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The 505 European championship was held at Copenhagen this year under the burgee of the Skovshoved Yacht Club. The 505s from each of the eight countries, with the exception of Morocco, had previously qualified to represent their countries, the number of entrants being limited to 75, although this was later increased to 83. An Olympic course was set, the total length of the course, without allowance for tacking was approximately 10 nautical miles. This included three windward legs. In the absence of Larry Marks, it was expected that Hugh Bourn and Paul Deschamps would do well. Bourn now works with Keith Musto, and has spent much time and thought to ensure that the spars and sails for his 505 add up to a precisely tuned boat. This he succeeded in doing, and carried off the Championship with a first, two fourths and a fifth. His superior boat speed was always apparent. The week was characterised by light, variable winds, Force 0-2, due to anti cyclonic conditions producing cloudless skies every day and a burning sun. On occasions, the wind force increased, but the prevailing wind was invariably shifting up to 90 degrees, and made the beats very much a lottery. The commodore of the club, Erik Aagaard, had considerable difficulty laying the course; on Wednesday, after four hours of attempt he gave up and the racing was cancelled. It should be added however that the line discipline of the 505 fleet was not good. The high number of general recalls testifies to this, although the topless attractions on a nearby beach provided adequate entertainment between starts. The standard of racing was high. The English boats did well to secure five of the first ten places. They showed a high level of consistency in foreign conditions, which only the French could match � Serge Guillaume was second overall and Marc Bouet fifth. The Bath brothers (Sweden) were involved in an interesting incident following the first race, in which John Donnelly crewed by Martin Auger had crossed the line first. The Baths protested the race on the grounds that the starting gun had been fired five seconds too early. The race committee admitted their error, accepted the protest, and declared the race null and void. They have, however, appealed to the Danish Yachting Association, and thence, perhaps, to the IYRU but this means that the results must be considered provisional for the time being. It may be though that the Bath brothers stand to improve their overall position if their protest had not been allowed. The IYRU later revoked the decision of the race committee, thus giving the championship title to the Bath brothers � evaluating many years of top results, a well deserved win but nevertheless a true miscarriage of justice! (webmasters remark) The first race was won by Hugh Bourn, closely followed by the Bath brothers and Mike Derry with David Gallimore crewing for him. Bourn and Bath had established a good lead by the final windward leg, but by good judgement of wind shifts, Mike Derry closed the gap to 20 yards at the finish. Throughout the week there was always an argument for doing a windward leg, especially inshore, in two tacks, but the 505 helmsmen needed the courage of their convictions to do it. Mike Derry was noticeably proficient on tactics throughout the meeting, and often recovered from a middle of the fleet position by taking a flyer over to one side of the course. In particular he gained many places by constantly tacking to extreme positions downwind. Additionally, Derry's speed through the water increased noticeably as the week went by. This is his first year in 505s and bh has already made a considerable mark in the class. The second, third and fourth races were all characterised by light, variable winds with cloudless skies. In the second race, Daniel Jounay's 'Camelion' (Peter Bainbridge's 'Camelion' which won La Rochelle week this year) was very fast through the water, but he was constantly being challenged by the only Moroccan boat, sailed by Pierre and Susanne Tepley. The Tepleys sailed inshore on the first beat, out to sea on the second and inshore again on the final leg, but took second position to 'Camelion' in the end. The beat and first reach of the third race took two frustrating hours to complete. Four boats took a commanding lead and left the rest of the fleet behind. Gordon and Phil Wilson in 'Fr�re Bear' read the wind conditions best to win this race although the other three � Alfred Wait (Switzerland), the Quehen brothers (France) and the Moroccan � were always challengers. Hugh Bourn was subsequently able to discard his 57th in this race. The fourth and fifth races were sailed in freshening, but still variable, winds. Two French boats won the fourth race, Serge Guillaume in 'Miss France' and Marc Bouet in 'NN', Hugh Bourn taking a fourth place. Clear wind on the start was always important, although Mike Derry, who won the last race, gained most of his positions by tacking well downwind, with good spinnaker work from his crew. The majority of the boats were built by Parkers, including Hugh Bourn's 'Salacious Sam'. Not unnaturally he bad a suit of Musto sails, but otherwise a very simple layout with a centre mainsheet. Rondar had a fair representation of boats from most of the countries participating. The Scandinavian competitors favoured Elvstr�m and Anderson sails and Elvstr�m spars, but the great majority of helmsmen used Proctor spars. There were very few innovations in the fittings line, the most interesting being a stem sheeted boom on two Swedish boats. The U-shaped horse from the floor of the boat permitted the boom to find its natural level above the transom, the kicking strap taking all the strain on the boom. The layouts and interior designs of the English boats were less complicated than those of other countries, although Gordon Wilson's 'Fr�re Bear' had been beautifully thought out to a very complicated specification. The overall results were:
Other British placings were: 17th K3559
(Elford/Pyecroft), 19th (Turgoose/Dover), 20th K3873 (Locke/Wilton-Smith),
23rd K4149 (Donnelly/Auger), 26th K4082 (Farrant/Farrant). Reprint from a 1971 issue of Yachts & Yachting, p253 |
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