The Scene

Having been extended an invited to South Africa for secret surgeons business from 3-8th November  it was hard not to notice the proximity to these worlds and hence my participation. First impressions were more friendly at airports and transport sites and I felt more relaxed compared to a visit 5 years ago. A jolt back to reality hit hard with my crew Pip Pearson (Outgoing World 5o5 president) being mugged the first morning as he was heading for the yacht club. He survived outwardly intact, but a little jumpy on the wire when I yelled at him suddenly !!

The sailing area was an offshore venue with sailing similar to offshore Sydney heads, surrounded by surfers parardise like buildings on the shoreline and lush hillsides of suburbs inland. Beach launching was on occasions very tricky with a vicious shore dump. Containers had travelled safely and were delivered to the site without any damage to the boats.

The timing of the regatta was unfortunate as no local or other southern hemisphere school age or university age competitiors were present, probably due to exam time.
Sixty one  competitors had tried to get some practice in during the pre-worlds but strong winds allowed no racing to be completed.

Six crews competed from Australia. Carter Jackson teamed up with Simon Gormon, Ian Burford / David Christie (Adelaide), Scott Olsen / Sean Gregory and Matthew Hansen / Ross Brennan (Perth), Brett Van Munster / Adam Linton (Lake Maquarie) and Les Nathanson / Pip Pearson. Three of the teams had never sailed together and this was undoubtably reflected in performance. I enjoyed the opportunity to sniff out the latest technical improvements and I hope this report spurs on our efforts at the nationals.

The racing

Durban weather behaved badly and out of character. Unfortunately this had also happened at the 1979 5o5 worlds there and memories were long as we grisled in the bar. The first race of the pre-worlds was started in 10kts SE and 3 minutes after starting a 45kts SW Buster ripped the fleet apart. Some made it home, rescue fascilities were outstripped and 4 boats had to be abandoned at sea to save the crews and with the offshore winds vanished up the coast. Two washed onto the rocks in fragments some days later and unfortunately one was the brand new Kulmar sailed by Ian Burford and David Christie. There were no spare boats and so they just had to be spectators from then on.

Things did not get better. It blew over 30kts for the next 3 days destroying the preworlds. Come the 17th  November, the 1st day of the championships we had a delightful 17kts NE sea breeze. This was won by Howard Hamlin/ Peter Alarie with none of us getting close or looking competitive. Carter/Goose were closest at 13th. We then watched the wind blow for 4 days of frustration. Trips to game parks and site seeing kept up the spirits and then finally a pleasant 8kts SE greeted us for the second and third races on 22nd November.  In the second Mike Martin / Steve Bourdow (USA) won with Scot Olsen/ Sean Gregory best Aussies at 20th . Mike was Howie Hamlin’s crew winning last years worlds and this was a real break for the crews union. We broke our main halyard half way through for a DNF but were going nowhere with the wrong gear selection (Small board / flat main).

The third race straight afterwards in fading wind left us still stranded with the wrong gear and was won again by Mike Martin/ Steve Bourdow. Scott Olsen again was the best Australian at 20th. The obvious lesson was that a large high aspect gibing board was giving the Americans an edge in these conditions.

The next day a 24kts NE greeted us for two wonderful races. A residual huge swell was crowned by steep wild chop. The rides downhill were a treat. Both heats  were won by Krister Bergstrom/ Thomas Moss (Sweden). Best Australian was Carter/Goose at 15th in am and Scott/Sean at 16th in pm. We celebrated again with gear failure in the am race by breaking our main outhaul twice, another DNF, and had to race to shore to get it sorted out in time for the pm race.

We all woke on the final day hoping to get in a final race, but another cold front welcomed us with 35kts SW winds. I have sailed this venue many time and have never seen two weeks go by where it was simply not possible to sail in the staple SW winds. Shades of Townsville all over again. Krister Bergstrom/ Thomas Moss was therefore world champion and deserved the win. He sailed with a small board on the final windy day and just blitzed the fleet with smooth controlled classy sailing.

Austarian final placing were Carter 18th, Scott 22nd, Brett 27th, Les 30th, Matt 38th. Much interest was shown in the Perth 2002 worlds, and Portugal next year should be a wonderful cultural / cuisine experience.

Latest Developments

The AGM agreed to put the large spinacker issue to the vote but will not apply to the worlds in Portugal.
Hulls were a spread of  Rondars, Waterats and Kyrwoods with much interest generated by Brett’s "Van Munster". Sails were much as we have been using with masts mainly Proctor D. Bergstrom was using a Proctor Cumulus but really this was not discussed much. The top boats all used Kevlar in the main / jib.

The main new development was some high aspect gybing boards, and the internet sites will give more details on this. The USA boats were also experimenting with high aspect rudders, but stalling out at critical times and weakness diminish my enthusiasm.
We are unsure when the container will arrive back in Sydney, but I hope to see you all at the nationals if things arrive in time.

 Les Nathanson