Bermuda Race Week April 28

Bermuda
International Race Week
April 29 - May 5, 2001

Ali Meller

Updated 10 May, 2001

Bermudian 505 sailors very recently imported four used Parker Model 25 505s from the UK. I purchased a similar boat and had it shipped to Bermuda with the other four. All five were acquired on our behalf by Paul Young (Thank you, Paul!). These five Parker 25 505s in Bermuda are the only high performance dinghies on the island(s), and the class should be well positioned for further growth.

Angela Stenger - German 505 Class President -- and I raced my "new" 505, 8249, at Bermuda International Race Week. I actually bought two used 505s from Paul, the other one -- Parker 7080 -- will be shipped to the US East Coast. So for those of you keeping track, these are my fourth and fifth 505s. Both boats are for sale! I plan to sell 8249 in Bermuda and charter 7080 within Severn Sailing Association.

Bermuda Race Week is a terrific event and Great Sound is a fabulous place to race 505s. While we only had four 505s racing (the person lined up to race the 5th boat backed out at the last minute) this year, we could easily have quite a number more there next year, now that we have five ready-to-race boats in Bermuda. It is easy and quick shipping from the US East Coast, and not expensive. All/most competitors are billeted.

I would very much like to see a strong turnout for next year's Race Week.

Bermuda is a "people scale" place with small roads, small cars, small taxis, mopeds, and bicycles. The inhabitants are friendly gracious people, who are not in as quite a desperate hurry as the average resident of a major US city. The Bermuda dollar is pegged to the US dollar (1:1), and either currency is accepted. The national drink is a "Dark and Stormy" - a fabulous drink of dark rum and ginger beer. The islands are surrounded by fine white and pink sand beaches and the colour and clarity of the water is better than I have seen anywhere else.

There were moments when I was driving the moped along the shore that reminded me of movies set in the Riviera.

We raced in Great Sound, perhaps a half hour sail from the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. The ex Royal Navy Dockyards mentioned later in this report are on one side of the entrance from the ocean into Great Sound.

The Schedule

This is a fun-filled and varied week, with an opening cocktail party on Saturday, a practice race (and optionally a first real race) on Sunday. Racing Monday and Tuesday, lay day on Wednesday, racing on Thursday. Friday is a spare day, Saturday cocktail party and prizes. We had no wind Tuesday, and so raced on Friday to make up the two races. Each class can determine its own schedule.

It was sunny every day, trapezing upwind conditions and even a little spilling; we raked a little one day as did Chuck Millican. Most days Angela and I were swimming in Great Sound after racing; the water was so warm! We would jump off the boat and hold on to the transom or rudder, while the other person sailed the boat back towards RBYC.

Though we sailed out of RBYC as we did the last time 505s were at Race Week (boats are kept on the dock next to the bar), this year we were on the dinghy course with Snipes, Lasers and Sunfish. Our courses had 3/4 to 1 mile beats, and we sailed 3 laps while the other classes sailed 2.

Saturday: Opening Cocktail Party

Sorry no photos. Everyone dresses up a little and enjoys a cocktail party -- included in the entry fee -- at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. Cool!

Sunday: Practice Day


Angela Stenger getting ready	Looks like a 505; but hey It has a launcher AND the jib is tacked on the bow!	Parker Model 25; Hull Number 8249

After a hectic Saturday of rigging and re-rigging -- I brought lots of spare parts and line -- and picking up Angela at the airport Saturday evening, 8249 was ready for a practice sail by noon on Sunday. We missed the practice race, but fortunately the 505s had opted for a practice race only, on Sunday. This decision may have been made to give me time to get 8249 ready. The other classes had a practice race and the first race that counted.

Bermuda is 60,000 people on 21 square miles, in the Atlantic Ocean. Given these statistics, you can imagine my surprise when Bill Masterman turned up! Bill didn't know Race Week was on, didn't know 505s were racing in Race Week, didn't know any of us would be there, but was simply holidaying in Bermuda with his British Airways flight attendant wife! (Not reading 505world e-mail are we, Billie Boy!) I also bumped into one of my junior sailing instructors; he was crewing on a J-24. Then Art Gleason, Louise VanVoorhis Gleason and Charlie VanVoorhis, all well known within the US 505 class, walked by; they were racing an IOD. I suppose it really is a small world, sometimes.

The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club


The bar is very near to the 505s		The 505s are on the dock, near the ramp


J-24 sailors party in the background while Ali plans rerigging schemes for his latest 505	Wetsuit not required	Close to the bar

The camera never made it out on the water in the 505, so all the photos of are on-shore action. We didn't spend all our time in the bar... really. It just looks like that from the photos. The other place the camera didn't go is with us on the moped. Next time the navi-guesser on the moped can double as team photographer. There are lots of scenes I saw from the moped that I wish I could have stopped and photographed.

Conditions were marvellous all week, sunny and warm. The only time I wore a wetsuit was when we went snorkeling; all you needed sailing was shorts, a shirt and a lifejacket -- I wore my lightweight Lycra and rarely added a spraytop. Most days we were swimming in Great Sound off the 505, after racing. We were trapezing upwind in every race, and sometimes spilling and depowering. It is frequently windier for Race Week, this year's event was probably a little on the light-air side of the average.

Partying at the RBYC


Angela and Willie	Lots more available Bacardi is the title sponsor	Before the crowds


What a great bar!		8249 is temporarily named

A number of evening events are included in the entry fee, including an opening cocktail party, a closing prize presentation cocktail party, and a during the week more casual party. Other events like a BBQ are optional and you have to buy tickets.

All the Etchells, IOD and J-24 sailors had to walk past "505 row" to get to/from their boats, so they all saw a lot of 505s.

All these boats with cabins on them inspired us to name 8249...

Angela LOVES
being in Bermuda Angela helps the Bacardi staff
prepare punch

What a nice place to hang out

Monday and Tuesday: Racing

We had two races good races Monday, but the wind died during the start sequence on Tuesday, causing the RC to postpone and never filled in to the point the RC could consider starting. We were towed in after a couple of hours and Angela's swim.

Wednesday: The Lay day


Leader of the Pack? Maybe I should get a Harley?

		.
Downtown Hamilton	With cruise ships


Grape Bay Beach (at the De Couto's)	Panning to the right	further right


The colour of the water is incredible!	And it appears to go on forever	Far right


I cannot keep my eyes from the water


A bird of paradise flower

Despite no racing on Tuesday due to no wind, Wednesday remained a lay day. After a leisurely morning we were at the De Couto's in time to pick up Doug and head in to Hamilton for lunch. Then it was back to the De Couto's -- on the beach at Grape Bay -- for some snorkeling. This was the clearest water I have ever swum or snorkeled in. Incredible. I felt like you could see each fine grain of sand on the bottom, 30 feet below you. There were coral heads, Parrot Fish and other fishes, but this was not the real Bermuda reef, which is further offshore. This was the only time I wore a wetsuit.

With the well known reef and all the wrecks, this would be an incredible place to SCUBA dive, or just snorkel on the reefs.

Back to the mopeds for a moment: These are way better than go-karts! The speedometer on ours was broken, but James assures me I was going plenty fast enough the evening he followed me. Two J-24s sailors were stopped by the Bermuda Police after a late night party on Friday. One was below the legal limit, but the other was not, and is thought to have been a guest of HM for the night.

505 8249,
a forward tack, launcher,
Parker Model 25 505 row
All five 505s are matched
Parker Model 25s
Thanks to Paul Young! Bacardi sponsored several parties

Angela enjoying herself The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club

Visiting the Dockyards by Sea

On the Way


Looking back towards Hamilton Harbour	Houses on an island	More houses on islands


A small uninhabited island. Call your Bermuda real estate agent!	Another crappy day in paradise!

Dockyards: A 505 Worlds Venue?

A wide concrete launching ramp	Another view of the launching ramp	The dockyard's seaward wall


Inside the harbour: launching ramp to the right, exit to Great Sound to the left	Another view inside the harbour

James Macdonald took us from the RBYC to the dockyards one evening, in his motorboat. I've always believed that any city, port, or piece of history that had anything to do with the sea, should be approached by sea, as most people would have at the time. These Royal Navy Dockyards are no exception.

Bermuda held the Youth Worlds in 1995, and boats were kept and launched from the dockyards. The Bermudians would propose to do the same if a 505 world championship was held in Bermuda.

James and Chuck Millican, the two key people in generalizing the interest in 505s, were also responsible for putting on the recent Youth Worlds. They are very keen to have a 505 World Championship in Bermuda. Chuck was until recently the Bermuda Yachting Association (now Bermuda Sailing Association) National Coach, while James is a past President of the Bermuda Yachting Association.

Their is a large concrete launching ramp at the heart of the dockyards. It is a short sail from there out of the harbour and into Great Sound. The Victualling Yard is probably the best place for the dinghy park; it is a short distance from the launching ramp.

There are a number of restaurants/pubs within dockyards, including the "Frog and Onion" in one of the buildings facing the Victualling Yard. With luck, your 505 could be in a spot in the Victualling Yard a few steps from the Frog and Onion.

Other thoughts on having a Worlds in Bermuda:

Who needs go-karts when you have 50cc mopeds?
The Tornado Worlds were held there in the '80s and again in 1997
The I-14 Worlds are being held there this fall
The Youth Worlds were held here in 1995
505s were last at a Bermuda Worlds in 1975
40 foot containers are OK. They would be offloaded and barged over to the dockyards
Optimum times of year would be either April or October/November, this is to avoid the height of the tourist season and the highest prices, but also to get the best weather.
Billeting would be arranged for many competitors

Saturday: Back to the Dockyards by Moped


A small cove on the south-west shore	Same cove Can you believe the colour of the water?	A bad photo of very clear water


Inside the dockyards	The dockyard wall from inside Note how the wall is built up on top of volcanic rock This is typical of Bermuda	The Victualling Yard. Boats were kept here during the Youth Worlds


The entrance to the Victualling Yard a short distance from the ramp

Apart from the historical interest of the dockyards, they are being redeveloped with restaurants, pubs, stores, boutiques, a museum, etc. and are now a major destination on the "what to do while in Bermuda tour". There is enough there to keep family occupied for some time, and enough pubs that you can be thrown out of one or two and still find another place for a drink with your mates. Though at the west end of the islands they are easily accessible by bus, taxi, moped or ferry, from anywhere else in Bermuda.

Saturday: In Hamilton, Waiting for the Prize Presentation Cocktail Party


Hamilton storefronts	Across the harbour	More across the harbour


Ali Meller accepting prizes As if he needs more rum!

I did not bring the camera charger, so these are the last images I took, as the camera battery went dead after the third image was taken. The last image of Ali Meller accepting first prize is from the event web site.
There are also a couple of 505-on-the-water pictures on the event web site at:

The Racing

The first race very close, Chuck Millican/Somers Kempe were leading down the run to the finish after Ali Meller/Angela Stenger had to complete 360 as they hooked the windward mark with their centerboard and then touched the mark, and then caught the anchor line on the rudder too. A gybing duel ended with Meller/Stenger even and to leeward, on starboard, able to square off and run perpendicular to the line before Millican/Kempe, winning by inches.

Meller/Stenger were able to use their years of 505 experience to overcome the enthusiasm of the Bermudians, winning races 2 through 5. Angela and Ali switched places for the last race, and with Ali ignoring his assigned crew responsibilities and instead continuously asking for sail trim adjustments, they lost a boat on the last beat, finishing third. This was their throw-out, and they counted all firsts. Chuck Millican (past US 470, J-24 and Soling racer, then Bermudian National Coach)/Somers Kempe were second overall. Doug De Couto, a Bermudian currently racing 505s in New England, drove Craig Davis' 505 with Craig crewing, into third overall. James Macdonald, with first Joel Schaeffer and then Ray DeSilva (470 Olympian in Barcelona) crewing, were 4th. Everyone else who could have gone but did not, was DFL!