BACK

Exciting and pleasant World Cup when the 505 elite gathered in Japan

When the world championships in 505 in the autumn were sailed all the way to Japan, not only was the cream of the world's leading 505 sailors in place - also "the King", Paul Elvstrom, had traveled to the other side of the world to once again sail in his old favorite class. SEGLING (Swedish sailing magazine) asked one of the participating Swedes to give his view on this interesting 505 WC, everything from preparations and sponsorship hunting here at home to the regatta and the results away in Japan.

Here is Lars Stugemo's report from the Olympic city of Enoshima.

It is intended that this article will be about what it is like to sail a 505 WC in a slightly different place. I had intended to describe a bit of what the Swedish team � Ebbe Rosen / Olle Wenrup and Niklas Philipson / Lars Stugemo � experienced during the WC in Japan and a bit of the preparations required for a WC.

At the same time I thought I would try to describe the special atmosphere at a 505 WC where the oldest participant was 63 years old and had sailed 505 since 1955, where Mr Sailing � Paul Elvstrom was involved and where only two protests were dealt with throughout the regatta.

This year, the World Cup had not attracted as many participants as usual, mostly due to the fact that it is a long way to Japan for all sailors, possibly with the exception of those from Hong Kong. On the other hand, the 56-boat strong field contained all the best 505 sailors, including five former world champions in the class and various European and Pacific Champions. The only ones who were missing were probably a couple of Swedish boats.

The Australians came with 13 boats, of which maybe ten could be among the top five. Europe's giant in the 505 class, Peter Colclough was there, the best Americans were there, the best French and the best Danes. In addition, "the King" � Paul Elvstrom � was specially invited together with Denmark's Olympic crew in FD 1984, Jacob Bojsen-Moller.

Since the Australians completely dominated the WC has its special reasons which I also intended to highlight. From their attitude to sailing, I think many sailors have something to learn.

PREPARATIONS AT HOMEWATER

A 505 WC in Japan, it sounds very tempting to go to a different country on the other side of the globe and compete against the best 505 sailors in the world. But unfortunately, it is not for sailors as for swimmers just to pack the swimwear and go. No, you do not go by boat and everything to Japan, launch and sail in the hope that it will go well. Before a 505 World Cup, or a World Cup in any other class, a lot of preparation and planning is required. And the further away the more arrangements are required before.
In the 505 class, the qualifiers for the European Championships and the World Cup will be sailed in the spring, and the qualifiers in 1985 consisted of four competitions, of which the top three were counted. We, (Niklas Philipson / Lars Stugemo), were already before the qualifiers interested in going to Japan for the WC, both because a WC is fun to sail and because it may not so often you get the chance to come to Japan. Although we had also decided that we would not go if we "risked being ashamed".
When the qualifiers were over, it turned out that we came in third place, and we thought there was a reason to spend time and work trying to get sponsors for the trip.

It turned out that there was really only one boat interested, experienced Ebbe Rosen / Olle Wenrup who has sailed 505 together for fifteen years. Among other things, they were fourth at the WC last year, and second at the EC 1983.
Together with them, we formed what we called "The Bear Leage" and set a goal to take us to Japan and to try to place ourselves well there.

We were now faced with a couple of "problems". To begin with, you have to decide whether to bring your own boat or whether to rent a boat on site. Here the choice was perhaps not particularly difficult, 505 is a boat where most things are allowed and most things can be tuned. This means that no two boats are alike, but that each boat is adapted to the particular crew's ideas, weight and requirements both in terms of hull and rig.

Admittedly, the Japanese could provide newly built fresh boats, but that was never really an option. We wanted to bring our own boats that we were used to and sailed a lot with to Japan.
A project in itself was the transport of boats and other equipment. Transporting boats across the globe can be done in several ways. If you are going to Japan, the only realistic alternatives are to put them in a container and transport them by sea, or to fly the boats. We decided to try to get sponsors for air freight because it meant that we could train a couple more weeks at home before we had to transport the boats away.

SPONSORS

Another project was money � travel and subsistence cost money � and from an "official" point of view no large sums would be paid. To try to solve these problems, we started looking for a sponsor.
Hunting sponsors was a huge job that you can write a lot about, and which I think we learnt a lot from. It should only be noted here that almost all the companies we contacted were very friendly and interested, but the standard response was: "Unfortunately, the budget for this project has already been exceeded, but good luck anyway."
In any case, we got positive responds from a couple of companies that lined up and helped to enable Swedish participation in Japan. The companies that lined up were Cargolux, Digital Equipment, Pharmacia and SAAB in Japan. Without these sponsors, a Swedish 505 team would never have been able to line up at the Worlds this year, so they were really helpful.

That summer we sailed a lot at home and abroad. The European Championships at Mounts Bay, England in July, where by the way Krister Bergstrom / Joakim Petterson came second and Kalle Nilsson / Janne Calvert in third place � unfortunately they could not go to Japan for various reasons. In addition, we sailed the UK Championships in Weymouth (with 114 505's) in September where we finished second and Niklas Philipson / Lars Stugemo in fifth place. So when we left the boats at Luxembourg Airport for transport, we thought we were pretty well prepared for the sailing part.

Cargolux flew our boats from Luxembourg to Hong Kong Airport where people from the local 505 fleet picked them up for further transport by container shipping. During the summer we were in contact with the Hong Kong fleet people who were very helpful to pack our two boats into their container to be shipped back and forth to Enoshima.

Two weeks before the Pre-worlds started Team Sweden drove to Luxembourg where we flew to Taiwan in one of their Cargo Jumbo Jet's, in the first-class cabin is in the nose which features 14 seats. There is something special about being in the nose of a Boeing 747.

We spent three amazing days in Taipei before our next trip which was a regular flight to Tokyo.

A little of what we saw before the actual racing began
A couple of weeks after the last race at the English Championships, it was crowded with Japanese people around us. It was not possible to understand what was written on the street signs and as far as the eye could reach it was skyscrapers. Tokyo, 14 million inhabitants � exciting but almost unreal for us small town residents from Stockholm.
The capital of Taiwan is Taipei, and in this simmering pot we spent a couple of chaotic and eventful days. Among other things, we found out that Taiwan is one of the world's largest manufacturers of boats.
Taiwan has a fairly genuine Chinese culture, but is very "impressed" by the United States. It was a culture shock to sit in a "local restaurant" and eat with chopsticks while Madonna roared "Get into the groove" from a pair of cracked speakers.

After Taiwan we then came to Japan, spent a couple of days in Tokyo. But 14 million inhabitants soon took their toll and we felt a strong need to "stretch our eyes". Fast ride with our loaned SAAB to Mount Fuji, a famous Japanese mountain to climb to the top. It's a different story, but we thought it was an experience to get up at four in the morning and start climbing to the top. Halfway up we could admire the fantastic sunrise.

After all this tourism, everyone thought it would be nice to be able to concentrate on sailing, spreader angles, mast rake and everything else "important" that belongs to sailing.

Before we arrived at the Enoshima site for the sailing, we had not had any direct contact with the Japanese. Just found that they seemed honest and very polite and helpful. When we now came to Enoshima, it was an opportunity for a little closer contact with some Japanese sailors, now it was also realized that the Japanese organizers invested wholeheartedly to perform a good World Championship.
The first thing we encountered was a typhoon warning. All boats were properly strapped so they would not blow away. However, the Japanese we spoke to were not so worried. "It is indeed typhoon season now, but earthquakes are worse than typhoons. "Luckily the typhoon chose to take a detour around Enoshima so we let it go.

We had actually experienced a couple of earthquakes, one small in Tokyo and one larger at Mt. Fuji. The larger one had its center under Tokyo and was reportedly the most powerful in over 50 years, so we were glad we were not in Tokyo when it occurred. It was shaking just enough at Mt. Fuji, (about 100 km from Tokyo), and it was definitely not very nice... 

We were accommodated in a Japanese hotel, very nice and good. The floors in the rooms were made of bamboo and quite soft and you slept directly on the floor on a mattress and not in any beds. We also each got a kimono and a pair of slippers, you did not go with shoes in the corridors. The Japanese lady who took care of the hotel had a lot of fun for us because we were so big, both slippers and kimonos were at least a number too small for us. She also could not really believe that we preferred yogurt in front of raw fish and rice for breakfast. But we enjoyed ourselves very much and got along well with the owners of the hotel and when we were going to travel, we even got a kimono as a gift.

Enoshima itself was something of a surfing paradise with beaches and rentals of both regular surfboards and windsurfers. Now, however, it was autumn so the worst high season was over. The harbour where the boats would be was very nice out on a small island with a bridge out.

When the Olympics took place in Tokyo in 1964, the sailings took place in Enoshima, and then a giant harbour was built with a large layout plan. Now the whole area was filled with dinghies, more precisely 3000, and although most were perhaps not so active, it was still a great activity at the club.

The first day when we got there we went into the club and were going up a flight of stairs to "inspect". It was completely impossible to get up the stairs! Down came the dinghy sailors, who came from the subway in Tokyo almost all of them were dressed in wetsuits and dry suits instead of in chalk-striped suits. We were completely shocked, and thought it would be like this every day. But it turned out that they had the biggest dinghy regatta of the year with 300! dinghies in some kind of handicap race.

Even if there was no such activity every day, there were at least ten 470's out and trained together every day we were at the club. In addition, there were always some Lasers and other local boats out sailing. They also ran several sailing schools for both adults and children during the day, so you can safely say that there was a lot of activity in the port and in Enoshima.

Apart from the fact that there were a lot of activities at the club and a lot of dinghy sailing, the club seemed to be a meeting point for many who came there mostly to "check the situation". Maybe something for us in Sweden, a natural meeting place for dinghy sailors from different classes.

A significant difference we experienced when it came to dinghy sailing in Japan was that there were a lot of girls sailing, and it was fun to see. We should have more of that here in Sweden as well.
When we arrived in Enoshima, we were the first foreign participants on site. The Japanese organizers had transported the boats to the port and unloaded them, so it was basically just a matter of removing the covers. When we rigged the boats, they were closely inspected by the Japanese sailors, most had never seen a foreign boat before and looked curiously at how we had arranged our "strings".

During the week all the other sailors arrived, and we were out sailing all day. It felt good to have plenty of time so you could get used to the "square waves" that arose when the wind was southerly, and to try to get things in order without any time pressure.
In addition, it feels good to be in place and have sailed when the competitors arrive. It strengthens the psyche and maybe you get a little psychological advantage when the competitors come forward and ask if it is cold in the water and so on. (At least that's what John Oakley claims). 

Who then would make up for the world title?

The competitors
Two teams came from England. One was Peter Colclough / Harold Barnes, who won the European Championships earlier in the summer by far. Peter is a former world champion in 505 three times and is always very good. His greatest strength is usually the downwinds where he can sail up from a queue to a tight position, how he now behaves. The other English boat was sailed by Chris Lewis / Andy Gray who won the English Championships and after that decided to race the Worlds. Chris had arranged an air transport of the boat but had no idea how to get the boat home. "I'll arrange it in some way."

The Australian team was what everyone talked about the most. 1983 world champion Terry Kyrwood / Reg Crick and that year's second Gary Bruniges / Greg Gardiner as well as reigning world champion Dean Blatchford / Tom Woods were perhaps the very best of the Australians. But they had many other good teams as well, Pete Hewson � Pacific Champion 1984, Peter Holmes � Olympic sailor in 470 1980 plus a number of more or less unknown and good sailors.

The unique thing about Australians is that most come from the same place and sail very much against each other, in that way they have managed to produce many good 505 sailors. I will save you from too much fuss about all good sailors, but can mention the Danes Jorgen Holm / Finn Jensen who were four at the European Championships this year, Howard Hamlin from the USA was third last year and J.B. Braun / Bill Kenney also those from the USA were fifth. In addition, half of the Swedish team Ebbe Rosen and Olle Wenrup were in the discussions � they were fourth at the worlds last year. The preliminary tip was that one of the Australians would win and that the Americans, Englishmen and Ebbe / Olle would settle for the rest of the places. However, a storm warning was issued for Paul Elvstrom, especially in medium and light weather.

If Elvstrom is a living legend, he is not the only one. From France came Marcel Buffet, 63 years retired and 505 sailor. Why buy a keel and fence at 22 year of age?

Pre-World Cup, Pacific Championships
A Worlds is usually preceded by a pre-Worlds, this year it was also the Pacific Championships. During a pre-worlds, a lot of talk take place to psyche the competitors. The "standard psychics" include hoisting strange looking sails or new masts.
Apart from psychiatry, this year there were strikingly many who experimented with "new" sail materials, although most claimed that it was an old design sewn with Kevlar / Mylar in different ways. In the past, a few have tried to use Kevlar / Mylar, but it has never worked. Probably because it makes the sails more expensive than they improve them.
In dinghy sails, it is not a question of the same large forces as in big boat sails, which means that it is not as great an advantage to use Kevlar / Mylar. Possibly you could save some weight, but the question is whether it has any decisive significance.

Terry Kyrwood tried a "Tape-Drive" mainsail from Horizon, Australia. A sail in Mylar, completely transparent, with sewn-on Kevlar stripes along some special computer-calculated "power lines". The idea is that the Kevlar stripes will take up the loads in the sail. After the pre-Worlds, Kyrwood switched back to his old sails, he was unsure if the new sails were better than the old ones so he chose to use old proven things.

The Pacific Championship consisted of four races. There were two in fairly light winds and two in stronger winds. There would have been five races but the 5^th was cancelled, it simply blew too much for the organizers to dare to let out the field.

On the first day of the pre-worlds, it did not blow so much, 3-6 m/s. The Australians immediately showed that they would become hyper-dangerous. The first race was won by Blatchford / Woods and the second by Pete Hewson / Alyn Ovenden and there were always several Australians among the top ten. Ebbe / Olle finished 11th and 4th, Niklas / Lars 12th and 24th.

The third and fourth race was sailed in bright sunshine and stronger winds. Southern winds meant choppy "square waves" that were very difficult to sail in. The third race was won by Bruniges, who led around the entire course, before Chris Lewis / Andy Gray. Chris, who sails with the almost two meter long Andy, went very fast on the beats but did not really keep up on the downwind.

Jim Wondolleck / Jay Kuncl from San Francisco also sailed fast, finishing third. They claimed to like strong winds because it often blows a lot in San Francisco. Ebbe / Olle sailed fast and well until the last lap where they rounded as fifth. When the spinnaker was taken down, they got it under the boat, lost some and became 16th in the finish. Niklas / Lars finished 19th just before Blatchford / Woods.

So far, only Australians had won and no one else had even come close to winning. There was always an Australian who was first and it was a different team every time.

By the fourth race the wind had increased to approx. 10 m/s and the waves was even more choppy. Now Elvstrom showed a little of what he could and rounded as third at the first mark after Chris Lewis and Blatchford / Woods. The race was won by Braun / Kenney from the USA after a hard fight with Blatchford / Woods. Third and fourth were Hewson and Bruniges, Australia. Niklas / Lars was 13th and Ebbe / Olle 18th.

How did it go for Elvstrom? He capsized at the gybe mark in good company with several others, easily done in the difficult wave conditions.

As the fifth race was cancelled due to too much wind, Gary Bruniges / Greg Gardiner won just before Pete Hewson / Alyn Ovenden and Dean Blatchford / Tom Woods, all from Australia. Total Australian dominance, in addition, two more Australians were among the top ten.

In fourth place came Lewis / Gray and in fifth Colclough / Barnes, both from England. Chris felt safe when it started to blow but could "park" quite properly when the wind eased, he said afterwards.

The best of the Swedes was Ebbe / Olle in 9th place, Niklas / Lars finished as 19th.
We hoped that it would be possible to improve the placements for the Worlds. Both thought we sailed pretty fast at times but did not have that real flow.

Intermediate days

During these days, there was a feverish activity among the participants. Those who had succeeded better took it easy, but trimmed up the safety a bit too. The Australians pulled around in droves and drank beer while someone ran around with a video camera and "documented" all the glory. They probably thought it would be well to document the World Championship victory properly. The Americans complained about the measurements and cracked into their sails, which were zealously controlled by knowledgeable Japanese measurement staff.

Elvstrom is a chapter in itself. He tuned the boat all the time, on the way out to the race course, between the races, on land � never really satisfied. These days he sailed a lot, he said he went "Very bad, no pointing" during the Pre-worlds, he thought. On land, he had to sign autographs on Japanese little girls' shirts. Or let themselves be photographed with Japanese sailors while it looked like they were discussing the rig trim or something else important, "between friends".

The worlds would finally begin

There was a nervous, cohesive atmosphere by the boats. Now it was time. Everyone was down by their boats early, checking the last "psych stuff" and wandering around a little nervously.

The weather was very windy with drizzle and wind from the north, so the "local fishermen" took home the game after all. Normally no one likes to rig the boats when it is raining and windy, but now it was the first race was and also TV was there and filmed, so it was probably a little easier for most...

FIRST RACE
Out on the track it was 10-14 m/s and very windy. The start was postponed several times and the field did not start until the fourth start attempt due to that the rubber boat that would be a gate boat could not keep its course in the strong wind. Many started early due to a Japanese boat that was the pathfinder, and they are usually not so fast when it is windy.

However, Ebbe / Olle started late and hit land, which proved to be completely right. Inland they sailed very fast and came up to the first mark in a clear lead. After came a cluster of Chris Lewis, Colclough, Elvstrom, Bruniges and Blatchford. At the gybe mark, Ebbe / Olle led, but in the gybe the kicker fitting in the boom broke in the weld � that was the day.

The rest of the race was Blatchford, Bruniges and Wondolleck who fought for the places. The gusty wind made it difficult to judge, but it paid off most to go out on the starboard side. The race was won by Blatchford before Bruniges and Wondolleck, Niklas / Lars finished 15th. Too bad for Ebbe / Olle, it was about to be a real Swedish day.

SECOND RACE
The next morning it was exactly the same weather as the day before. Northern wind, gusty (and increasing when sailing out to the race area). The Dane Jorgen Holm was pathfinder and when he sailed for port for two minutes it lifted sharply for him. This meant that everyone who started early could tack to port and was then far ahead of those who just started and those who have not yet started.

Blatchford judged the first upwind perfectly, found the right path in the wind tracks, and rounded first with Wondolleck and Braun just behind. The northern winds, offshore winds, meant very different conditions and wind paths that came and went on the course. It paid to sail "conservatively" in the middle, and tack towards the middle as soon as it looked good.

It was exactly the same boats at the top in the second race as in the first. Blatchford, Wondolleck and Braun chased each other and the lead changed many times during the race. But from behind through the field came Bruniges and at the finish line Blatchford was just ahead of Bruniges with a meager decimeter. It was so close that no one knew who had won until late in the evening.

Niklas / Lars made an approved first beat and rounded up around 15th place, in the finish they became 11th after being at best 7th after the reaches. Ebbe / Olle sailed up from a bad starting position and was the 14th boat to finish. So far no Swedish ranking among the top ten.

The reigning world champions started with two race wins and impressed with their safety. Equally impressive were Bruniges who constantly sailed up through the field and all the way up to the lead.

THIRD RACE
Slightly lighter wind but the same northern wind direction and choppy changing conditions as before. It seemed that every morning the wind was light but during the race it increased and it became "usual" just right to start.
On this day, Nicke / Lars decided to start early. It should be an advantage in the twisting winds because you could then take the shifts that came quite close. At first it looked a bit difficult as it was a problem to come back for port towards the field. But eventually it was possible to tack and get above most in the field.

At the first mark, Elvstrom, who had gone far out on the port edge, led on one occasion in the middle of the beat and found a good track. Close to the heels were Blatchford and Niklas / Lars and then came a cluster of "the usual" � Braun, Wondolleck, Bruniges and Hamlin.

Elvstrom was passed quite quickly by the cluster, he had problems on the downwind but went well on upwind, and after the first lap Blatchford led before Niklas / Lars. Close behind came the group with the other "good boats". On the second beat Niklas / Lars went a little too far to the port side and was passed directly by five boats, here you could not make any mistakes.

This sailing was, like the previous ones, very intense and dense and the placements at the top changed all the time. On the last beat, Bruniges led in front of Blatchford and Wondolleck. Bruniges guarded Blatchford, Wondolleck took a chance and struck 100 meters further out to starboard. There he got a little twist and could hit up to the finish line, go ahead of both the others and win the race.

Niklas / Lars was 8th and Ebbe / Olle finished in 15th place. Ebbe / Olle were not completely satisfied, nothing really fluent � maybe not really ideal for them.

After half of the Worlds, Blatchford / Woods led before Bruniges / Gardiner and Wondolleck / Kuncl, none of these boats had any position worse than third. The same boats at the top all the time, could no one else settle in? Niklas / Lars was in 10th place and were quite happy so far, Ebbe / Olle was 26th with a draw included and were not as happy.

FOURTH RACE
The same weather as usual both in strength and direction, actually a bit tiring. It would be interesting to see what happened when conditions changed.
Since it was a public holiday, there were more spectator boats than usual. The races were videotaped every day and shown in the evening, and there were also many photographers out and watching the races.

In general, the mass media showed great interest in the regatta and every morning there was TV in the harbour and interviewed Colclough, Elvstrom or someone else. In addition, Japan's largest sailing magazine, Kazi, had total coverage of the event with its own escort boat and photographers out on the course every day.
Pete Hewson, Australia, was the pathfinder and it turned out to be a "hit". The boats that rounded first were the ones that were on port before starting and sailed deepest under land. Hewson first rounded ahead of Aiko Saito, Japan.

At the top mark, an incident occurred between Wondolleck and Chris Lewis. When Wondolleck fell off to round, his stern hit Chris's boat so hard that it became a large hole in the bow. Chris did not think there was any danger but hoisted the spinnaker as usual. Pretty soon he noticed that the bow was only going deeper and deeper into the water and was forced to take towing into the harbour.
This collision led to a protest hearing where Chris was disqualified because he had not put up the protest flag in time, and Wondolleck was disqualified because he was doing wrong in the rounding. So both were disqualified!

The race was won by Terry Kyrwood who really had got started and sailed well. Second was, (as usual), Bruniges and third was Pete Hewson. Only Australians at the top of every race, now Blatchford came in 10th place but then Hewson was at the top instead. It was also an Australian boat that had four 7th places! Ebbe / Olle got it a little better now and became 8th, but Niklas / Lars sailed unconcentrated and became 17th.
One who sailed very steadily and well was Howard Hamlin. He sailed almost extremely conservatively and did not round the first mark worse than the 10th ever. In this race he finished 4^th.

In the evening, the organizers had rented an entire restaurant for the Worlds participants and all officials. The only thing the sailors had to do was decide what they wanted to eat, it was just to order anything. To that was offered the traditional rice brandy sake. Needless to say, it will be a good party when the party participants have a whole restaurant at their disposal?

FIFTH RACE
After the Lay-Day, ie a sailing-free day, it was time for the fifth race. The position was that Blatchford led overall with a deductible before Bruniges who had four second places. Bruniges was thus second with a second place excluded... For these two there was hardly anything to do, possibly Wondolleck / Kuncl could come up with something but it looked more difficult now that they had a DSQ.

The wind direction was as usual, but now there was significantly less wind � 3-5 m/s. Interesting to see what would happen. We Swedes were quite hopeful because we both thought we went fast when it got lighter, at least we had done it at the Pacifics. Difficult to assess situation, would you start early and try to take the shifts or start later and sail more on the starboard edge which seemed to pay off most times?

First out of the gate was Elvstrom who now really showed where the cabinet would stand. When Niklas / Lars started, Elvstrom was 100 m directly up in the windward... and it looked dark for those who started late, including both Swedish boats. First around the mark was again "the King" followed by Bruniges and Colclough, Niklas / Lars rounded as 5th and Ebbe / Olle a little further down.

Colclough and Bruniges overtook Elvstrom almost directly on the first reach. These two then had their own race around the track and the lead changed several times. On the last upwind, Colclough managed to use the shifts a little better and was able to win before Bruniges who thus took his 5th straight second place. Elvstrom did his best race and took third place, he was very happy with that, he said. Niklas / Lars was the whole race around fifth place and finished as 6th, Ebbe / Olle was 10th and would thus be the pathfinder in the last race.

With Blatchford / Woods coming 5th, Bruniges / Gardiner were clear world champions even though there was one race left.

SIXTH RACE
What a weather! Roasting sunshine and almost no wind at all. The sailing committee made an attempt to start the field but the wind died completely so it was just to blow off the start attempt.

For three hours the boats lay out on the sea, waiting for the wind, and every now and then there were a few breaths, but each time from a new direction. At 2.30 pm the wind had stabilized so much that you could say it was southerly and the wind was between 1-3 m/s. The race management decided, well aware that it was getting dark already at 5.30 pm to try to carry out a shortened race.

At the first beat, the wind turned 25 degrees to port, so when those who started first hit port, they saw the pathfinder, Ebbe / Olle, in the mainsail window.

It became a difficult race where the wind turned sharply in one direction to after about twenty minutes turn just as much in the other direction. But, those who are good know how to do and are at the top anyway.

Now the race was won by Peter Colclough who thus made a strong final sprint and won the last two races. As a result, he finished third. In second place came a completely unknown and mixed Japanese team, she was so happy that she jumped into the water after the finish. Third was Aiko Saito, Japan, and thus she became 10th overall and the first Japanese boat among the top ten in "modern times". Bruniges sailed the race even though he was already the world champion and did his worst sailing and was "only" 6th. Ebbe / Olle who was hopelessly after already at the first mark finished 11th and Niklas / Lars no better than 26th.

New world champion: Gary Bruniges / Greg Gardiner who won by 15 points ahead of Blatchford / Woods. In third place came Peter Colclough / Harold Barnes and in fourth place Terry Kyrwood / Reg Crick.

Peter Colclough was clearly pleased after winning the last two races: "It feels good to know that they, (the Australians), are not completely unbeatable in any case. I will be back in France next year".

Gary Bruniges / Greg Gardiner has sailed 505 together for six years, a fairly short time in these contexts where many have sailed 505 for at least 10 years. They were fourth at the World Cup in San Francisco in 1981 and second in 1983 in Adelaide, so they were happy that they made it all the way this time. Gary is very good tactically and seems to have an overview of what is happening on the track all the time. He is usually right if something happens. In terms of speed, they went well but not in any way extremely well. Possibly they were a little sharper than some on upwind at 3-5 m/s. Whether it is because both are quite small and do not weigh that much or anything else was discussed, especially among Englishmen and Americans who are quite weight-fixed.

Bruniges / Gardiner were very worthy world champions and were without a doubt the ones who sailed best with five second places and a sixth place.

The Americans came 5th, 6th and 9th and it can be noted that Hamlin who finished ninth had the worst place a 10th place and the best a fourth, and last year he came third with about the same series. The Australians thus dominated big and had five boats among the top ten. Sweden was 11th and 13th and had no boat among the top ten. Why is Australia so much better? Is Sweden about to lose ground in the 505 class as well?

What really happened?
The races went all the time in fairly similar conditions with gusty, twisting winds and winds that came and went. It was quite a rough sea and not much current. You can probably not characterize the races as a special speed run, but it was important to get right all the time otherwise you could easily lose a lot of distance. How is it then that a country can totally dominate a class like Australia actually does today? Do they have better materials, was it "their conditions" or what is the reason?

Equipment
If you start by looking at their hulls, they all have Australian boats built by Terry Kyrwood. The boats are built with balsa sandwiches and seem ok. But I do not think that their boats look better than the boats we use in Sweden and they are definitely not as stiff as the American Epoxy/Kevlar boats. On the contrary, some details such as the centerboard case and mast foot seem a bit suspicious, simply not really "engineering" level.

I think that if we in Sweden used Kyrwood boats, they would not last as long as the boats we have today because we sail with much harder rig tension than the Australians do.

What was discussed a lot was their hull shapes, which differed a lot from the English Parker boats in particular. It is claimed that the Kyrwood boats have straighter lines and are not as "bumpy" in the stern, and some sailors were convinced that this made the Australians faster. However, I have great doubts that this would be what makes Australians better than the rest of the world.

However, what may be a contributing factor is the rig. The Australians are sailing with a completely different rig compared to what we do. They have soft masts with curved sails that require a lot of bending on the masts.

They use much less rig tension than has been usual, Blatchford claimed that when it started to blow, the leeward shroud hung and dangle and sometimes even the windward shroud could slacken when they sailed into a big wave.

Almost none of the Australians could trim the tension in the shrouds while sailing, they only had a simple lever for the bow that they released on the more it blew. This means that the Australian rigs are extremely tilted backwards, and that the more it blows the looser rig tension they get because they release the bow. The tension in the bow is generally wanted harder the more it blows to be able to take height, but it did not seem as if the Australians had any problems with height. Maybe the front tension is compensated by the fact that they pull the kicker extremely much when it blows, usually the boom goes approx. two centimeters above the side tanks in strong winds.

Australians are often small and light and traditionally small, light crews have a hard time keeping up with the 505 when it starts to blow. But it seems that the Australian rig works very well all-round for them and it seems to be easy to sail in such a way that it is "automatic". That is, when it starts to blow, it loses enough power without any major trimming and thus allows the sailors to constantly concentrate on driving the boat to the maximum.

Eric Lockeyer, 505 sailor from Hong Kong, has been sailing 505 for 21 years! He bought an Australian boat a few years ago and he firmly claimed that it was the easiest 505 to sail he had ever had. "It was just to sheet in and aim at the mark and the boat went by itself. No problem. It makes it much easier for a mediocre sailor like me to position well."

I think there is a part in the fact that Australians have rigs that are easier to sail, more "automatic" than what the American rig in particular is. It is very possible that an American rig with its straight mast and many tuning options is faster when it is set correctly. The only problem is that it is almost never 100% and that it requires trimming as soon as conditions change the least.

The rig is thus an interesting thing that could be worth trying, a more easily sailed rig makes it easier to concentrate on the sailing itself. But the big difference is probably in any case that the Australians sail much more against good competition than other countries do. In addition, they seem to sail with a slightly different attitude than many others, and that is perhaps the most interesting.

Mentality
Most of the Australians who took part at Worlds came from the same place, Lake McQuarie. Every weekend they meet and sail in large fleets towards each other. With three world champions in the club, they can have a world championship every weekend! They have no idea how the boats are tuned if you ask for different dimensions, for example, but they sail on their own sense/feeling.

Pete Hewson also claimed that they "do not quarrel about every single cm2 on the lake at mark rounding, etc. There are only a lot of protests about it. Instead, we try to sail past each other by concentrating on sailing as fast as possible and power the boats on maximum at all times ". He also said that they knew each other very well, that everyone helped each other and that there were many boats that went exactly as fast. "The winner is the one who sails best, and this week it was Gary."

The "secret" behind the Australians' success, I think, is for the most part that they sail a lot against good competition and that they are thus used to constantly keeping a high concentration, they sail optimally longer than the competitors do. Then it is usually the case that if a country produces a good sailor, it spreads and spurs the others, success breeds success.

What happens to Sweden?
Sweden has always had good 505 sailors, and a Worlds without a Swedish boat among the top ten is very unusual. Now the best Swedish boat finished in 11th place, which in itself Niklas / Lars were happy with. But Ebbe / Olle had probably expected to be better than 13th considering how they previously placed. However, I do not think that Sweden is losing ground, several good Swedish boats were not in Japan. It was a shame because it is a little easier if there are several good boats from the same country. If a boat fails a little one day, there is someone else at the top and then you know that "If they can, we can". So it was safe for the Australians where everyone knew they were just as fast, and that always some were up and fighting.

In Sweden we have a good atmosphere in the class and the attitude is that we should help each other as much as possible and that it is fun if many go well. Our problem is probably that we rarely sail in larger fleets than 30-35 boats and maybe a little due to that the best sailors live far apart. In order for us to have a Swedish world champion, it is probably necessary for the best to invest hard together and train more together.

We will probably in the future also have several boats at the top at the World and European Championships, but it may take that little extra if it is to be a Swedish world champion. But I do not think it's about buying Australian stuff but about sailing and training more together and developing something of your own. And it seems to be on its way, Niklas / Lars used Swedish Rebel Sails now at the Worlds and Krister Bergstrom was second this summer at the European Championships and also won Kiel Week and the Swedish Championships with Rebel Sails.

At last
In summary, we think it was a fantastic 505 Worlds, and the whole trip was of course an experience.

The organizers had done a great job and carried out absolutely perfect events both on the sea and on land, not least the social part was well organized. This together with frequent and exciting races against talented sailors made you remember the Japan Worlds as a very good championship. That we also had time to see a bit of Japan did not make it all worse.

In short: The �Bear Leage� really enjoyed the World Championship in Japan!

+ Additional experiance we had from our return trip to Sweden

505 WORLDS RESULTS � ENOSHIMA/JAPAN 1985 / Complete Overall Results: Click Here

 1 GARY BRUNIGES/GREG GARDINER       AUS 2,2,2,2,2,6
 2 DEAN BLATCHFORD/TOM WOODS         AUS 1,1,3,10,5,14
 3 PETER COLCLOUGH/H.BARNES          GBR 5,12,17,6,1,1
 4 TERRY KYRWOOD/REG CRICK           AUS 13,6,4,1,9,5
 5 JIM WONDOLLECK/JAY KUNCL          USA 3,3,1,DSQ,13,12
 6 J.B. BRAUN/BILL KENNEY            USA 4,5,6,5,7,16
 7 PETER HEWSON/ALYN OVENDEN         AUS 9,4,10,3,19,7
 8 LEIGH WINTER/STEPHEN KAY          AUS 7,7,7,7,11,4
 9 HOWARD HAMLIN/TOM POORE           USA 8,9,5,4,8,10
10 AIKO SAITO/SHIRO NOGUSHI          JAP 14,16,23,9,12,3
11 N.PHILIPSSON/LARS STUGEMO         SWE 15,11,8,17,6,26
12 PAUL ELVSTROM/JACOB BOJSEN-MOLLER DEN 12,17,13,16,3,41
13 EBBE ROSEN/OLLE WENRUP            SWE RET,14,15,8,10,11

• Worlds Report by John Labbett - 505 Great Britain, December '85, PDF version

• The Video Top Teams Introduction

• 505 Marina Del Rey World Preview

• Swedish Worlds Report by Lars Stugemo (In Swedish)

• They May Be Slack But They're Not Slow Peter Hewson describes the slack Aussie rig and sailor, PDF

• Going Japanese by Eric Lockeyear, PDF

• Kyrwood To The Fore Again � Pacific Championship, Hong Kong '83 by John Labbett, PDF

• Dunhill 9th Int505 Class Pacific Championship by Andy Gray - 505 Great Britain, December '79, PDF

• Firing up a Five-Oh by Dean Blatchford, three-times Australian champion

505 Sweden Archive Home

— Sv.505 F�rbundet —

Uppdaterad 2023-10-13