Updated 27, July
In addition to Jean-Baptiste's daily reports on the
pre-worlds and worlds that everyone on the 505world list will have seen, Rob Napier wrote
a Worlds report for his UK Circular.
I wanted to send my thoughts on the worlds to the
505world-list e-mail list, before too much time passed.
Massive Fleet
The Quiberon 505 Worlds were incredible. This was
the largest 505 World Championship event ever held, not too bad for a class that is 44
years old, and that marketing people for some new single manufacturer one design companies
would have you believe was over-the-hill (I think we can quite safely tell anyone who
believes that, that they are quite wrong).
The 505 class had this amazing turnout for several
reasons, in my opinion.
-
Open Worlds. This was the second open 505 world
championship in recent times - the first was Hyannis - since the class voted at the 1997
AGM to open the worlds. The 505 class restricted entry to worlds after world championships
got "out of hand" in the mid sixties, with some remembering a 135 boat open
worlds at La Baule that was too big. However the standard of sailing through the fleet is
much higher now than it was then, and the class has adopted the gate start over the line
start.
-
Large national 505 fleet. This worlds was held in
one of the major 505 countries with a strong national fleet, but still close to other
large national fleets such as England and Germany. 505 Worlds held in Germany or perhaps
England could also see huge turnouts.
-
Venue offering something for non sailors. The
venue offered a nice beach in an area - the Quiberon peninsula - that was attractive to
non sailors like the spouses and families of racers.
As a result of the worlds being open, more of you
than ever before were able to race a 505 worlds. As for the rest of you - you should have
been there! Participating in a 505 Worlds is not that difficult. The important things are
to decide you are going to do it and start making the key arrangements (boat shipping)
early.
157 is by far the largest fleet - in any class - I
have ever sailed in. My previous high was 142 in the '95 pre-worlds at Mount's Bay. To the
great credit of the 505 class, the competitors who were there, and the gate start, we had
no problems starting and got a good start off each time. There were no recalls or other
problems when gate starts were used. In contrast, the RC tried to use a line start twice
during the pre-worlds - with a rather smaller fleet than the worlds - and both were
failures and were recalled. While I suppose that the 505 class could get better at line
starts if we chose to, getting 157 boats off five times out of five is a rather strong
argument in favor of gate starts, in my opinion. Actually each of the gate start attempts
in the pre-worlds except one (Krister, why did you tack away?), were successful too, so it
was really nine good gate starts in ten attempts. I wonder what other class could have
gotten five good starts out of five attempts with a fleet of 157.
505 Longevity and History
While the newest 505 at the Worlds was Jurgen
Schoenherr's Rondar, 7828, there were boats as old as 5923, 6126, 6340, 6448, and 6501 and
racing the worlds. And then there were the two all wooden Fairey Marine 505s that were at
the Worlds. Samuel Hedouin and Dominique Lambard-Tuzet brought
505 F
8 to the Worlds, and were sailing it around the launching area as the fleet launched
for one of the worlds races. F 21 was also there on display. (More photos of these soon).
Both these boats were in magnificent condition, in their near original state. Consider
that these boats were amongst the very first 505s ever built, in 1955! F 21 had original
cotton Ratsey & Lapthorne sails up! Apparently there are other very early all wooden
505s in France and some of these boats ARE STILL RACING!
Apart from the tremendous interest these two 505s
received, it was amazing to see how far the 505 has come, and yet how similar the boats we
currently have are to the original boats. The hull shape is the same, we could have taken
one of these two boats, put in a modern centerboard and current rig and key control
systems and raced it in the worlds fleet. I expect the boat might have been reasonably
competitive in the light air and flat water.
Dominique and Marie-Helene Lambard-Tuzet also
organized a 505 history museum in a large room at l'Ecole National de Voile. The
collection was quite amazing and comprehensive. They are continuing to gather historical
information on the 505.
Having both the largest ever 505 World Championship
fleet when the class is 44 years old and two of the very first 505s ever built at the
site, made me think how lucky we are that John Westell designed Coronet, modified the
design to meet the French Caneton Association requirements, and that the Caneton
Association voted - unanimously I believe - to adopt the new 505 design in 1955.
A Showcase for the International 505 class
ISAF President Paul Henderson was in the gate launch
for the start of worlds race 2, and may have been there for worlds race 3 as well. He also
met the competitors at a social event held the evening of the first Worlds race, as well
as participating in part of the 505 Class Governor's Meeting. It is hard to imagine better
circumstances than the 157 505 fleet at l'Ecole National de Voile for showing someone what
the 505 class is all about (OK, perhaps a little more breeze so we could all plane
upwind). I look forward to reading the magazine articles on this World Championship; I see
that the late July Yachts & Yachting has an article and photos on 505 Worlds.
Great Racing From First to Last Place
The Race Officer, Christophe Gaumont, was
outstanding. He worked closely with the organizers and the International 505 class before
the event to develop the final Sailing Instructions and he made excellent decisions on the
water. The result was excellent racing despite the huge fleet size, and challenging
weather conditions. In conversations in the dinghy park, I heard almost entirely positive
comments about racing in the large fleet. I believe everyone was enjoying themselves.
High quality video of most of the races showed how
close the racing was, with every position in every race keenly contested. From watching
the video it was clear that even the last place team were good sailors who good tack,
gybe, hoist, douse and round marks, though perhaps not quite as smoothly or as quickly as
the top teams. Though a number of teams were new to the 505 class, there were no
"hackers" at this event.
505 Class Camaraderie
For those of you who have not done a 505 worlds, it
turns out that the racing is only one of the reasons to do these events. The International
505 Class is really a large family/fraternity/group of friends, and hanging out with your
friends, singing with Jim and Richard Berry, and Bill Masterman, and discussing the race
with old friends and new from all over the world is something you cannot really imagine
until you have done it.
Thanks to the Many People Who Worked so Hard For Us
A large number of people worked very hard to make
this event work as well as it did. Apart from M. Gaumont and his entire RC, there were
three days of measurement and registration (some during the pre-worlds and the balance on
the one day between the events). International Secretary Chris Thorne was virtually glued
to a chair at the registration desk for three days, when he would rather have been racing
the pre-worlds and getting up to speed in the borrowed 505 he was racing. The French
measurers - Alain Bujaud handled boats and spars - went to heroic lengths to not just
measure all the boats and sails, but to assist those who did not have there black bands in
quite the correct place, get them right, or make other small changes to make the boats
measure properly. Jean Baptiste Dupont was up until the early hours of the morning writing
and e-mailing the reports you saw on the 505world list. The large staff of l'Ecole
National de Voile worked hard to make the event a success. There are many people I wish I
could name here... certainly Marcel Buffet and Jean-Luc Muzellec who led the organizing
committee.. but it goes quite a bit further. For example, Catherine Soulier and her
daughters were waiting at the bottom of the steep launching ramp each day as the fleet
returned to hand out small cakes or pastries to the returning sailors. A local women -
sorry no name - from St. Pierre-Quiberon was incredibly good at making crepes and
gallettes (specialities of Brittany), and must have fed crepes and gallettes to most of
the fleet many afternoons. Watching her quickly and efficiently spread batter on the hot
plates, and then with a practiced motion with a wooden spatula - its all in the wrist
action - flip the crepe or gallette onto another hot plate made me think she could be
doing layup for a 505 builder, I doubt anyone could spread resin more evenly than she
could. Barbara spent long days translating for those who could not speak French (most non
French competitors)... this included instant translation at the AGM and at most social
functions.
Many - perhaps most - organizing teams might have
been overwhelmed by scaling the event up to handle over 160 teams (157 at the worlds, as
well as five boats that raced the pre-worlds only), but it all worked out and resulted in
a great event. Thanks to all those who worked hard to make this event a success.
You Should Have Been There...
For those of you who were not there.. nothing we can
write or tell you will truly convey what it was like to race in a fleet that size. Pip and
I were up as high as 10th or so early in the first worlds race, and were just awed when we
briefly looked back on the run to see all those spinnakers behind us (we didn't actually
finish near 10th, as in this fleet one mistake could cost you 20+ places and we went the
wrong way on the last beat of that race. All I can tell you is that if you missed this
worlds, you should try harder to go to the next worlds.
The next few large International events are:
There are also the European Cup events each year -
the 505 class European Cup Series is almost certainly the largest European Series any
class has - and European Championships held whenever the Worlds are not in Europe. There
is a North American Championship each year, and national championships in each of the
countries where 505s are sailed. I hope to see you all at some of these events. Major 505
Class events are not just for "rockstars", they are for all 505 sailors!
Regards,
Ali Meller
505s 7200, 8263 (KISS Rondar on order)
VP International 505 Class Yacht Racing Association