Well done to Mike Holt & Carl Smit for winning the 2017 505 World Championships with a day to spare. Mike’s 3rd win & Rondars 19th !

photo by Bill Wagner

The final and deciding race of the SAP 505 Worlds may not have had the epic qualities of some of the earlier rounds, but still produced some fine sailing in Weymouth Bay.

Although Americans Mike Martin and Adam Lowry went into the race with a seemingly comfortable points margin of 22 points over the rest of the field, they could not afford any mishap. If their best currently discarded result of 30th in Race 1 came into play, any one of six rivals could overhaul them for the title.

After the heavy winds of the previous three races, the 130 starting boats had a gentle breeze of 6-8kts to take them on the hour long sail east out of Portland Harbour to the starting area. Since both the 10th and 11th placed finishers in the previous race had already performed the duty, GBR 9131 sailed by Nathan Bachelor and Sam Pascoe, opened proceedings as pathfinder. Not for the first time in this regatta, the start had to be abandoned due to an over eager competitor impeding the gate boat, but all boats behaved themselves at the second time of asking.

By now the breeze had developed a little more oomph, with 10-12kts across most of the race track, and oscillating through about 15 degrees. At the first mark, Philippe Boite and Corbel Florian (FRA) clearly found the softer conditions more to their liking and slipped round at the top of the pile ahead of Mike Holt and Carl Smit (USA) and Germany’s Tim Boger and Markus Schoner. But the big question was the whereabouts of the championship leaders, Martin and Lowry? The answer was buried deep in the 30s round the top mark, thus putting their title hopes in significant jeopardy.

The fleet split down the run, and significant pressure differences across the pitch produced more place changing. At the bottom gate it was Holt and Smit that led marginally from Wolfgang Hunger and Julien Kleiner (GER). The German boat opted to take the opposite side of the gate to Holt and the left hand side of the beat. However, Martin and Lowry also chose some good lines to move up the fleet, rounding in the high teens, enough to win the championship.

The conditions were clearly to the liking of Hunger and Kleiner who outpaced Holt and Smit up the second beat to establish a lead that they would not surrender, although by now the pressure had increased to 14-16kts, giving some sparkling sailing down the reaching legs in the middle of the race. Behind the leading two boats, Timon Treichel and Morten Roos (GER), Tyler Moore and Drew Buttner (USA) and Malcom Higgins and Nick Johnston (AUS) all remained in the hunt for third place.

However, the real story involved Martin and Lowry. It was their championship to lose, but would the pressure get to them? Martin, uniquely a previous winner as both a crew in 1999 and as a helm ten years later, was keeping his cool and was advancing through the fleet. Hunger and Kleiner took the finish gun with a comfortable advantage over Holt and Smit, with Treichel and Roos third. However, the new SAP 505 World Champions Mike Martin and Adam Lowry proved their mettle by crossing in fifth place, a considerable achievement after being apparently buried on the first leg.

So it was a Water Rat design first; a Rondar in 2nd, 4th & 7th; with Ovington design in 3rd, 5th, 6th.

• World Championship Results
• Classics Results

Martin and Lowry(9106) prepare to gybe ahead of Smith and Needham on the final day of the SAP 505 Worlds at Weymouth – photo © Christophe Favreau / www.christophefavreau.com

505 sailors past & present gathered for a very special lunch at WPNSA. Pip Pearson, past International Chairman, introduced Mike Holt, Peter Colclough, Larry Marks, ‘Big’ Bill Masterman, Howie Hamlin, Ian Pinnell & Tim Hancock onto the stage to celebrate their past World Championship wins. Special mentions went to Jim Berry, Chris Thorne & Jack Edwards for their valued contribution over the years.

Andy Smith and Tim Needham win the SAP 505 UK Nationals – photo © Christophe Favreau / www.christophefavreau.com

Rondar Raceboats 505 come in 1st, 2nd & 3rd at the UK 505 Nationals!! Find out more about the racing and results at Yachts & Yachting.

Rondar built 505’s came first second and fourth in the German nationals winning 6 out of the 10 races!

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UK team top 50 boat fleet.

First British 505 victory in Kiel since 1995 – Andy Smith/Tim Needham

Smith/Needham showed their class by winning the first race of the day and after having been 3 rd in the second they could just sit and watch the third race. They were already the winners! Great sailing with five wins and no race worse than 10th place (which they could discard together with the last race). 

Photo © www.segel-bilder.de

Britain’s Andy Smith and Tim Needham might also start to think about their 505 World Championships prospects in a slightly different light after clinching the high calibre 505 Class for the first time. Smith cites their victory as their biggest triumph yet, winning with a race to spare. Three British boats finish in the top five, with Ian Pinnell and Alex Davies taking third in the 50 boat fleet.

“This is huge for us. We thought if we sailed well then a podium would be great for us but to actually pull it off is just great. We could not quite beat Wolfgang Hunger in the first race but third place was enough. We have real attention to detail in making the boat sail fast in all conditions. We have worked hard with the rig and are going fast.” Said a delighted Smith.

Full report by Andi Robertson  see :

http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/190318/Kieler-Woche-day-4