2002 Grolsch International 505 World ChampionshipThe 505 class membership chose to go to Fremantle, Western Australia for the 2002 World Championship, at the invitation of the Western Australia 505 fleet, expecting the Fremantle Doctor to deliver a great windy series. While the Fremantle Doctor was a no-show except for the first race of each of the pre-worlds and worlds series, conditions were still very good with all worlds races but one in trapezing conditions, and most in planing upwind and wire-running downwind conditions. However, only the first race of the world championship � and the first race of the pre-worlds -- were in over 20 knots. Wind ranged from fairly steady westerlies, to very shifty and puff easterlies. The shallow water over much of the racing area meant that the fleet dealt with a short steep chop rather than long ocean swells. With the Fremantle Doctor conspicuous by his absence, or weakness, we had major shifts or the wind dying off and filling in from a new direction, during several races, which typically resulted in the race being abandonded and restarted. On one memorable long day we raced nearly three full races, in order to get two in. There were several gate starts in quite light wind, and the pathfinder was too late in another, which resulted in some recalls and second attempts at a gate start. The sailing area and the adjacent beaches were gorgeous. Fremantle�s bars, pubs, restaurant and cafes were very well patronized by 505 sailors, and the Fremantle Sailing Club bar did not do badly either. The new maritime museum, which included an America�s Cup 12 meter and a locally built, foil-borne Moth, opened while we were in Freo, and a number of competitors and family and friends were able to visit. Another popular location to visit was Windrush Boats, builders of the pre-preg carbon fibre, honeycomb core, Fremantle 505. This was the first 505 World Championship held with the new long luff spinnaker which is hoisted higher on the mast. The result of the change to the long luff spinnaker and a 505 worlds course that emphasizes downwind legs more, is that 505 racing has become more skiff-like, with teams going down the runs at hot angles with the crew on the wire and the pole on the forestay, searching for puffs, and gibing on the shifts. However knowing when to wire run and when to sail low or even dead downwind was key in conditions that frequently crossed the windspeed and wave boundary that favoured one over the other. Despite the apparent emphasis on technology and tuning in the 505 class, many of the races come down to sailing skills. There were always shifts and puffs that the best teams were able to leverage, and two of the races sailed in a shifty puffy easterly, rewarded those heads-up sailors who played the puffs best upwind and down. Ian Barker/Dan Cripps sailed brilliantly on that one day to score a 1,2, and they had to capsize the boat to fix a jammed spinnaker halyard in the race they were second in! The Australian Nationals/pre-worlds and World Championship fleets were impressive in numbers and in depth, with 102 teams being scored in the Australian Nationals/pre-worlds and 98 scored in the World Championship. Apart from a number of top 505 sailors who -- choosing to not sail other classes -- are virtually unknown outside of 505s, there were a number of well-known top competitors including:
The Australian fleet was strong, with a number of top sailors in other Australian classes such as the Sharpie joining an already strong Australian contingent. But this was not just a fleet for rockstars. There were mixed teams, couples, and an impressive number of good junior sailors, recruited into 505s by the Western Australian 505 fleet. And of course a number of good competent sailors committed to racing the 505 class for life, even if they were not going to threaten at a world championships. I believe the 505 is actually an intimidating class for some newcomers, as even in close-to-last place, people know how to tack and gybe and know what moves to pull to shut you out at a mark. Early discussions as to which team might be a favourite typically resulted in a long list of teams that could win the event or at least finish in the top five. Indeed three different teams led the World Championships during the seven day series, four if you include the four day Australian Nationals/pre-worlds. The top teams were an interesting contrast in styles, with three members of the ultra-practiced, ultra-tuned, Long Beach USA �Team Tuesday� group finishing in the top six, Krister Bergstrom/Thomas Moss of Sweden, who practice by themselves without a fleet finishing third, and the very talented � and sailing-every-day-but-not-in-505s � Chris Nicholson jumping back into a 505 and demonstrating that he had not forgotten how to race a 505 by winning the event. Another very good and practiced sailor without recent 505 time was Ian Barker. Barker/Cripps started with 7,1,2 finishes, but were unable to finish in the top four after that, falling to fifth overall. The event came down to the last race, with four teams mathematically able to win it all, three of them with good chances. The apparent winner of the event even changed during the final race, as initially five time 505 World Champion Krister Bergstrom and Thomas Moss were in Championship winning position early in the race, only to see first the Nicholsons and then Hamlin/Martin pass them, dropping Bergstrom/Moss back to third overall. In retrospect Bergstrom agreed that his flat sails and small high aspect ratio centerboard and rudder had been too optimized for big breeze and flatter water conditions, leaving him very slightly off-the-pace in the medium air chop faced by the fleet on most days including the last. Bergstrom/Moss were the most consistent, perhaps the best at clawing their way through the fleet after a bad first few legs, and had the lowest scores counting all races, but were unable to finish in the top three places in any worlds races. The Nicholson brothers used a new carbon pre-preg Australian Van Munster 505, but used a mast and foils similar to what other top teams were using. They are a little lighter than most of the other top teams, but this did not appear to hurt their upwind speed, despite the heavy chop which is normally thought to favour heavier taller crews. The first race of the Australian Nationals/pre-worlds, was started in 24 knots, and quickly built to about 28, with puffs well into the 30s. The short, steep, high chop and shallow water made for hard racing, and about 18 masts were broken, either by turtling in the shallow water, or simply from the rig collapsing as the kite filled with the bow stuck in a wave. Despite this carnage, competitors were very happy with the adoption of the long luff spinnaker. Though some in the fleet were experimenting with upper spreaders and upper shrouds to support the mast tip, which is now subjected to greater loads, only one of the top ten teams used any additional mast support. However many of the top teams had switched from the Proctor D to the Proctor Cumulus over the past few years. Once the racing was over and everyone back on shore, the 505s were quickly packed into twelve forty-foot containers to be shipped home. The packing was completed before the prize presentation dinner and party, where most competitors partied with their friends into the early hours of the next morning. With only seven months until the next 505 world championship in Malmo Sweden, many competitors are eager to practice, tweak tuning, centerboards and sailshapes, applying what they learned in Fremantle, in the hope and expectation that they will do better at the Malmo Worlds. The 505 Class Annual General Meeting was held one morning before racing. Though time constrained, we were able to get through the agenda. Minutes will be posted shortly, but the highlights are that Tom Bojland of Denmark was elected the new President, Jean-Baptiste Dupont of France was elected the new Vice President. The membership present voted in favour of a proposal to remove the ban on carbon fibre spars. The proposal prevents rotating masts, wing masts, or large diameter thin-wall masts. It also has a three year transition during which masts must meet a minimum weight and minimum center of gravity. This now goes to postal ballot. The other highlight was the selection of Warnemunde in Germany as the site of the 2005 World Championship. The AGM ended in a hurry as it was time to rig and launch for racing, but as it turned out, we were postponed on shore, so were able to run the Open Forum meeting in the measurement tent, while we were under postponement. The Open Forum meeting had some very interesting discussion. Notes from the open forum meeting will be posted shortly, but highlights include:
Organising and running a World Championship is a lot of work. Though the Western Australia 505 fleet has grown to something like thirty teams, running this event required many of them, and many members of their families, to put in up to two weeks of their time so we could race. There is a long list of people who deserve our thanks for this event. Unfortunately I do not have names for most of them, so cannot list them here. I will single out a few though. Members of the Stowell family were heavily involved in the event, including Mark who was also racing in the event, and members of the Olsen family seemed to be everywhere as well. Then Ali Murphy juggled her university work so she could be at the Fremantle Sailing Club dinghy facility before and after racing each day, to help us out, and sell us T-shirts, water bottles and similar. There were volunteers on Race Committee, there were volunteers cooking sausages after racing each day, and there were volunteers pouring wine at the pre-worlds prize presentation. Thank you all very much. The event could not have taken place without the support of a number of sponsors. The major sponsors were Grolsch and Ronstan (guess which beer we were drinking after racing), but there were many other local sponsors that supported the event. Thank you to the sponsors. Finally, my own 505 racing program was in a shambles and not long before the event I was seriously considering not going. When past 505 class president Pip Pearson heard this, he unretired from 505 racing, and offered to crew for me in his Kyrwood. I could not have raced this event without Pip�s generous offer. Pip, please don�t retire from 505 racing again.
Alexander "Ali" Meller
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