505 WORLDS SAN FRANCISCO 2009

2009 SAP 505 World Championship � Hamlin and Cayard team up
by Rich Roberts

2009 SAP 505 World Championship. When up to a hundred doublehanded dinghies converge on San Francisco Bay next week for the sponsored by SAP and APL and hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club, one team will rate somewhere between a favorite and an enigma.

The skipper � Howard Hamlin of Long Beach, Calif. � won it all in 1999 and has finished second five times and third twice since, but for the class's 54th Worlds he'll be breaking in new crew. With his regular, Andy Zinn, unavailable because of a business commitment, Hamlin went for local talent.

First he asked Morgan Larson, who won the Worlds at nearby Santa Cruz in 2004, but Larson declined and suggested a buddy by the name of, uh � oh, yeah, Paul Cayard.

Hamlin fired off an e-mail to this guy Cayard and received a quick response: 'I'd love to. What are the dates?'

Cayard's only concern was that 'I don't want to hold you back.'

After all, Cayard is 50 now, although he is six years younger than the skipper. On the other hand, they have been hitting the gym hard lately.

'This is my next anti-aging prescription,' Cayard said. 'The first dose was the Olympics at 45.'

Cayard does have some experience sailing a 505... 30 years ago. He crewed for Dennis Surtees when they finished second in the 505 Worlds at Durbin, South Africa. Since then his career, including the distinction as America's Rolex Yachtsman of he Year in 1998, has mostly involved leading America's Cup campaigns, winning the Whitbread Round the World Race (now the Volvo Ocean Race), winning a Star class world title followed by a fifth place in the 2004 Olympics and other ventures involving, as he stated in an online interview with sailing journalist Andy Rice of SailJuice, 'boats with lead on the bottom.'

The 505s have no lead anywhere, nor do they have powered winches that became a point of contention in the ongoing America's Cup squabbles. They have no winches at all.

A downside is that Cayard will miss the initial stages of the event while sailing an elegant lead-belly in the MedCup for TP52s in Europe while rivals tune up in the three-day 505 North American Championships starting Tuesday, plus the first day of the Worlds on Sunday, Aug. 23.

However, Hamlin was fortunate to recruit Ian Mitchell of Great Britain, who has won two 505 World titles as crew in 1997 and 2006, to fill in until Cayard arrives for the last seven of nine races through Aug. 29.

Hamlin is definitely making the best of it. Three months ago on the Bay he and Cayard topped a fleet of eight boats in the two-day Elvstrom/Zellerbach Regatta for the Pacific Coast Championship.

'I was looking for a crew but keeping it low key,' Hamlin said. 'There are only a few guys in the world who can sail these boats the way I like to have them sailed.'

Cayard should be good enough for that, says Pip Pearson, president of the International 505 Class, in his preview form guide on the St. Francis YC website.

'This year's Worlds will be the show down of show downs in 505 history,' Pearson wrote. 'Don't think 30 years out of the boat has affected [Cayard's] ability in a dinghy. He's in his home waters, and this team has my first vote right now.'

The boats will stage on the grass and launch off the beach at Crissy Field adjacent to the St. Francis YC. Racing will be on the Berkeley Circle area of the East Bay.

The defending champion is Ian Pinnell of Great Britain, who won with Carl Gibbon as crew in light winds at Palermo, Sicily last year, posting all single-digit finishes in a fleet of 122 boats.

The only other 505 Worlds in San Francisco were in 1981 when the U.S.'s Ethan Bixby and crew Cam Lewis won.

Unlike Cayard, such skittish high-performance boats are all that Hamlin sails. Besides his 505 title in '99, he also has won 18 Skiff (JJ Giltinan) and I-14 Worlds with various crews, including fellow Southern Californian Mike Martin, who was with him in '99 but will be one of his strongest rivals here.

Subsequently on the tiller, Martin has logged two seconds, a third and a fifth in the Worlds and is regarded as especially strong in heavy air and lumpy water, which is the reliable meat and potatoes diet of San Francisco sailing. He'll have the veteran Jeff Nelson as crew.

Cayard, in the SailJuice interview, said Martin 'is by far the fastest guy in breeze... clearly faster than Howie and I. I'm a little light at 205 and Howie's about 160, and you can be sure it's going to blow 20 knots every day, over 25 half the days and probably hit 30.'

Also, Cayard said, 'The boats are more complicated now [with] strings and gadgets everywhere. But I haven't hurt Howard's record so far.'

And he wouldn't miss it. 'It's a big time regatta in my hometown,' Cayard said. 'It's a breath of fresh air.'

The doublehanded 5O5 measures 16 feet 6 inches in length overall. It was conceived in a larger 18-foot version by John Westell of the UK for International Yacht Racing Union trials in l953 seeking to find the 'best possible two-man centreboarder.' It was soon trimmed down to 16-6, which computes to 5.05 meters � thus, the 505. The IYRU accorded it official International status in 1955.

It has a 6-foot, 2-inch (1.88m.) beam with trapeze, weighs 280 pounds (127.4 kilos) and has a powerful sail plan. The main and jib combine 175 square feet (27 sq. m.) and the spinnakers go up to 220 square feet (27 sq. m.).

The boat has outstanding performance in all conditions: quick and responsive in light air, and in breeze it just goes faster. Planing starts in 10 knots of wind � no problem at San Francisco. There are now about 9,000 505s comprising active fleets in 18 countries.

Paul Elvstrom, the legendary four-time Olympic gold medalist from Denmark, won the second and third 505 Worlds in 1957 and 1958 and later said, 'The 505 is really my favorite class because it is so lively and responsive in all types of winds and sea conditions. After having sailed all types of dinghy and all types of keelboat I would like to tell you that no other boat is able to give one so much pleasure as this one.'

Daily results and reports

Competitor Profile HOWARD HAMLIN and PAUL CAYARD

The 505 dinghy puts a premium on athletic ability. With skipper and crew on the wire, its not always who fastest but who can keep their boat upright the longest. That's especially true when the World Championship is held on San Francisco Bay where afternoon winds often reach survival strength for these small very fast boats.

The teams that came from around the world to compete had one thing in common. No matter how much they had trained, the Bay made them think that training more would have been an advantage. That's certainly what the two boats that fought it out for the final victory did. They practiced in heavy air and then practiced in heavier air.

There is no better venue for small boat racing than San Francisco Bay and the St. Francis yacht club know exactly what's need to make the event come together both on and off the water. With racing taking place on the Berkeley Circle, there was always the opportunity for a little socializing and some drinks to ease the stiff sore muscles that come from beating upwind in heavy chop and strong breezes.

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Uppdaterad 2023-01-17