505 World Championship Report |
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I returned home on the 7th of September and could not find any reports on the 505 worlds on e-mail or the web... so here are my recollections. They are posted on the web page. Perhaps others who were there can tell the "505world" group about the event as well. Ali Meller |
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A large stationary high over most of Europe made the Gilleleje area rather hotter than expected, and kept the wind light for most of the two events, quite unlike what organizers and many competitors were expecting (the swimming and hanging out at the beach were great, though). There was a noticeable current at times. The pre-worlds were mostly sitting on the seat tank or marginal trapezing. There were two (slightly shorter than full length worlds courses) races a day. Much of the fleet goes the same speed in those conditions, so first beats and first roundings were crowded, with good starts, hitting the shifts and big fleet management skills very important. The Danish team of Hans Jorgen Riber/Adam Malling sailed very consistently in the conditions to win the event. They had excellent speed upwind and down (I think they were footing fast rather than pointing very high) and were able to work their way back into contention even if not at the front at the first mark. The US team of Tyler Moore/Scott Ikle were 2nd. As frequently happens at the pre-worlds, not all competitors sailed all the races, so several top ranked teams were outside the top ten. The Danes had clearly been working hard, as they had several other teams in the top ten besides Riber/Malling. Despite some predictions of most mains not measuring in due to the 505 class International Rules Committee Ruling that half height and 3/4 quarter height would be determined by measuring down from the head, most mains did measure. However, a number of competitors were forced to alter their sails to get them to measure in. Changes ranged from numbering spinnakers to cutting away part of a jib clew and to moving batten pockets and cutting away a little of the leech on a few mainsails. With only one race a day, the Worlds races were longer than the pre-worlds. The 505 Worlds course, of gate start, beat, close reach, close reach, beat, run, beat, close reach, close reach, beat to finish was used for both events, but the legs were longer for Worlds races.
Dietrich Scheder-Bieschin/Johan Arvedson rounded the first mark 3rd, just ahead of a pack of boats. Ali Meller/Allan Johnson were able to pass Scheder-Bieschin/Arvedson on the second reach, but Scheder-Bieschin re-took 3rd up the 2nd beat. The leaders opened up a little on the run. At the last leeward mark, Riber/Malling and Bergstrom/Moss were well ahead, with Meller/Johnson once again having passed Scheder-Bieschin for 3rd. Mark Upton-Brown/Ian Mitchell had slowly worked their way up into 4th, with Tom Bojland/Anders Friis, past 470 World Champion Wolfgang Hunger/Holger Jess, and Kalle Nilsson/Johan Barne close behind. Upton-Brown/Mitchell finished 3rd, Scheder-Bieschin 4th, Bojland/Friis 5th, Hunger/Jess 6th, Nilsson/Barne 7th, Meller/Johnson 8th, Howard Hamlin/Mike Martin 9th and Tyler Moore/Scott Ikle 10th. Scheder-Bieschin and Hunger/Jess filed YMP protests over the RC moving the pin end of the finish line and were awarded 4th and 6th respectively, getting the same score as the boats that had just beaten them at the RC end of the line.
I don't actually remember much of race 3. It was still light. Hamlin/Martin won, leading most of the way around. The race was close however, with places changing all the way around, particularly on the final beat. Barker/Young sailed a great last beat to pull into 2nd, after rounding the last leeward mark close to 10th. Hunger/Jess continued to demonstrate their ability to grind through the fleet after being back early, by finishing 3rd, Rosen/Wenrup were 4th, Rasmus Damsgaard/Soren Overbeck 5th, Upton-Brown/Mitchell 6th, Meller/Johnson 7th, Bergstrom/Moss 8th, Scheder-Bieschin/Arvedson 9th and 1997 UK National Champion Ian Pinnell/Ian Godfrey 10th. Pre-worlds winners Riber/Malling were 13th again.
Rosen/Wenrup got the win, passing Upton-Brown/Mitchell on the last beat on a small shift. Upton-Brown/Mitchell were 2nd, Hamlin/Martin 3rd, Hunger/Jess 4th, Meller/Johnson 5th, Pinnell/Godfrey 6th, Bergstrom/Moss 7th after their spinnaker head tore off the rest of the sail on the last reach, Riber/Malling 8th, Barker/Young 9th and Damsgaard/Overbeck 10th. The Race Officer posted a change to the schedule the following morning, stating the RC's intention to run two races to make up for losing the 3rd race. Race 5 was another closely fought battle in a little more air than some of the races. Moore/Ikle won with Hunger/Jess 2nd, Rosen/Wenrup 3rd, Hamlin/Martin 4th, Meller/Johnson 5th, Pinnell/Godfrey 6th, Damsgaard/Overbeck 7th, Bojland/Friis 8th, Nilsson/Barne 9th, and Upton-Brown.Mitchell 10th. Bergstrom/Moss were 11th, which they had to count after their 2nd race 22nd. Riber/Malling were 16th, Barker/Young 23rd, and Scheder-Bieschin/Arvedson 37th.
Three teams could win the Worlds going into the last race, and though Hunger/Jess could not win, they could displace other teams ahead of them.
The rabbit, Hamlin/Martin, had tacked when released seeking to pick up the teams they needed to beat. Both Upton-Brown and Hamlin/Martin were out of the top at the first mark. The shore effect continued to be significant for the rest of the race, particularly on the last beat, though there were left shifts at times. The wind increased and went further right during the last triangle. Bergstrom/Moss won, with Rosen/Wenrup very close behind in 2nd. Hunger/Jess managed to pull through the traffic into 3rd after being back early on. Bojland/Friis were 4th, Jan Saugmann/Morten Ramsbaek 5th, Riber/Malling pulled through to 6th, Christiansen/Orsted were 7th, Boger/Christiani 8th, Hamlin/Martin 9th, and Barker/Young pulled up to 10th. In the stronger breeze some of the Aussie teams finally got to go; Hugh Stodart/Mathew Owen were 11th, and Dean Williams/Darren Nicholson were 17th.
Howard Hamlin/Mike Martin of the USA were 3rd, Wolfgang Hunger/Holger Jess (Germany) 4th, Krister Bergstrom/Thomas Moss (Sweden) 5th, Hans Jorgen Riber/Adam Malling (Denmark) 6th, Ali Meller/Allan Johnson (USA, racing a 17 year old 505) 7th, Tyler Moore/Scott Ikle (USA) 0.7 points back in 8th, Ian Barker/Paul Young (UK) 9th, and Tom Bojland/Anders Friis (Denmark) 10th.
Mark and Ian won not only the 1st place at the worlds, but the best finish counting all races. Though they did not win a lot of races (any), they were always able to work their way up through the fleet, generally gaining and passing boats, to make each race a keeper (their throw out was a 10th). Another team that were able to work their way through in most races was Wolfgang Hunger/Holger Jess. Allan and I often had both these teams behind us early in a race, but they usually got past us. Krister and Thomas were apparently working with a new high aspect low area centerboard (I did not see it, but was told this) to go along with Krister's small rudder. They seemed fast at times, but not always. Howard and Mike were pointing very high as usual, and won more races than anyone else, but having to count two 9th place finishes pulled them down to third. Ebbe and Olle have the no practice program down! Though not the fastest, they were fast enough, and were able to take advantage of the smallest opportunities to pass some boats, particularly late in a race. Ali Meller |
The 505
Class had another successful World Championship, this time at the Gilleleje Sailing Club,
in the small fishing and resort town of Gilleleje, about 50 km north of Copenhagen. A
three day pre-worlds was held August 10-12, followed by two days for measurement and
preparation. The 7 race World Championship was held the 15-21 of August.