HEAT 1

1985 World Champion Dean Blatchford and crew Tom Woods from the Toronto Club set the ocean waters off Manly alight in the first heat of the Channel 7 505 World Championship winning the race by 2 minutes. After following another Australian Stephen McConaghy and crew, his brother Andrew, around the first windward mark, Blatchford surged to the front of the 90 boat fleet and was never in danger of losing the lead.

It was a real test with an ocean swell in excess 3 metres and up to 20 knots of Southerly breeze. Even when the wind shifted during the 3rd beat. Blatchford was up the task, reading the 25 degree shift to the east on the reaching legs to ensure that he was on the favoured side of the course for the final beat to the finishing line.

With no chance of catching Blatchford, McConaghy held grimly onto 2nd place until at the bottom mark the Danish Jorgen Holm-Nielsen was within 30 seconds of him. On the final beat to the finish, McConaghy made the mistake of going too far inshore on the right hand side of the course, letting Holm-Nielsen had reversed the margin, finishing 30 seconds ahead of McConaghy.

The defending World Champion Krister Bergstrom from Sweden was a little slow out of the blocks, rounding the top mark in 7th place. Sheer determination and some excellent boat handling saw the defending champion back in the hunt in 4th place, a position he held to the finish and one he could be well satisfied with in the demanding conditions.

Fifth place went to another Australian, Norman Ridge Jnr, with a similar sailing exhibition to Bergstrom, rounding the first mark in 9th place before consolidating into 6th place at the second windward mark. There was drama early in the race with a collision between 2 French boats, putting a hole in one yacht , then shortly after the last mark rounding, another boat was holed and had to be towed back to the safety of Sydney Harbour submerged.

HEAT 2

In a complete reversal of form, American Jeff Miller turned the first heat result of 23rd completely around to score a start to finish victory in the 2nd heat. Although beaten around the first windward mark by 3 other yachts, it took the American only a few hundred metres, with some excellent spinnaker setting, to leap to a 4 boat lead. As each rounding was completed, he went further ahead, finishing the race over 2 minutes ahead of the 2nd placed yacht without any challenge to his lead.

The minor placings changed repeatedly during the course of the race, with 2 English yachts steered by John McLaren and Martin Spence swapping places with McConaghy on the first 2 reaches. It wasn't until the square run downwind that the English pair were found wanting for speed, slipping to 11th and 5th respectively at the finish, leaving McConaghy to finish in 2nd place.

Shock of the way came when favourite for the series after his win in the preceding Pacific and Australian Championship Dean Blatchford, was buried in a hectic gate start to round the windward mark in 22nd place the first time. He manoeuvred through the congestion of the wing and leeward mark roundings to fight his way back to 6th; the second time around the course gaining 2 more places before the finishing line to secure a 4th place.

Defending World Champion Bergstrom also found himself the victim of the demanding gate start, a real nightmare for competitors and organisers alike as the 90 boat fleet vied for supremacy in this unique starting procedure reputed to be the fairest of all. After looking at 27 other spinnakers on the first reach, Bergstrom showing amazing determination and shet boat handling mastery, eventually scratched his way up to 8th. In the final 2 windward works he picked up 2 places each time, finally running down Blatchford to snatch 3rd place from the Australian by 5 seconds.

The day's conditions were a lot more pleasant than the opening heat, with a good 15 knot South-Easterly breeze on a relatively flat sea. As the race progressed, the wind made an uncustomary swerve to the south, catching some competitors on the wrong side.

HEAT 3

Current World Champion Bergstrom was back to the form which won him the title last year in Helsinki. Rain squalls made observation of the marks impossible from the previous mark, with visibility reduced to 200 metres at times. It was up to the competitors, (albeit the leader) to find the marks by sailing the compass designed course; the rest then followed.

Bergstrom led from start to finish with Blatchford always in close company, but never looking a threat to overhaul the Swede. Every move the Australian made was immediately countered by Bergstrom in what developed into a match racing competition. The third placed boat was never closer than 1 ½ minutes to the 2 leaders after the first rounding, giving them the luxuary of simply worrying about each other. In the final beat of the shortened race, Bergstrom finished just 27 seconds ahead of Blatchford, but it may well been a mile, such was the current champion's domination of the situation.

In 3rd place was Norman Rydge. The young Australian also had a cushion ride in the race, never looking a threat to the leading 2, but with a commanding lead over the 4th boat. At the finishing line it was Rydge by 1½ minutes to another Australian and former World Champion Gary Bruniges, unbreakable dead-heat with American Bruce Edwards.

Organisers were forced to shorten the course in the interest of safety of the small dinghies, not because of the conditions, which did take its toll, but because the ocean racing fleet from another yacht club in Sydney were rounding a mark in the vicinity of the wing mark, and their course took them across the World Championship course. 'In the reduced visibility, we were not prepared to risk the possibility of an ocean racing yacht colliding with one of the 505s' one of the organisers stated after the race.

In the damage department, one German boat broke its rudder going through Sydney Heads before the start, but was rescued through quick thinking on the part of the organisers who were keeping a watchful eye on the fleet. The yacht was taken in tow just metres from the dangerous rocks of outer North Head. In another incident, 12 metre skipper Iain Murray was also in trouble with a broken rudder, but with some skill managed to cross the finishing line before capsizing and requiring a tow back into the safety of the harbour.

HEAT 4

The day's racing was cancelled because of the 30 knot winds and 4 metre seas.

HEAT 5

Persistent high winds and a heavy sea and swell condition off Sydney Heads again forced organisers to abandon racing for the second consecutive day. Winds up to 30 knots and horrific seas up to 4 metres battered the course area and the 90 fleet boat spent the day on the beach awaiting a decision.

In a decision late in the day, the International Jury ruled that neither the 4th or 5th Heats would be re-sailed, after both were postponed because of weather conditions. So the World Championship was to be reduced to 4 races if the final race could be sailed. The strong southerly which had blown for the past few days was expected to moderate overnight and the the promise of a race to complete the series looked bright. The Jury also changed the rules of the Regatta to allow one discard (for a bad result) for each competitor.

HEAT 6

The defending World Champion, Krister Bergstrom succesfully defended his 505 crown in the final heat of the Channel 7 505 World Championships. In a 15 knot south easterly breeze and a confused sea, Bergstrom took the lead from the start, leading around the first windward mark by well over a minute.

On the second of the first reaching legs, the Swede protected his position by dropping his spinnaker and reaching down the leg with just his main and jib. The move was well contrived, as a wind shift of some 15 degrees, to the south made the leg a little closer to the wind, ensuring that Bergstrom lost no ground at all.

For Australian Blatchford, leading after the first three races, the day was simply a case of following the flying Swede at arm's lenght and waiting for him to make a mistake. This didn't happen and Blatchford had to be satisfied with runner's up prize, not only for the race but for the Championship.

After the two previous days' racing having been abandoned because of strong winds and heavy seas, the days' event was as perfect a competition as could be expected in the left-over seaway, requiring good boat handling from all competitors.

The race was delayed at the first start when one competitor caused the pathfinder and the gate launch to collide, requiring the race to be restarted. The pathfinder, Mark Soulsby from South Australia was holed in the process. Quick repairs on the ocean course and a short delay saw the boat back in the fleet, as pathfinder, for the restart. Although placed about 20th on the first rounding, Soulsby requested redress from the International Jury, claiming that the boat began to take water as the race proceeded, forcing him back to 26th place. Behind Bergstrom and Blatchford, another 2½ minutes elapsed before Australian Peter Hewson crossed the line in third spot.

Sydney yachtsmen Stephen McConaghy and Norman Rydge had their own battle further back in the fleet. After a disastrous start for the pair in which they rounded the first windward mark in 31st and 33rd place, they put on a remarkable fight back, as if inspired by each other. In a do or die effort the pair eventually clased their way back to the top ten with McConaghy taking 7th spot in the race to secure 3rd place overall in the Championship, and Rydge having to settle for a hard won 9th place and 4th overall in the title.

It must have been disappointing for American Bruce Edwards, who placed 5th in the race but could not make up the necessary points also finishing 5th in the series.