1998 5o5 European Championship
Well, no one else has written an article about the Europeans, so here are my recollections of the event...
The 1998 International 505 European Championship
was organized by the German 505 Class Association, and held at Damp, May 9th-16th.
Damp is almost as far north as you can get in Germany, quite close to Denmark. Damp has a
marina full of keelboats, and
a launching ramp. It does not have a sailing club;
the event was hosted by the Wassersportsclub am Wittensee club, which is on a lake about
20 minutes drive to the south, near Eckernf�rde. Accommodation ranging from "A"
frame cabins to hotel rooms was available, so something for anyone's price range was
available. All accomodation was in easy walking distance of the dinghy park. Damp is home
to a major orthopedic rehabilitation center, so a large number of the people you saw
during the short walk from the accommodations to the dinghy park, or in the restaurants,
were on crutches or in wheelchairs...
Damp is not a major metropolis, so we got to know the two restaurants, the Turkish food stand and the Damp disco, quite well. The venue included heated swimming pools, indoor sports complex, bowling alleys and more.
Those who expected it to be cold and windy were wrong, as it was sunny and warm for the entire week. One early day was lost due to too little wind, a second day was lost due to too much wind, and the last race was abandoned when the time limit ran out after the breeze had died away.
The new
International Measurer, Mr. Don O'Donnell, was at the event for the first day or two,
to oversee measurement. Boats were weighed all up, indoors.
Practice Race
The practice race was sailed in a marginal trapezing breeze, with some nice planing reaches (and some slow broad ones too). Jens Wilke and I were late for the start. We slowly gained on the tail enders, only to have everyone we got close to, quit. We finished last.
Day One
There was no wind on the first day, so Race 1 was sailed the next day. Though almost never calm at the sailing site, the local breeze changed direction very frequently, with different breeze (and large calm zones) just offshore. The fleet never launched.
Race 1 (Day Two)
The first race was started in light air, with crews inboard. A number of teams on the left missed the weather mark when a left shift made it necessary to tack to port quite early to lay the mark. The marks themselves were quite small and impossible to see until part way down the leg. The teams on the left thought they were leading the race until they discovered they were a kilometer beyond the layline. The left shift made the first reach quite tight, which was not apparent to several of the leaders until they were half way down the first reach. Jeremy Robinson/Bill Masterman had sailed high after hoisting, and pulled into the lead ahead of those who had sailed too low and struggled to get back up to the gybe mark. Robinson/Masterman never looked back and led for the remainder of the race. Several of the teams caught overstanding to the left were able to grind there way through the fleet, with Howard Hamlin/Mike Martin fighting through to 5th (after rounding the 1st mark about 5th last), and Ian Pinnell/Nick Powell pulling through to 13th. Wolfgang Hunger/Holger Jess were 2nd, Tom Bojland/Anders Friis 3rd, Tim Boger/Philip Christiani 4th.
Every day after racing the organizers provided free
beer and excellent sandwiches after racing. None was released until the last boat was back
on shore. The 505 fleet resembled a swarm of locusts as they picked clean the trays of
sandwiches and sucked the beer keg dry. The organizers also had prizes for the top teams
in each race, and draw prizes each day of racing. Some of the prizes were really nice; I
won a really nice Musto "apres sailing" jacket, as well as a baseball cap with
one of the sponsor's logos. All competitors received Helly Hansen visors. The organizers
had done an incredible job of lining up sponsors, including companies like SAP AG (a very
large German software company with an international market for its R/3 product family), as
505 marketer extrordinaire
Holger Jess had sold the CEO of the
company, Hasso Plattner, a 505 (Mr. Plattner also owns and races Morning Glory a very
successful maxi boat), and then convinced him to support the European Championship.
There were evening activities on every second night,
including a terrific evening in the local swimming pool/indoor water park (everyone had a
fabulous time, except for the lifeguards who did not enjoy the 505 sailor antics), and
another of games in the sports center. As you might expect, the local bars and the disco
were well utilized by competitors.
Race2 (Day Three)
The second race was also light, with crews sitting inboard. The first reach was broad, and the fleet fanned out over a wide area looking for the mark, testing different reaching angles, and looking for puffs. Most teams had to gybe to get down to the leeward mark. Those sailing the low rhumb line generally lost ground to those who sailed the higher faster angle and gybed late. Pinnell/Powell won the race with Robinson/Masterman 2nd.
Day Four
Day four was spent on shore, with too much wind to launch. The harbour entrance was quite narrow, between two rock breakwaters; the entrance must have been a little shallow, as the breaking waves in the entrance were quite impressive. One mistake and 505s would have been swept into the leeward breakwater (which had waves breaking over it). Racing was postponed for several hours, and then postponed until the following day.
The Swiss team of Cedric Bart and Philip Jacot invited me along to check out Keil and Eckernf�rde. Philip and long time girlfriend - and top 505 helm - Caroline Stolz are getting married and moving to Phoenix Arizona (an easy flight from 505 regattas in California). Philip talked to Howard Hamlin about doing some West Coast regattas. Crews looking for drivers; Caroline will not be working in the USA and may have lots of time to sail and practice!
Races 3 and 4 (Day Five)
Since the event had now lost two races, a make up race was scheduled for the next day. Fortunately for the many teams hoping for wind, this two race day had the only strong breeze of the series, at about 20 knots. The Danish team of Jan Saugmann/Morten Ramsbak showed some impressive speed in the breeze to win this race, and finish 2nd in the 2nd race of the day. Robinson/Masterman countered with finishes of 4,1, while Pinnell/Powell had two thirds. Stefan Bohm/Gerald Roos also demonstrated their prowess in the breeze with a 2,6. Wolfgang Hunger/Holger Jess were 6,4 to stay in the hunt. I wish I could write more about these races, but we had our hands full and only actually raced the first...
Race 5 (Day 6)
Race 5 started in lighter breeze which got lighter. A number of teams went right looking for more breeze and were rewarded with breeze and angle. Hunger/Jess led at the first mark, with Pinnell/Powell coming in from more to the left, and rounding 2nd. Robert Wisolek/Icke Schuster were 3rd at the mark, with Ali Meller/Rod Simpson 4th. The first reach was light and broad, with teams gybing to get down to the mark. Wisolek/Schuster gybed in early and found a light spot, allowing Meller/Simpson by into 3rd at the gybe mark. The second reach was quite tight due to the right shift, and most teams were forced to douse part way down the leg. Meller/Simpson were able to carry, and gained on the two leaders, rounding close behind them. The first three teams chose to go left along the shore on the 2nd beat, while some of the following teams took the opportunity to go out, gaining as a result. While the top three held their positions at the windward mark, Meller/Simpson just barely beat the chasing pack which included Bojland/Friis and Jacob Ernst/Jesper Ernst there. Almost everyone gybe set for the run, choosing to stay away from the shore, hoping for more breeze. While Hunger/Jess held off Pinnell/Powell for the lead, Meller/Simpson were able to open up a little room on the chasing pack. The lead positions held again for the beat, with first stretching on 2nd, and 2nd stretching on 3rd. The breeze was building back up, and boats were planing as they rounded the weather mark. The reach was still broad, and once again the fleet sailed a range of angles downwind, with some running at the mark, while Howard Hamlin/Mike Martin were the first to jump on the wire and go high for more speed. Whether or not this was paying off was not clear at first, but it was certainly more fun than running low at the mark, so a number of teams heated up their angles to counter Hamlin/Martin's move. The final reach was too tight to carry. Hunger/Jess led easily from Pinnell/Powell, with the light weight team of Meller/Simpson falling further behind on the fast two sail reach.
Up the last beat a little more right shift turned the top of the beat into a starboard tack close reach. Teams that tacked onto starboard at the leeward mark were rewarded versus those that had gone out on port at first. Hamlin/Martin were able to pull up to 4th and were threatening Meller/Simpson for 3rd, but ran out of race course before catching them. Niedik Volker/Stegan Heising were 5th, Tom Bojland/Anders Friis 6th, Bohm/Roos 7th. After an impressive string of 1,2,4,1, Robinson/Masterman faltered, finishing 9th. This left them first overall, but not far ahead of Pinnell/Powell with finishes of 13,1,3,3,2, and Hunger/Jess with 2,5,6,4,1.
Race 6 (day 7)
This race started off looking a little like race 5, with the breeze dying. The right did not have an advantage over the left though, with teams from both sides rounding in the top of the fleet. Hunger/Jess were 1st at the mark, with both Robinson/Masterman and Pinnell/Powell well behind the leaders. Wisolek/Schuster demonstrated more light air prowess by rounding 2nd, with Cedric Bart/Philip Jacot 3rd, and Meller/Simpson 4th. Leading positions held to the gybe mark. Once again it proved difficult to find the next mark, and the leaders sailed too high on the second reach, while some of the pack behind realized the mistake and sailed low. While Hunger/Jess were able to hold the lead, Pinnell/Powell closed the gap to round not far behind, while other early leaders lost places to those who had sailed low. The fleet split up the 2nd beat in the very light air. It was a painfully long beat in which the breeze went far right, favouring those who had gone out on port early. Hunger/Jess had a large lead, with Pinnell/Powell a distant second. Event leaders Robinson/Masterman were 3rd last at the windward mark, in a position that would have dropped them at least outside the first two overall. The fleet struggled down the run, with the breeze getting so light that many teams dropped their spinnakers. Though the odd catspaw occasionally allowed some teams to gain a little distance, it became clear that the race would probably not be completed within the time limit, and it was abandoned when the time limit ran out, with the leaders just around the leeward mark with 4 legs remaining.
Final
This gave the 1998 European Championship to the team
of Jeremy Robinson/Bill Masterman with Ian Pinnell/Nick Powell 2nd and Wolfgang
Hunger/Holger Jess 3rd.
Not a bad result for the UK team, considering those were the only two UK 505 teams there!
Hunger/Jess had been in event winning position early on in the race, so anything could
have happened amongst the top three. Saugmann/ Ramsbak were 4th, Hamlin/ Martin
5th, Bohm/Roos 6th, Bojland/Friis 7th, Tom Cosch/Rolf
Meyer 8th, Fritz Schlomka/ Klaus Stammerjohann 9th, and
Hans-Heinrich Rix/Steffen Achenbach 10th.
A great dinner and prize presentation was put on, though a much quieter and more orderly event than has been the norm at recent worlds. When Bill Masterman finally got up to sing, it was with a small group of people… they only sang "We are sailing" and "Sail on the Sloop John B"… without trying any of the traditional 505 class songs (Jim and Richard Berry, where were you when we needed you!). The great Bill Masterman was a shadow of his former self, sitting quietly at the table talking about missing his daughter.
Turnout at the event was well down, with 41 registered, but only 36 racing. It appears to me that there are simply too many major events on the European calendar. There had been a tuneup event at Damp the previous weekend, the European Cup at Riva del Garda would start the Thursday after the Europeans finished, and the Germans had scheduled another event on Wittensee the following weekend (conflicting with Riva). Turnout at both the Europeans and Riva del Garda was down from previous years. In addition, the Worlds are open this year and a number of teams that might have raced the Europeans rather then the Worlds in other years have opted for the Worlds in Hyannis this year. Vacation being limited, this meant missing the Europeans.
Images from the European Championship and the Lake Garda European Cup event
Ali Meller - USA7200