Dates Set for 2012 North Americans

The Championship will be held at San Francisco Yacht Club in Belvedere, CA.

Racing will be held September 20th-23rd.

For those unfamiliar, this is the sunny side of San Francisco Bay and it should be a little warmer and less nuclear than late August.

Start making your plans to be there now!

Palm Tree Dreams

With winter quickly closing in and boats in the East and Midwest headed for garages, it's time to plan your winter 505 sailing.

The two events to mark down on your calendar are the Midwinters in St. Petersburg, FL from February 24th-26th and the Carolina YC Regatta in Wrightsville Beach, NC from March 31st-April 1st. Recaps from last year's great events can be found here and here.

One idea that I've heard around the class with more frequency than past years is for more winter events or some kind of winter circuit. I am personally supportive of this concept though there are many logistics challenges. Other classes like the Etchells, Melges 20's, Vipers and J80's have obviously had great success with their winter circuits and these events are essential parts of the seasons in those classes. Do we as a class think a Florida and Carolina circuit could be put together and would people attend? I imagine we could likely get a dozen people on board with 3-5 events; would it grow? Would this many events entice any Canadians to come down and thaw out?

Would this work:

Miami or Ft. Lauderdale late January

Ft. Meyers or St. Petersburg early February

Midwinters in St. Petersburg late February

Wrightsville in early April

Charleston Race Week in late April if we can get in?

Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Region II Championship - Henry Amthor

The 5o5 Region Two Championship was sailed once again on the warm and windy waters of Hampton Flats. The weekend led off with a nice Friday dinner at the Moore compound. Leigh Chapman organized a nice event at HYC complete with free registration, snack bags for those hungry crews and a neighborhood Oyster Roast Saturday night at Kathy & Malcolm Brady's house.

PRO Bob Thomas & Tyler Moore set up the course close to the harbor entrance for an easy sail out to the Big Breeze. Saturday started off at a very civilized noon start that sent the fleet on a double sausage course in 15 to 22 kts. The fleet was very tight after the first two legs; however, Drew Buttner & JB Turney suffered a broken pole after a spectacular splash on the first run. That left them unable to wire run for the remainder of the day.

By day’s end Geoff Ewenson & Tyler Moore were on top with a 1,1,1,2,1. Big Clayton James & Henry Amthor managed a 2,2,4,1,3. Past North American Champs Parry Barclay & Macy Nelson held 3rd with a 3,3,2,4,2.

Sunday dawned with sunny temps in the high 60's and a lighter breeze at about 12 kts. The breeze steadily improved with puffs in the mid 20's by day’s end. Drew & JB came out of the blocks smoking fast (now armed with a new carbon pole provided by Santa Moore). They managed all top three finishes, including two race wins. Unfortunately this was not enough to overcome their first day breakdown.

With Tyler and Geoff locking up the regatta by holding consistently near the top including two more wins in heats 8 & 9, the race was on for second overall. The Carolina brothers Charles & Jay Smith had a shot along with the boys from Baltimore and Team Hampton. The top five team scores tightened up as the day progressed so it all came down to the ninth and final race. Team Hampton got the jump on the first lap in a building breeze only to watch the fleet sail away after the spin halyard failed to unwind at the leeward mark. Team Baltimore Macy & Parry sailed through to secure second overall. Team Hampton recovered from the leeward mark mishap to get third.

It was nice to see some new sailors in the fleet including Catherine Guiader, Evan Hoffman, Ron Thompson and Andy Forman.

A Big thanks to PRO Bob Thomas & his crew: Vince & Tripp Behm for mark boat and Captain Eley and Ric Handly for photo boat & safety. Thanks are also due to the Chapmans, Bradys and Moores for their hospitality.

Results

1. 9007 Geoff Ewenson/Tyler Moore 1,1,1,2,1,3,2,1,1. 10
2. 8722 Parry Barclay/Macy Nelson 3,3,2,4,2,4,3,4,3. 24
3. 8012 Clayton James/Henry Amthor 2,2,4,1,3,5,4,5,5. 26
4. 8830 Andrew Buttner/JB Turney DNF,6,5,5,5,1,1,3,2. 28
5. 8952 Jay Smith/Charles Smith 5,5,3,3,4,2,5,2,4. 28
6. 8441 Olav Schluter/Katrin Deinhart 7,7,6,6,6,7,8,6,DNS. 53
7. 8822 Andy Forman/David Burchfiel 6,8,7,7,8,11,10,8,6. 60
8. 9007 Ron Thompson/Jim Englert 4,4,DNF,DNS,DNS,6,7,DNF,DNS. 69
9. 8883 Michael Renda/John Berquist/Evan Hoffman 9,9,8,DNF,DNS,9,6,7,DNS. 72
10. 8059 Chris Brady/Catherine Guiader 10,11,10,8,7,8,DNF,DNS,DNS. 78
11. 8951 Caroline Rasmussen/Christian Rasmussen 8,10,9,9,DNF,10,9,DNF,DNS. 79

Postcard from Hampton

Charles and Jay Smith cruising downwind

Double-Double D - Henry and Clayton lead Tyler and Geoff to the finish

More 2011 NA's - Parker Shinn

The 2011 505 North American Championship, hosted by American Yacht Club on Long Island Sound, brought 27 teams from all over the East Coast, Mid-West, Canada, Santa Cruz and even class legends, Pip Pearson and Earle Alexander, all the way from Aussie Land. We were fortunate to have three days of excellent racing that provided a wide variety of conditions which tested sailors ability to adapt. American Yacht Club was a gracious host and their race committee did an outstanding job of running a world class regatta for us.

The 505 class owes a tremendous amount of gratitude to all of those who helped organize this great event and to our sponsors as well. Doug McKeige has been a generous contributor to our class ever since he joined over six years ago and this year, as the lead organizer of the event, he did not let up. Heineken, North Sails, Glaser Sails, APS and Zhik have also consistently been strong supporters for whom we are grateful.

One of my favorite things about the 505 class always has been and always will be the quality of people that it attracts. The reason I first got hooked was because Mike Martin took me for a ride on his boat at a Team Tuesday practice in the spring of 2005. Donning a trap harness he obviously hadn’t worn in years (you could tell because each leg strap was about 3 inches too long), Mike willingly let an 18 year old kid drive his boat and later that year convinced someone to help me get into the class by selling me their boat at a great price. Howie Hamlin then put his entire garage (read world class tool shop) at my disposal so I could re-rig my new boat and copy his layout.

Friendships become so strong that people are even willing to travel across oceans and continents as was testified by Pip and Earl coming all the way from Australia to sail with us. I had to tow a boat from a neighboring yacht club to American for someone who was chartering and Pip readily offered to help even though he was missing dinner. There is a bond in 505 sailing that we all cherish because it is capable of bringing us together each year as though little time had passed.

This year was no different as we quickly caught up with one another and excitedly took to the race course to test our skills. I have often pondered why I enjoy racing so much more than simply sailing and I’ve come to the conclusion that it is because racing brings out the best of sailing by challenging us to be both faster and smarter and it provides a reward for when you succeed. Each day of the 2011 NA’s provided an excellen opportunity to enjoy these challenges and starting with the first race, gave us a clear view of who was on top of their game.

On Day one the wind was out of the East and there was a good sized chop as the waves funneled down Long Island Sound. Most teams were raked to 7 or 8 with crews fully out on the wire while some of us were raked back as far as 6. Large shifts made it difficult to determine which side would pay off, but it seemed that the right was primarily dominant with some large left shifts occasionally working their way down the course. Huge distances could be made or lost on the downwind legs by deciding to either wire or sit run. With the surfable waves, Simon and I thought that our aggressive technique allowed us sit a little longer than we otherwise would and on a few runs we nervously worked our way down the middle of the course as other teams wired out to a side. Most of the time this paid off, but it was critical to keep a watchful eye out for puffs and holes. On the first run of the first race a pack of boats wired out to the left side and lost huge distances by sailing into a lull that made it difficult to get back to the mark. Tyler Moore and Geoff Ewenson quickly showed that they were going to be the boat to beat that day by knocking out a 1, 2, 1, 4.

Friday presented us with an entirely different wind direction and some new variables to figure out. The wind was a bit lighter than the first day and with spotty breeze there were still huge gains to be made or lost. The left seemed to consistently pay off at the top of the course and most races started off with a drag race to that side. Tyler Moore, Ethan Bixby and Mike Holt seemed to have tremendous height (I got pinched off by all three of them) and were able to get punched off the line while punishing any boats who dared to start to windward of them. Downwind often proved to be a tactical chess match. A wrong decision could put you in a hole and cost half the fleet. Even when you made the right decision, breeze filling in from behind sometimes compressed the fleet so that the leaders were scrambling to maintain their lead. In one race I rounded the windward mark in third place on the way to the finish. It was clearly not windy enough to wire run and Tyler, Brian Kamilar and I were fighting each other for the lead. At one point I looked back to see Mike Holt, miles behind us, come around the windward mark in a puff and start wiring out to a side. Three quarters of the way down the run, all of a sudden, Mike is now hurtling back through the center of the course in 4th place and hot on our heels. Everyone in the front was then trying to figure out when to start wiring and which side to go to. Besides Tyler Moore and Mike Holt, most of the fleet’s finishes were up and down quite a bit it seemed.

Saturday everyone showed up to halyards slapping against masts and the entire Sound covered in whitecaps. As teams wearily got suited up and rigged their boats, the race committee went out to see how bad things actually were. They registered gusts in the low thirties and with the breeze expected to build throughout the day, it was an easy call to cancel racing for the day. There were a few of us who were contemplating going sailing anyways and ripping around to put on a show, but with another windy day of racing to go, no one was willing to run the risk of breaking gear. Matt Barry and I were trying to figure out a way to get on the water and for a while the club 420’s didn’t seem like such a bad idea. As we were talking it over, Matt came up with a brilliant idea and said, “Why do’t we just put 420 sails on a 505?” I recognized a genius idea when I heard it and we ran over to the sail locker and managed to find one main that had all of its battens. We raked the mast back to 0, extended the jib-tack up about 6 inches to make room for the forestay block and improve our sheeting angle and made an extension for the jib halyard. For the main we extended the halyard and outhaul and lashed the tack to the mast. One of the Canadian teams even supplied us with a short-luff spinnaker, but without a retrieval patch, we couldn’t figure out a way to take it down. In hindsight, we could’ve only rigged one of the guys and done a windward takedown, but for whatever reason this thought never crossed our minds.

Launching proved to be a difficult task with the wind pushing us down into a giant rock pier and very little runway to get flow going over the blades. There was a floating line anchored beyond the pier to pull ourselves out with, but it wasn’t tight enough and so we were still drifting down towards the rocks when Pip came and noticed the problem and got a bunch of guys to yank on it and pull us to windward. Once we finally cleared the rocks and got sailing, the boat actually felt great.



After getting our fix, Matt and I joined everyone over at Ted Ferrarone’s for horse shoes and bocce ball tournaments. That night Doug and Marie McKeige were kind enough to host an amazing party with delicious catering, sailing footage and videos from Photoboat and a bunch of great stories from one of the most comical figures to ever sail 505’s, Cam Lewis. Ali Meller tells the story better than I can in his write up of the event, but between the explanation of his boat names, “Complex Chemicals Kill” and “Nancy Says No”, and why the drugs of his day weren’t as bad as the bass salts kids are doing now, Marie thought it was a good time to escort all the kids out of the tent.


Sunday morning the Sound was once again filled with white caps and the wind was howling. With gusts in the mid to high twenties there was some debate in the parking lot about whether it was too much, but thankfully they made the decision to sail us and we got a day of racing to remember. Simon and I knew we could have a tough time holding on to our 4th place with some heavier teams like Drew and Ramsey right behind us. The first beat we were having a tough time keeping our lane and we had started getting a left shift so we decided to tack out and go right. The breeze started clocking back and we watched the entire fleet falling into our hip as we approached starboard layline. We tacked and crossed almost everyone, rounding the mark in 3rd which we managed to hold onto.

Simon and I were the only ones who did gybe sets around the windward mark (except for Holt on one leg) and by the time we got to the leeward mark or finish, it seemed like the whole fleet had disappeared. Anyone can challenge me on this, but I think Tyler, Ethan and I were the only ones who didn’t flip that day. Even Holtie and Falsone went for a swim. Needless to say, it was really windy and a lot of fun.

There are tons of photos and video on Photoboat.com for anyone who wants to take a look. The regatta was a huge success and will definitely be remembered as such. Thank you to all of the regatta organizers and sponsors as well as to the teams who traveled long distances. We are grateful for all the hard work that went into making this event what it was.

2011 505 NA's Report - Ali Meller

Ali has posted a great report on the 2011 Championship on the event site.