| Munster and Lange of
Australia......
.....are the early leaders as the 505 Worlds get underway in Portugal
Some 106 boats representing 15 countries
started the 2001 5-0-5 World Championships in Cascais Portugal some 30 kms west of Lisbon.
After the pre Worlds were affected with light winds resulting in only one race being
sailed the signs did not look particularly good for Race 1 of the World Championships.
Early morning rain cleared allowing a light breeze of Force 2 to develop as the fleet got
away to a gate start. Unfortunately during the start sequence there was a substantial
windshift and this coupled to the windward mark being dropped nearer than many of the
competitors expected, great confusion ensued with the early starters benefiting greatly
and the later starters eventually having to reach under spinnaker to the windward mark.
About 30% of the fleet found themselves overstanding the windward mark. First to the
windward mark were Wolfgang Hunger and Holger Jess from Germany followed by Brett Van
Munster and Geoff Lange of Australia. The Brits were lead by Ian Pinnell and Tim Hancock
with Simon Payne and Bill Masterman a boat length behind, however both these crews rounded
the first mark in the late teens.
A large Atlantic swell made sailing tricky in the light conditions. To compound the
problems as the race officer moved the course because of the shifting wind then on the
extremes of the right hand side of the beat the competitors found a moored tanker and
container ship. With place changing amongst the leading pack, behind both Pinnell and
Payne were working their way up the fleet. Also moving up the fleet were Martin Goult and
Gordon Russell.
Starting the last leg the fleet was very spreadout to the extent that the leaders were
starting the final windward leg with the tailenders two legs behind. Coming to the
downwind finish Van Munster was lying in fourth place at the final mark but sailing lower
and by making a decisive gybe inside Hunger took the lead which he held to the finish.
In third place were Per Larsen and Uffe Andersen from Denmark followed by five-time World
Champion Krister Bergstrom and Thomes Moss from Sweden. Pinnell finished sixth and Payne
dropped a couple of places on the final downwind section to finish tenth.
Leading results race 1
1 Brett Van Munster and Geoff Lange AUS 8780
2 Wolfgang Hunger and Holger Jess GER 8788
3 Per Larsen and Uffe Andersen DEN 8440
4 Krister Bergstrom and Thomas Moss SWE 8655
5 Daniel Thompson and Andrew Zinn USA 8762
6 Ian Pinnell and Tim Hancock GBR 8774
Other British Placings
10 Simon Payne and Bill Masterman GBR 8773
16 Martin Goult and Gordon Russell GBR 8460
24 Andy Williams and Andy Edmonds GBR 8694
Author : © Steve Arkley. Published : 22 Sept 2001 |
Although the day began very cloudy
and with almost no wind, the 
