Bojsen-Møller: Elvstrøm stayed out of trouble
"It is useless to run down a pedestrian and afterwards say you were right," said Paul Elvstrøm when he sailed the World Cup in 505 in the 80s with Jacob Bojsen-Møller.
By Troel's Happiness
Editor’s Note: This article was taken from the minbaad.dk as a measure of preserving it for the enjoyment of the 505 Class.
Photo by CHRISTOPHE FAVREAU
One of those who knew Paul Elvstrøm well was sailmaker and 505 / FD sailor Jacob Bojsen-Møller, who was a club mate with Elvstrøm in Hellerup Sailing Club.
Paul Elvstrøm was not for protests, he would rather sail about the things we have written about earlier today.
- Well, Paul was a gentleman, he did not want to win a race in a way that the competitors lost respect for him, so he did not protest, but he would also rather not be trapped inside a bottom tag, even if he was right, so rather sail around several boats. That could pay off, he thought, explains Jacob Bojsen-Møller, who has known Paul Elvstrøm since the 70s, when he sailed the Trapez dinghy.
Elvstrøm, of course, made an impression.
- I remember he told me. It is no use running down a pedestrian and afterwards saying you were right, Paul Elvstrøm said as he sailed the World Cup in 505 in the 80s with Jacob Bojsen-Møller, where they finished on 13th place.
Elvstrøm: Jacob, you have half an hour
About the trip to Japan, Jacob had to answer a call quickly.
"Do you want to go to Japan and sail the World Cup in 505, you have half an hour to consider it," Paul told me. We didn't have any 505s, but borrowed one and trained. We even took sails out to the World Cup. It was a good World Cup, he manages like my brother, someone you trust when standing in trapeze. Remembering that the wind rattled on a cutting site and before a wind change came he saw what would happen, then we moved very close to number one and two, Bojsen-Møller explains to minbaad.dk.
He followed us from his house
Although Paul Elvstrøm was in his 80s, he was still watching when there were sailings on the Sound.
- He had a warm laugh and was good at telling stories, we will miss him when we train at the Sound, he kept an eye on us. A couple of years ago he called after we had sailed that we should have just done it differently at the cross mark. He also flashed to us from his house (on Sigridsvej) before, he had a lamp he used to light to see if his half-tonner were right in the water, next to where he lived, says Bojsen-Møller.
Elvstrøm quote at the Nassau Yacht Club in the Bahamas
– Photo: Troels Lykke
Paul Elvstrøm manages his 505 while standing in trapeze.
The picture is from the World's in Adelaide 1966 and the crew is Pip Pearson.
Elvstrøm won the 5O5 World Cup in 1957 and 1958.
ENOSHIMA Olympic Yacht Harbour, Fujisawa, Japan, were hosts for the Marina Del Rey Pacific and 5O5 World Championships held from 11-24 October 1985. Enoshima is a small island in a large bay some 35 miles south west of central Tokyo. Racing was held in open seas about two to three miles south of the island, mainly in prevailing offshore winds and with negligible current. The courses were Olympic triangle-sausage-triangle-beat, with approximately two mile first beats and broad 55 degree reaches. The dinghy park was, in fact, part of the yachting complex built for the 1964 Olympics and provided more than adequate facilities with launching off concrete hands into a sheltered marina.
A total of 55 competiters attended, representing 13 countries of which the Australians and the host Japanese were the largest fleets. The regatta was also privileged to have Paul Elvstrøm (now 57 years old) competing and the veteran Frenchman, Marcel Buffet, who is now 63 years old.
