1999 505 World Champions
Howard Hamlin and Mike Martin
Interview by Jesse Falsone
 

Howard Hamlin and Mike Martin have finally done it – in convincing fashion, they won the 1999 505 World Championship in Quiberon, France (the 44^th edition of this event). Its hard to believe that in a talent laden field of 157 boats, Hamlin and Martin never finished worse than second in any race.

This event marked Howard’s twentieth attempt at a world championship. Hamlin and Martin first sailed a worlds together in 1995, placing 12^th at Mounts Bay. Howard placed second in Australia sailing with Cam Lewis in 1996. In 1997, Hamlin and Martin teamed again in Denmark to place third in a light-air world championship. Then, Mike and Howard proved themselves as contenders in the diverse conditions during the Hyannis Worlds, finishing second to Trotman and Mills.

At 46 years old, Howard is no spring chicken, but he’s in better shape than most sailors half his age. He’s a third generation Californian, which is apparently a rare trait even among Californians. Howard oozes California, sporting surfer shorts, flip-flops, and cool looking shades most of the time (or at least any time I’ve seen him). Surfing was his first passion, and he still claims that surfing is the toughest sport in the world to learn. However, sailing 505’s became an obsession in the 70’s. A skilled craftsman, Howard built the famed Hamlin 505 molds still in use today by Larry Tuttle at Waterat. Perhaps that is why Howard remains a steadfast supporter of Waterat. As one of the first fully cored, all plastic 505’s, the Hamlin 505 was certainly ahead of its time. Twenty years later many Hamlin 505’s are still sailing and are fully competitive.

Howard is a self-professed "late bloomer" in the 505 class. It wasn’t until 1990 that he won his first North American Championship (sailing with Steve Rosenberg). Since then, Howard has won three more North American Championships (’92 with Cam, and ’96 and ’99 with Mike). The legendary Dennis Surtees is the only sailor with more wins at the North Americans (Dennis won 5 times). Howard has established himself as a 505 sailor for the ages. Quietly, he has been a constant force shaping the class for decades while raising the bar for boats and sailors. It’s not surprising that Howard has been recognized internationally as one of the top high-performance skippers in the world. He is now a regularly invited guest at the 18 Foot Skiff World Championships. Naturally, Mike is the middle man in the skiff. At last years event, Howard was the first American skipper in 50 years to win a heat. Howard and Mike now train on their own skiff in Los Angeles, and you can bet that they will be a force to be reckoned with at the next skiff worlds.

In contrast, Mike Martin was an early bloomer. Mike grew up in the Annapolis area, but always seemed destined for the left coast according to some of his friends. One accomplished Thistle sailor in Annapolis spoke of Mike as the best young sailor he had ever seen. Mike crewed on the winning Thistle Nationals teams in 1982 and 1984. He then went on to claim All-American status at Old Dominion, a Collegiate Single-handed Championship and a Laser North American Championship. An intense Olympic Finn campaign ensued where Mike’s lightweight build forced him to wear about 40 pounds of weight to stay competitive. Perhaps he rationalized that getting a job and retaining his ability to walk were more important than the Olympics. Mike has sailed 505’s with many great skippers including Jeff Miller and Macy Nelson. The Miller/Martin team finished a respectable 5^th at the 1996 505 Worlds and Nelson/Martin were 2^nd at the 1990 505 North Americans.

Like Howard, Mike likes to tinker – a perfect trait for a 505 crew. He designed and built many of the systems in use on Hamlin/Martin 505s. Mike’s pole launcher system works flawlessly, just don’t be anywhere near the aft end of the pole when it releases! Mike is also a big believer in cascading purchase systems to reduce friction. Their new Waterat (not the boat used to win the worlds) is a treatise on efficient purchases. Mike has also been instrumental in the design of the new Waterat tack fitting made by Larry Tuttle. Together with Larry, Mike did much of the technical design work for the custom Waterat foils. A short design article on these high-aspect foils was published by Sailing World a few months ago, but we’re hoping that a more complete description is made available to Tank Talk in the future. The top two boats at the Quiberon worlds used the Waterat Custom Foils (the ones used by Mike and Howie were slightly different than the foils used by Andy and Benny).

After speaking with Howard and Mike, I now have a clear understanding of why I look at their transom so often on the race course. This team has a depth and intensity rarely seen, and they have worked hard for several years to develop the skills they posses. In my opinion, they are also the best prepared 505 team in the US, and probably the planet. Howard and Mike are focused empirical sailors. They devoted an immense amount of time under controlled conditions in order to wring out every ounce of speed from their boat. By contrast, Trotman and Mills gave the impression of a less calculated approach to their training and racing. Although Nick and Mike trained with other boats extensively during their campaign, none of their tuning partners had exactly the same set-up. Instead, Nick and Mike relied on developing a superior feel. In either case, these world champions share a fervent desire to win, an unparalleled commitment to the program, and a belief in themselves.

JF - When we spoke at the North Americans in Corpus, you both stated that winning a 505 World Championship is incredibly difficult. How, then, with the largest 505 Worlds fleet in history, did you make winning look so easy this time around?

Howard Hamlin - It looked easy because it was not too shifty and for the first time we had really good speed in all conditions, up and down wind. We have always been very fast up wind in moderate air and I think we were actually just a little slower this year. The big difference this year was that we were finally real fast on the runs and reaches. Typically we rounded the weather mark about 7th or 8th and then sailed through the fleet on the off wind legs.

Other than the very crowded starts or the fear of getting taken out by some novice at a start, the size of the fleet did not make much difference. Since it was not very shifty, all the fast guys would round the first mark well which put a huge premium on down wind speed, where we excelled.

Mike Martin - It looked easier than it really was. Our scores of 2,2,2,1,dns made it look like we walked away with it. The truth of the matter is it was very close. After 4 races Ben and Andy were only 4 points behind us, and they had rounded the weather mark first in 3 of the 4 races. We were quite nervous that our own tuning partners were going to beat us. Subsequently, the next two races were cancelled and the regatta was over for us. We did not have to sail the last race, the young bucks finished this race 6th giving the illusion that we had a huge lead

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JF - Howard, after about 20 years of trying, you finally won the big one. After coming so close to winning this event in the past, do you feel a sense of redemption and relief?

HH - My immediate reaction was elation followed by relief that a huge burden was off my shoulders. Especially given that we had put such an organized effort into it the last 3 years. In the early years I never put much time into it. I just sailed a few West Coast regattas and went to the Worlds each year. There was no feeling of redemption because in the past I never felt like we deserved to win. But this year was different because it was the first year that I felt we were fully prepared and that we could win. It was real rewarding to see that all the organization and training with our teammates paid off.

The best part and most surprising thing about winning was the reaction from everyone when we returned home. Everyone I know is so excited about our win. I had no idea how many people were pulling for us.

JF - I heard that your victory speech in France conveyed a great deal of joy and emotion. What was said?

HH - Obviously, the moment was pretty exciting and I said something to that effect. Here's what I remember saying: First and foremost I gave Mike the credit for recognizing and convincing me that the dream could be a reality if we just trained and raced more. I thanked Mike for his complete dedication and his more than 50% contribution to the entire campaign. I thanked Julie for her support and willingness to have me spend so many hours at it. I never knew how important it was to her until I saw how excited she was when we won. I thanked all our training partners back home and those that were there, Andy Beeckman, Ben Benjamin, Dan Thompson and Andy Zinn. I mentioned it was this training that got us fast on all points of sail in any breeze, and pushed over the top so we could win. I mentioned the sentimental aspect of winning on exactly my twentieth worlds and that it was real rewarding to be the first to win in a boat out of the molds I built over 20 years ago. Lastly, I thanked all the competitors we have gotten to know and befriend over the years and the tremendous support and encouragement we felt from all of them.

JF - This is the first world title for a Waterat 505, built from your very own hull mold originally used to make the Hamlin 505. Some people thought you were crazy to again buy a new Waterat this year with Rondars consistently winning world titles for over a decade. Given the track record, did you ever have any doubt that a Waterat could win the worlds?

HH - When we ordered a new boat, it never occurred to me to buy anything other than a Waterat. Keep in mind that we won it in our "Europe" boat, a 10 year old Waterat that I bought from Dave Shelton and Bruce Edwards 5 years ago. I have never thought that Rondars are any better. The only real difference is that Waterats are stiffer and made from epoxy/honeycomb so they might be a little lighter in the ends and most important, they last longer.

MM - We never considered anything else. We did not want to make that big of a change, and a Waterat will last forever.

JF - You have been working with Jay Glaser at Ullman/Danger for a long time on the 505 sails. This has been a great benefit to your team, but also the entire class in the North America. Can you comment on your long-term relationship with Jay?

HH - Jay is the best sailmaker I have ever known and is a very important part of our 505 campaign. I have been working with Jay on our sails for over 20 years. He has patterns and records on nearly every sail he has made for us. He has an incredible ability replicate sails exactly. His attention to detail is incredible. He always has an open mind is always ready to try something new.

JF - Howard, what does Mike do best in the 505?

HH - What Mike does best is that he good at everything; boat handling, boat speed, boat work, organization, designing new systems, tactics, calm, protests, goal setting, creative, open minded, strategy and always willing to make the time and financial commitments.

JF - Mike, what does Howard do best in the 505?

MM - It is certainly not hiking out. Seriously though, Howard is great to sail with. He has a great disposition, he likes to have fun and most of all, Howard likes to win. If I had to say what he does best, it would be making sure that the boat is set up properly. After sailing 505s for 20 years, he can immediately set up the boat to be fast in any condition. Additionally he can quickly recognize when the boat is not set up right and make the necessary adjustment. Sometimes these changes are only quarter inch adjustments in the ram or rig tension, but it is the difference between being twentieth or in top five at the weather mark in a worlds fleet. When your boat is fast everything else is much easier.

JF - You guys seem to have great chemistry. Is there anything you don't agree on?

HH - No question the chemistry is good. We spend a lot of time together sailing 505's, 18's and snowboard/skiing so fortunately we get along well.

There are plenty of things that we don't always agree on. We think that it is good to think different. It is a check and balance system. If we thought the same we would be making the same mistakes. I think we have a lot of respect for each other and value the other's opinion. The key is having an open mind. Here is a simple example of what I mean; we might each look at a sail and one might think it is too flat and the other says it is too full, our response is typically, "Well then it must be just right".

MM - There is plenty that we do not agree on. For example we had a major disagreement on the color of the new boat. Howie wanted dark green with a stripe and I wanted aqua with no stripe. We could not agree so we just got it the same as 7771.

JF - Can you comment on how you practiced with a tuning partner?

HH - Our training program is what made the difference. Several years ago we started to recruit the best sailors we could find like Dan Thompson, Andy Beekman, Ben Benjamin, to add to our local fleet of Rob Waterman, Bruce Tilley. These guys all have fun training with us and where really excited about our win knowing that they all had contributed.

Last year Andy Beekman and Ben Benjamin needed a boat so Mike sold them his boat. This was important because they had always been really fast, especially down wind and we needed them in a good boat to push us. That is the only reason we bought the new boat. We share all information and calibrate all boats the same. If one boat is consistently slow we'll swap drivers or crew to identify differences.

In spring and summer we train every Tuesday night and maybe one day per weekend. This year we had Morgan Conner from the U.S. Sailing center out coaching on Tuesdays. He would set a course with regulation 55 degree reaches. Even though he had no 505 experience he could observe differences in sail settings and crew technique.

We think its best to train with 3 to 4 boats. Without a coach, we would typically go up wind for 1 1/2 hours and reset up on opposite tacks every 3 minutes. Then race downwind home.

MM - This was, without question, the one element of the program that resulted in the biggest gains. Our tuning partners and practice program over the past few years has enabled us to work on weaknesses and fine tune our strong points. Our group has different sailors that are fast in a variety of conditions. This means that someone is pushing you all the time. We had a completely open line of communication between everyone, and everyone gained from it. I would like to thank Andy Zinn & Dan Thompson, Ben Benjamin & Andy Beeckman, Rob Waterman, Don Smith, and our coach Morgan Connor, for coming out on all those Tuesday nights. Without the support of these guys, we would not be World Champions. The practice format that we used this year was different from past years. This year we had our coach boat set up a triangle course. Half the beat we would do only speed testing, the second half we would do regular racing. We would regroup at the weather and leeward marks and discuss who was fast and what they were doing. Morgan would observe boat setups and techniques from the coach boat. Back on shore we would have a quick meeting to recap what we learned that evening. We sailed 7 consecutive Tuesday nights, and regattas on the weekends. This may sound like a lot of effort, but it was not so difficult. We all have jobs and we were all able to make every session. I can not stress enough how important this practice was in achieving our goal of winning the worlds.

JF - Howard, few 505 sailors win a world championship at your age. What is the Howard Hamlin formula for longevity in the 505?

HH - I could not find a better boat to sail so I just kept sailing the 505. The beauty of sailing is that you get better with age. You know a little more each year. So I guess that motivated me to keep going. And what a great way to meet interesting people, travel and see the world!

JF - Mike, you and Howard are the most meticulous 505 sailors I have ever seen. You’re level of boat preparation is unprecedented. Every system on your boat has been thoroughly designed and tested. What is not apparent is how you prepare your mind and body to compete at such a high level. What is the Mike Martin formula for Zen and the Art of 505 Sailing?

MM - Believe it or not, I do not have a set theory in these areas, but I’ll give it a shot anyway. Lets start with physical. The good news is that to be a world champion crew you only have to be in good physical shape, not great. You only need to be in good enough shape to get around a worlds course and complete all of your tasks without fatigue getting in the way. Physically, this is a much smaller challenge than winning the Tour de France, for example. Most of my gym time focused on weight gain. It was my goal to be 200 pounds, and that is what I got to for the worlds. In terms of endurance, nothing is better for 505 sailing than 505 sailing. It works out the correct muscles and makes you a better sailor at the same time. An occasional jog does not hurt either.

Mental preparation is not something that I knowingly control. I think that is a constant frame of mind. Once we decided that we really wanted to win the worlds, it was a goal that we constantly thought of how to achieve for years (in Howard's case, obsessively). The only pre race tip that I can give is to start thinking about the race as soon as you get to the boat park, not just after the warning signal goes off.

JF - Mike, here’s a free plug. Describe the differences between the Martin foils and the standard Waterat foils. Do you think your foils will prove to be more effective over a broad range of wind conditions? Are there any design changes in store for Durban?

MM - The biggest difference between our blades and the standard Waterat blades is aspect ratio. Simply put, the new blades are longer and skinnier than the standard blades. Theoretically, this gives a better lift to drag ratio. I wrote an article in the March 1999 Sailing World that describes in detail the differences. We think that these blades are slightly better in all conditions except light and choppy. As for future developments, we don't have any changes planned now, but we have a few different versions to test over the next year. We will probably know more then.

JF - Howard, to my knowledge, the teams in Los Angeles have been more focussed on improving the performance of the upper echelon. Recruiting fast sailors has been the priority, and you have been successful in developing world champion caliber competitors. Will there more focus on recruiting less advanced sailors in your area in the future?

HH - When I look back over the 25 years I have been sailing 505's it is clear to me that the better sailors stay in the class and the novices come and go. The more advanced sailors appreciate the boat and stick with it. The novices get frustrated and quit. We lost several local boats to novices who have not shown up for one regatta. We promote to a much wider spectrum than you might think. There are plenty of sailors that given good equipment and all our numbers can go as fast as we can.

JF - Mike, you mention that Howard was obsessive about winning the worlds. Did he dream about it? Does he constantly fidget with the boat? Did he drag you out to practice more than was necessary? Was he on the phone with Jay Glaser all the time talking about the sails? Give us some specific examples.

MM - I have no idea what Howard dreams about. I don't go there, but yes, he constantly fidgets with the boat. Every major event he makes a fixit list. These lists are sometimes multiple pages. This can get to be annoying, but you don't often see us DNF due to a breakdown, do you? As for practice, there is no such thing as more practice than necessary.

Howard is always on the phone with someone about something. My guess is 30% of the time it is about sailing.

There is no argument that Howard is obsessive about sailing, but I am not far behind him, we usually talk at least once a day about some aspect of sailing. If you want funny obsessive stories about Howie, ask his wife Julie. She has got some good ones.

JF - Howard, many people who know you describe your desire to win as an obsession. Is this a valid statement? If so, what types of behavior would some people consider obsessive?

HH - Up until the last couple years, I always approached sailing just like everything else that is important to me such as business, surfing, skiing, snowboarding, maintaining my house/garden and my relationship with Julie. However a of couple years ago Mike convinced me that if I wanted to win we had to sail more, so I moved sailing up to the highest priority. Some people might call that obsessive.

JF - Mike, by most accounts, you guys were the fastest team off the wind. I had the opportunity to watch you sail in after winning a race at the Hyannis worlds. You were still working the boat as though you were racing, and I noticed how smooth and coordinated your efforts were in the waves. Have you consciously worked at becoming proficient off-wind sailors, or has the feel just developed naturally over the course of time?

We used to be slow downwind, so we focused on improving on this weakness. We did lots of practicing, trying different things and soon we were very fast downwind on the wire. However we were still slow downwind sitting on the tanks, and did not know why. Then Benny and Andy came out one day first time in a 505 in some borrowed boat and smoked us downwind. At first we were discouraged, then we realized they were a golden opportunity. We did everything we could to get them into our fleet. I even sold them my boat at well under market value to ensure they had the best equipment. We agreed to share information openly and to work together. As a result we were the fastest boat downwind this year. Our plan almost worked too well since they were the fastest boat upwind, rounding the first weather mark in the lead 4 of the 5 races. We were quite worried about loosing the regatta to them!

JF - Mike, what’s next for you? There have been some rumors that you intend to be the first-ever sailor to win the 505 worlds as a skipper and a crew.

MM - What is next for me? I figure retire from sailing, move to Wyoming, get married, and raise a family. NOT! Yes, the rumors are true. You can't be a stud your whole life. I am going to put on some panties and try driving for a while. I have learned from the best, so we will see how I go. Howard and I will still be a team in the 18 foot skiff. We have recruited Andy Zinn are training for the worlds in January in Sydney. It would be nice to win that one at some point as well.

JF - Howard, now that Mike is moving to the back of the boat, have you thought about whom you might team up with next year? I assume we haven’t heard the last from Howard Hamlin!

HH - Cam Lewis and I have already committed to sailing the next Worlds in South Africa. I have worked too long to get to where we are now, so there is no reason to quit. Although having won the Worlds will allow me to focus more time and energy on our 18' skiff campaign.

JF - What advice would you give to a young, aspiring world champion just beginning his/her 505 career?

HH - Keep trying, keep an open mind, keep asking the fast guys questions, make the 505 a priority, have other interests, sail every regatta, focus on your weaknesses, sail with people better than you, sail with different people, don't give up, and most important, keep sailing the 505 it is the best boat in the world.

MM

1. Wear sunblock
2. Sail in college
3. When you first start sailing 505s, sail with someone who has some time in the boat. They can teach you how to set the boat up and all the little tricks.
4. Don't try and reinvent the wheel. Just use what gear the fast guys are using. Leave experimentation with new gear to idiots like us.
5. Most important, PRACTICE! Nothing is better than time in the boat.
6. Have a good time. Remember that you are doing this for fun.

More about Howie and Mike: Faces in the Fleet