsala farmer (which I have absolutely no command of) there was an awkward silence. However, his weather-beaten face soon broke into a broad grin, and in customary sing-song Swedish, he helped us set up, chuckling contentedly.

The tent site consisted of a sandy headland with a thin barrier of trees around it. These trees had a remarkable ability to rustle and rustle so loudly that every night one anxiously tossed and turned in anticipation of the seemingly inevitable chorus of brawls the next day. When they dragged themselves out in the morning, it was only to find that the anemometer at the clubhouse showed 4.8 m/s.

In the harbor we were reunited with our previous 505, a green creation that had been bought back to its home country after a couple of years in Sweden. There it excelled, among other things to often show the wrong green side up. It is my absolute belief that a Parker is wobbly. The boat was heavily modified by its young enthusiastic owners. Our objective was completely clear: "-They must not get ahead of us!"

I have a little difficulty remembering what happened at sea in detail. Eklunds plowed on in good style and took the whole thing home. The Falukropp team eventually came second and finally found themselves in overall second place, to our and not least their own great surprise. In the confusion they sold the boat and emigrated (at least the helmsman).

The weather was mostly beautiful, a little cool and with mostly just enough wind so the safes could stretch out in their trapezoid and watch the helmsman slide down to leeward. The arrangements were good, and no one who was later racing the European Championhip in Karlskrona wants to complain about long distance departur. The possibility of being able to luff and take someone all the way to Russia was attractive, not least Lasse E was very keen, I remember.

Our hosts offered a welcome drink in the restaurant the first evening but the stingy Swedes only drank it, then retreated to the tents for the considerably cheaper "boat liquor". The sauna evening organized the following evening was much more appreciated. When you finally managed to find the idyllically located house on the headland, you could indulge in an orgy of sausage and potato salad eating, with plenty of good beer to go with it. Superb!!

Among other social things, I particularly remember a visit to a Russian restaurant in Helsinki. The hope of trying a bear roast was dashed when we saw the price: "Genuine controlled bear roast 360 FMK". But the beef filet a la Krim with three kinds of sauce and saffron rice for 50 FMK was very good.

At the end, a barbecue party was improvised in collaboration with the Danes. The event was very successful with the sausage feeding competition and beer heaving. It all went on well into the night and it was amazing how quickly you learn Danish, if you only drink a little more beer.

Lars 'LEX' Lexell S7296 Rondar 505
□ Results
□ Photos
□ Stockholm 505 Fleet Annual Activity Report, 1983

THE INTERNATIONAL 505 CLASS
OPEN NORDIC CHAMPIONSHIPS, July 4 - 7, 1983
FINAL RESULTS

POS SAIL# SKIPPER - CREW                  RACE POSITIONS POINTS
 1. S 7593 Staffan Eklund/Anders Eklund     1-2-1-1-1-2        3
 2. S 7033 Peter Johnsson/Lars Reinius      2-3-3-2-2-S       20,4
 3. D 7540 Claus Cato Nielsen/Asbjörn Gregersen 8-5-2-9-5-6   48,7
 4. S 7471 Bo Ferm/Lars Johansson           3-4-7-15-4-8      48,7
 5. S 7591 Ebbe Rosén/Göran Söderström      4-18-11-4-7-3     51,7
 6. S 7455 Petter Bengtsson/Lars Hultgren   5-12-5-13-6-5     59,7
 7. S 7507 Annelie Rydqvist/Mikael Widmark  17-9-12-8-9-1     62
 8. L 7581 Petri Leksis/Kimmo Lautanen      15-13-17-5-3-10   71,7
 9. D 7162 Michael Staal/Erik Lund          16-16-4-12-8-9    77
l0. S 7181 Gunilla Berg/Erik Kallin        9-l-15-18-13-F     79
11. L 7121 Hannu Merikallio/Olli Karlsson  13-17-6-6-12-13    79,4
12. S 7297 Per Oskarsson/Lars Edström      6-21-9-10-11-15    80,7
13. L 7273 Mikko Saarela/Tom Lindström     7-8-16-F-16-7      84
14. S 7166 Anders Petersson/Lars Nyholm    23-6-13-11-21-12   92,7
15. D 7466 Jesper Christensen/Jan Hansen   10-15-8-16-15-17   94
16. S 7482 Nicklas Philipsson/Lars Stugemo 19-7-10-3-F-P      95,7
17. S 7296 Anders Karlsson/Lars Lexell     20-20-21-7-17-4    96
18. L 7049 Tom Sjöman/Per Strömman         12-10-19-14-18-14  98
19. L 7467 George Gebhard/Andreas Siponen  21-14-22-17-10-11 103
20. L 5750 Timo Markkanen/Tuomo Kokkonen   14-23-20-21-14-16 115
21. L 6803 Jari Eloranta/Petri Fagerström  22-28-18-19-20-19 128
22. L 7356 Kari Miettinen/Lasse Pälvimäki  24-22-24-20-F-20  140
23. S 6434 Mats Falle/Björn Gustavsson     25-25-23-23-19-21 141
24. S 7316 Olle Bergqvist/Max Tollqvist    11-11-F-S-S-S     142
25. S 6621 Anders Fasteson/Göran Ek        26-19-F-F-22-18   145
26. L 6115 Peter Flinkman/Otto Toivanen    18-24-14-S-S-S    146
27. S 7165 Rolf Lundström/Stefan Sundblom  28-26-F-22-23-P   159
28. L 6552 Jaakko Saarela/Juha Alitalo     27-27-F-24-F-22   160
29. L 6134 Stefan Slotte/Tor Winquist      29-Q-F-25-24-23   161

Q=DSQ, F=DNF, P=OSC, S=DNS

• Former 505 Nordic Champions