By Brian Haines
Results
The 2012 505 World Championships was the largest event, with 188 entries, in the 57-year history of the class. Ted Conrads and I traveled to La Rochelle, on the west coast of France, for the regatta and were treated to some beautiful sailing conditions and of course, culture, history and food. Two weeks of the most delicious baguettes, cheese and wine alone made the trip worthwhile, not to mention the sailing…
La Rochelle reminded me a lot of sailing in Long Beach, with warm air, cool water and a great sea breeze almost every afternoon. The Volkswagen-sized jellyfish were a notable difference. We all commented at one point or another about how glad we were that we didn’t have any "dog-off-the-chain" days because of the damage these things could cause to our boats. Even on the 12-15 knot days, several people suffered from split rudders.
The gate, or rabbit start in a fleet of 188 boats is quite an experience. Some races allowed the line to stay open for eight minutes, which means that the first boats to duck the rabbit are racing for a full eight minutes while those who choose to duck last are slowly sailing out to the right side of the course. Needless to say, there is a bit of strategy in deciding when to duck the rabbit. Fortunately for Ted and me, boathandling in close quarters comes pretty naturally to us after our years in college sailing. We had great starts throughout the regatta, which made our game plan of sailing conservatively in the huge fleet that much easier.
The first two days of the Worlds were run in 12-15 kts, cloudless skies and warm temperatures. Beautiful racing! The breeze trended right throughout both days, with shifts generally oscillating about 10 degrees. There is roughly 20 feet of tide in this part of France, and although the current was fairly even across our course, it was important to be conscious of it near laylines and marks. We opened the series with a 20-7-16 over the first two days. We knew that we had some room for improvement if we were to reach our top-10 goal, but we were pleased to be sitting in the top 15 after three races in conditions that are historically tough on us.
The third day of the event brought lighter breeze and much warmer conditions. Temperatures were in the upper 80s and most crews were just able to trapeze. Ted and I were confident in our speed in these conditions, so we decided to gate early as soon as we noticed that the rabbit was headed. As we sailed into the first shift, we were able to tack to port and cross the two boats on our hip, which allowed us to cross the rest of the fleet to our right. We had a great race with another young German team, trading leads a few times, and ended up crossing the line ahead. It was a pretty cool feeling to see 187 boats behind us after the finish. The breeze came up slightly in the second race of the day and was very shifty as it came off the land. Huge gains and losses would occur on a single leg, and many boats found themselves moving from the 40s into the teens, or vice versa. We were not immune, rounding the first mark well in the 40s after being absolutely sure we were in the top 5 just moments before. Ahh, sailboat racing. Luckily, the race ended in a good phase for us and we posted a 12th place.
The lay day at Worlds takes on many different faces depending on the sailing conditions in a given year. Sometimes the entire day is spent fixing what has already broken, or beefing up anything that looks suspicious. As the weather had been so beautiful thus far in the regatta, most of the competitors spent the day sightseeing around La Rochelle with their families. The old town, founded in the 13th century, surrounds the harbor and is full of amazing little streets and shops that take you back in time. After spending the day checking out the town, we had a chance to host a dinner on the lay day with some of the class legends. Class President Pip Pearson, a long-time crew and friend of Paul Elvstrom, Earle Alexander, the most enthusiastic 68 year old 505 sailor you’ll meet, past World Champion Howie Hamlin and crew extraordinaire Andy Zinn all shared some hilarious stories and perspective on the class over the past 30+ years. I hope I’m able to sail these boats as well as they do when I "grow up."
Back on the racecourse, the conditions were largely the same as the past two days: hot and light. We started the second half of the event with a great result, fighting to the finish to hang on to 3rd place. After 6 races in the series, we were sitting in 5th place overall with a 20th as our discard. I think it may have been a combination of nerves and a change in conditions, but whatever the cause, our sailing took a turn for the worse in the last three races.
The second to last day was sailed in a northerly breeze, which comes off the land for part of our course and through a gap between the mainland and an island for the other part of the course. Having never sailed in this wind direction, we found ourselves questioning whether we had chosen the correct side of the course rather than making a game plan and sticking to it. As our gut instinct had been telling us, crossing the middle of the course when not in the top pack proved brutal and we finished race 7 in 39th. We rolled right into race 8 and only managed a slightly better result of 21st.
Going into the last day of the event in tenth place, we thought we had a pretty good grasp of the points situation. The last race of the series turned out to be a tricky one, with only one shift coming in on the first beat. We decided to start close to our nearest competitors, and fortunately we all suffered together on the wrong side of the one-shift beat. We fought back throughout the race to pass about 20 boats, and after keeping most of our closest competitors behind us, felt good about our finish. We were pretty sure we had held onto 10th place, and possibly moved up one position. What we hadn’t realized was that Ian Pinnel, past World Champion from Great Britain, was doing a horizon job on the fleet, and put 20 points on us. That was enough to move him into 10th overall, with us two points behind in 11th.
Racing in La Rochelle was a great experience on and off the water. We learned a ton about sailing in large fleets, and had so much fun sailing against friends we have made from around the world. It was an honor to represent San Diego Yacht Club at this event, and I hope to continue doing so in the 505 fleet for years to come. A huge thank you to the SDYC Competition Fund for the support in making this event possible!