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2002-2003 International 505 Class
Well, I guess not too many people would have seen many 505’s racing at RFBYC during the past season, due entirely to the World Championships held off Fremantle during the first two weeks of December 2002. Over 100 entrants attended the event from all over the world. The only person who didn’t make an appearance was the Fremantle Doctor. With the exception of the Saturday lay day and race one of the pre-worlds, where 19 rigs were broken and another 12 bent out of shape, the average wind strength was around 8 – 15 knots which made for very challenging racing. The bulk of the local fleet experienced wide-ranging results. Peter Chappel, sailing a brand new Fremantle 505 managed to win the National title, finishing second overall in the pre-worlds to multiple world title winner Howie Hamlin. The second week of racing proved to be much harder as the wind strength and direction varied dramatically. The guns came out to play for the main event and at the start of the final day four different competitors were in a position to win, but eventually former two time World 505 Champion Chris Nicholson won the event from Howie Hamlin and Krister Bergstrom, adding to his impressive trophy cabinet. Your scribe finished in the 70’s. Special thanks go to Graham Hill, and his staff at Hill Sails, who catered for the daily repairs to all entrants, delivering and picking up sails from the boat park each day. The coming of the winter sees the bulk of the fleet returning to the river to hone their skills with some training programs to be conducted from the club. The long-term aim of the local fleet is to go over to Santa Cruz, in southern California for the 2004 Worlds. Training for the event is due to begin next month with training every 2 weeks. People interested in getting involved with 505 racing should look up the local website au.int505.org where they can find all the information required to get them going. There are still boats available to buy for people keen to get on the water next season. P&O have kindly sponsored a container for WA to get our boats over there. For the next summer season we can expect the fleet to be involved with a number of different regattas and events. The now annual race to Rottnest in February, and Easter regatta at Albany are high everyone’s agenda. We are also considering a Bunbury regatta, Late races in the bay on Saturdays, as well as the International Classes Regatta in December. While the fleet only managed one race at Freshie this year, we can expect to see 505’s at the club on a more regular basis over the coming months. Nick Hancock 505 Fleet Captain RFBYC
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