the World's
smallest 505 rudder
at measurement
at measurement
by Alexander Meller
Race Graph images and results used with kind permission of myskipper.com and Aires Afonseca, who were responsible for the outstanding event web site, which was updated each day with reports, photographs, race graphs etc. Apart from being a really to notch event web site, I really appreciated not having to do any of the work myself.
Photos by Alexander Meller and others who I handed the camera to.
However, the ticket counter line did cause me some problems! Unfortunately, neither my mainsail box nor my centreboard-and-rudder box would fit on the 30-seat puddle jumper plane to Newark. With the help of two great US Airways ticket counter staff, I unstitched the battens, and folded the sail down so it would fit in a garment bag; so much for having an uncreased sail at the worlds! There was nothing that could be done with the blade box – I was not keen to saw the blades into shorter pieces -- so the blades and box were left in the care of one of the US Airways ticket counter guys.
What a great start, no crew, folded main, no new high aspect ratio foils! Fortunately the boat had an older set of foils with it. And to think that I quit my job so I could do this!
Both BWI and Newark airports were near-deserted, with most flights cancelled; apparently as no one wanted to fly. However, both my flights were on as scheduled. The 30-seater puddle jumper flew with only three passengers, the other two were moved from a cancelled flight, and the 757 from Newark to Lisbon was at least half empty. I had a three-seat row to myself so slept rather better than usual on trans-Atlantic flight. After flying to South Africa last year, the trip to Europe was short and easy!
Once in Cascais, and before the locals has fixed the Internet connection (it went down every night and could only be brought back up the following afternoon by getting some of the local support staff to work on it), Simon Lake let me use his laptop in his hotel room, and I was able to confirm that Steve Lovshin could make it and that Curtis Hartman was not coming. The following afternoon with working Internet connectivity at the club, I was able to confirm that Steve Lovshin was on his way. I arrived in Cascais on Tuesday morning, Steve was on a plane Wednesday and arrived Thursday; amazing considering the difficulties with air travel. His sailing gear bag took a day longer to arrive.
The Clube Naval de Cascais is in an old clubhouse between the town of Cascais and a new marina. The dates this world championship was held were selected to mesh with the Clube Naval's plans to build a new clubhouse. After the 505 class confirmed that the worlds would be at the Clube Naval de Cascais and confirmed the dates, the Clube Naval's plans changed, and the rebuild of the club house has been postponed. The organisers erected a large tent at one end of the dinghy park. This tent served for measurement, daily prize giving ceremonies, snacks and bar, internet cafe, AGM venue and more. We only went into the club house itself to use the showers and toilets. The success of the tent reinforces the argument that we do not need a large yacht club to host a 505 world championship, just a dinghy park, a large tent (with beer available inside) and of course a Race Committee, jury, and measurers. This tent was so good that we probably would have been happy to spend many evenings in the tent, partying with our friends, except that the club closed the tent, and the entire dinghy park area, down early in the evening, each night. If they had kept it open, and had the bar staffed all evening, they would have made a fortune.
While waiting for Steve to arrive I rigged 505s. Sane people show up at a 505 world championship with one 505. I had three. Yes, I know I can only race one at a time, but I had my new Rondar 505, 8776, and a very old Rondar I bought used, 7080, delivered to the worlds as one of the 505 class’ objectives in going to Portugal was to get Portuguese sailors to try the 505, and we had to have 505s for them to sail. The Western Australians brought three extra boats, Paul Young provided another nearly new Rondar. In the end, 7080 was not raced, but 8776 was. If you think you can handle rigging three boats, imagine unrigging them all so they can be loaded into the container on the last day. Understandably, the Portuguese team racing 8776 had questions from time to time; the more boats you have at a world championship, the more time you spend on them.
Everyone complains when we race in light winds, and everyone would have been happier with some better breeze, but the RC did make some strange decisions, breeze notwithstanding.
There were two racing areas, with A being a short sail out of the harbour amongst some anchored ships, and B being a long sail up the coast. The RC flew code flag B from a flagpole in the launching area when they wanted us to go to area B. They also had sign out and sign in sheets, which initially were only made available at 10:00AM, for a 12:00 start. No one could launch before the sign in sheets were available, or before they knew which direction to sail in. It took rather longer than one hour to launch all the 505s, and a good hour to sail out to the course – you do the arithmetic.
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| Thomas Moss with the World's smallest 505 rudder |
Bergstrom/Moss Cummulus mast at measurement |
Bergstrom/Moss 505 at measurement |
B course. The next day a number of teams – including us – were late for the start. We were all in line, dressed, ready to launch, eager to get going, but those at the end of the line simply did not get into the water early enough to make the start, as it took too long to launch all the 505s. Four teams filed requests for redress, which were granted by the International Jury, they were awarded average points for all their races including their drop. Though we started late, we worked our way through the fleet up to about 25th, which turned out to be one of our better races, even though we took a five-point penalty for not signing out, and were scored for 30th place. Getting back into the fleet was easier to do in the rather light air than it would have been in a couple more knots of pressure. We did not file for redress, as I suspected we might want to keep the 25th, and I did not want to have a class officer requesting redress due an action by the race committee.
The top three in this race swapped places around the course, while everyone else played “snakes and ladders” losing 6 places on one leg and gaining 10 on the next.
Check out the comeback 8780, Brett Van Munster/Geoff Lange, pulled off in this race.
Race 2-7 were similar in that it became clear that you had to go hard right towards the shore on many of the windward legs. Rabbits won races 4, 6 and 7, and the only race in which the rabbit did not do better than its tenth place finish in the previous race was race 2, where the rabbit finished 11th.
I was one of the first people at the club each morning, so go to see other early arrivers move their boats into line and then leave to do other things, blocking everyone else. I asked them to only put their boats in line once they were ready, and then spent over an hour at the top of the launching ramp trying to organize launching, while Steve dragged the boat up the line, inch by inch, by himself. The Clube Naval de Cascais also provided some people to bring trolleys back up the ramp and keep them out of the way of launching boats. Launching went slightly better, but still took well over an hour.
B Course. This was not as crazy as race 2, with less snakes and ladders. One of the better performances was by Ebbe Rosen/Olle Wenrup who rounded the first mark 14th and finished 5th. Bergstrom/Moss finished 10th and so arranged to be the rabbit for race 4.
B Course. Bergstrom/Moss, the rabbit, led at every mark to take the win. Barney Harris/Clayton James were second at every mark for second. Danny Thompson/Andy Zinn fell from 7th to 10th on the last beat, setting themselves up to be the rabbit for race 5.
After seeing something of a return to confusion at the launching ramp while launching for Race 4, I again spent about an hour at the top of the launching ramp trying to keep some semblance of organization, so we could all launch and race.
B Course. This race was particularly shifty and puffy and the graph of position by mark was amazing as teams could gain 14 boats on one leg and lose 16 on the next. Hunger/Jess led at the first mark, fell to 5th at the gybe mark, and then pulled up late in the race to win. Ebbe Rosen/Olle Wenrup finished 10th and used that to good effect in race 6. The rabbit for the fifth race, Thompson/Zinn, rounded the first mark 5th, got as high as 2nd, and finished 4th. We were never in the top 25 or 30 that were recorded at each mark, but came from well back to be up with Harris/James and passing Amthor/Smith to finish 49th, which ended up being our drop race.
B Course. Rosen/Wenrup, the pathfinders led at every mark to take the win. Hunger/Jess were 2nd. Pinnell/Hancock were 10th so they had their turn at rabbit in race 7. We were 29th at the weather mark and managed to get down to 38th at the leeward mark and 40th at the second windward mark, 39th at the gybe and second leeward narks before climbing steadily up to 30th. This is probably the race where we gybed at the offset mark and sailed through the hole created by a wall of 505s-with-spinnakers reaching down the offset leg. Our performance was mirrored by the Cram brothers who rounded the first windward mark 14th, climbed to 10th, which they held for several legs, and then fell to 19th at the finish. Bergstrom/Moss rounded the first mark 6th, fell to 14th on the run, and then clawed back up to 11th at the finish. Pinnell/Hancock got the 10th place finish, dropping from 9th at the last mark.
There was no wind at all on the way in. We sailed the first little bit and then rocked the boat the last two miles or so. We got back to shore just before dark, the second or third 505 back (we are better rockers than sailors!). The bulk of the fleet returned after dark. I spent some time in the water at the bottom of the ramp catching boats and helping people get their boats onto their trolleys. This turned out to be the last race.
The next (last) day we launched for racing in a great planing-upwind breeze that lightened before the start. We had some fog and a lull on the first beat and then were amazed to find the race called at the leeward mark, as the fog cleared a little. We all sailed in as requested and then sat on shore while waiting to see if the RC would send us out again. Eventually they ran out of time and the fleet started de-rigging, so they could load the containers. In the meantime competitors who had a lot to gain or a lot to lose by the running of this last race were busy lobbying the regatta office and the class president (the PRO was nowhere to be found) saying there absolutely had to be another race, or there absolutely could not be another race, depending on their point of view. Everyone else was asking me what was going on, and without any statement from the Race Committee I had no idea.
Most of us had determined that they could not get a race off before the time limit, and therefore had started derigging by the time the RC formally called off an attempt at a last race. Some local workmen had started digging a trench across the road we used to get our boats to the containers, but fortunately work was progressing slowly enough that we were still able to wheel the boats from the club to the containers. Steve Lovshin and I spent some busy hours derigging three 505s, while I also tried to deal with Portuguese customs. All three of my boats were returning in different containers than they arrived in. The next effect from the Portuguese customs perspective was nil, as 105 505s arrived, and 105 505s would leave, but they wanted to account for each boat, and required paperwork. For added enjoyment, it had started to rain, so the area adjacent to the containers quickly became a sea of mud. The prize presentation had been moved up as we were off the water early, but was then moved back part way as it became clear that the container loading would not be completed in time. I was still wearing my wetsuit and sailing boots half an hour before the rescheduled prize presentation, so disappeared to shower and change. Apparently all my boats were eventually packed and loaded; I’ll have to take people’s word on this.
The PRO told me afterwards that they had abandoned the last race as they had been concerned about the oldest and youngest competitors. This was completely ridiculous in my opinion, but I didn’t bother to tell him that, as it had been merely the last in a series of poor decisions by the RC. Other poor decisions included running several races too close to shore such that the right corner was heavily favoured and the race a parade. Once competitors figured this out, there would be a long string of boats over-standing the weather mark and close reaching in. Not the sort of championship racing the class expects. This was also not a great event to be 505 Class President at, I couldn’t walk through the dinghy park without several people stopping me to discuss various issues, and 505 sailors assumed I had some influence with the Race Committee which was not the case. I did make it through a couple of short speeches and the Annual General Meeting, apparently without making a complete fool of myself.
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| The 505 Class President making speeches |
Presenting an award to the Clube Naval de Cascais |
John Bagshaw and friends |
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| The Cram boys under 21 Champions |
Sandra and Mark Barber the couples champions |
Simon Payne/Bill Masterman 8th |
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| Brett van Munster/Geoff Lange 7th | Howard Hamlin/Mike Martin 5th | Andy Zinn/Danny Thompson 4th |
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| Tim Hancock/Ian Pinnell 2nd | ||
The part of Portugal I saw was dry, though that might simply be due to the season. There were no overweight people, and many I saw were very good looking. However every time I saw a good-looking young woman (just about every young woman in Cascais!), she would light up a cigarette! Too bad.
The coastline I saw close to Cascais was spectacular! A rock cliff up to a low plateau; what a place to live. Portuguese is different enough from Spanish (or French or Italian) that I could not understand any of it. The sounds are in some cases similar to Russian. Though Portugal is not a wealthy country, I did see signs of some wealth at the club or driving through town , and no signs of real poverty.
Cascais was beautiful, with lots of restaurants, good food, and some great pubs. Several of the restaurants were in a small open square close to O’Neill’s and several of the hotels and B&Bs where sailors were staying; anytime in the evening you walked through there one would see several tables of 505 sailors enjoying dinner together, and you could simply pull up a chair and join them. Locals selling sunglasses or roses would offer their wares, and a shoeshiner kept himself occupied working through the crowds in the square.
All competitors were in walking or cycling distance of the club. We all had to get to the club fairly early, as with only one launching ramp there was a large queue and a very long wait. Even with the first warning signal scheduled for noon, one had to be at the club by 9AM, and have the boat partly rigged and in line, and be dressed ready for sailing, shortly afterwards. We made up for this by partying into the early hours of the morning.
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| A band playing in one of the sqares | The local patron saint? |
The 505ers initially adopted O’Neill’s Irish Pub – not the least bit Portuguese – and were there most evenings. Several of the boys were thrown out for singing – imagine, 505 sailors singing! -- on one of the last evenings so activities moved to another pub up the street which was less crowded and where they let us sing. I don’t think the staff at O’Neill’s had quite understood how much money 505 sailors were spending there. Besides, who wants to hear the guitar player or the sound system when we can sing along with Richard Berry. After the containers were packed and the prizes handed out and the speeches made, many competitors spent the last evening in the second pub, singing, laughing, telling stories and hanging out with friends. Several competitors had early morning flights out of Lisbon and were determined to keep partying until it was time to take at taxi to the airport. Others had no place to sleep now that the boats had been loaded in the containers, depriving them of their near-club dry-roof digs. Meanwhile, it was pouring rain (the rain had started just as we began container loading, and became much heavier during the evening), so several others stayed in the bar and partied rather than walk back to their hotels in the rain.
Anyhow, Steve Lovshin did a terrific job with his end of the boat, and mostly ignored me when I went into meltdown at the back. He was racing a boat he had only seen before, rigged quite differently from what he was used to, and racing with a skipper who wanted a rather different division of responsibility than Steve was used to.
Most of the time our speed was quite good, very good at times, and suddenly off the pace at other times. A few times we had hooked large clumps of weed or large jellyfish, but other times we were slow without knowing why. Downwind the “clunk in the trunk” (centreboard all the way up so that slot gaskets close smooth and fair with the bottom) worked well for us, and we had very good speed with the North medium kite when we could keep our air clear and not sail into large holes. It was sometimes too light to go dead-down-wind. Upwind we were able to hang with Hamlin/Martin on the one beat we were close to them, we actually passed them in a puff, though later in the beat they got us on a shift, and on another occasion were hanging with other top finishers like Thompson/Zinn and Molund/Barnes, when all-of-a-sudden we’d be dogging it and people would be rolling us. A bigger problem is that we simply did not go the right way often enough and the regatta was all about going the right way.
The new North main design seemed quicker than the North CE2+. I believe Barney and Clayton would agree as their finishes improved dramatically after they retrieved the 3DL mainsail; it was held up in baggage at the airport, and missed a couple of races.