505 Worlds at Santa Cruz Yacht Club overall

by Sue Athmann 21 Aug 2004 10:33 BST

With the title of World Champions in the hands of Morgan Larson/Trevor Baylis who sat out the day 98 teams left the Santa Cruz Harbor under uneven gray skies to determine who would receive the remaining trophies. One point separated the American teams of Mike Martin/Jeff Nelson and Howard Hamlin/Peter Alarie for second and third place.

Once again the sailors waited in anticipation as the committee put up the "AP" flag signaling a postponement of the only race of the day. Just as the sequence started the rabbit was fouled forcing a restart. The windward mark boat registered 8 knots as the gate opened a second time and in a slow low swell the fleet headed to the right or middle. Rounding the buoy the greater part headed out left only a couple dozen going inside and no clear advantage was seen.

At the leeward gate, somewhat wider than yesterdays impossibly narrow slot, the fleet with few exceptions rounded quietly towards the beach (right) but staying near the middle going up the weather leg now shortened by a quarter mile. The following reach/reach legs took the 505'ers out into the larger swells of the left hand side of the course parading in a loose almost downwind run, jibing, then tightening to a hard reach heading to the gate.

The third beat was into chop and slightly higher pressure with the boats spreading out across the course. Final downwind run was a jibe-set for the majority, hanging out inside, dumping the chute and heading upwind on the last weather leg and to the finish. The first boat crossing the line was the French-German team of Phillippe Boite/Rainer Goerge, in second from Denmark, Per Larsen/Uffe Andersen. Representing Great Britain for third was Ian Pinnell/Steve Hunt followed by the Germans Christian Kellner/Martin Schoeler, 4th. The US team of Howard Hamlin/Peter Alarie finished 5th giving them the contested 2nd place in overall points.

The final standings are: first place from the United States, Morgan Larson/Trevor Baylis with 10 points, also from the US and in second Howard Hamlin/Peter Alarie, 31 points; 3rd Mike Martin/Jeff Nelson (US), 35 points; 4th Dan Thompson/Andy Zinn (US), 40 points.

The LightSurf 2004 International 505 World Championship web site is at www.505worlds2004.org