Speaking as the title sponsor and as a participant, I'm pleased with the outcome of the recently completed 505 World Championship. For Team CSC Sailing, this marked both the apex and the conclusion of our sailing sponsorship activities, at least for the foreseeable future.

Hayling Island Sailing Club and its members did an exceptional job hosting this event. I had the distinct impression that the race committee staff, especially PRO, Paul Carpenter, was especially sensitive to the interests of the sailors and needs of the class. He's perhaps the furthest thing from the stereotypical stodgy upper crust race officer, cut from the same mold as Annapolis PRO John Potter. Paul preferred to conduct his race officiating from the mobility of a RIB, and sought opinions from sailors while propped up at the bar.

HISC is the best purpose-built dinghy / small boat sailing club I've ever seen. Situated on a peninsula, the club provides a large beach circumference of launch access, and excellent vantage points for viewing the local racing atop the wraparound deck. HISC boasts 1600 members, and hundreds of boats litter multiple dinghy parks around the club. Speaking as a high-performance enthusiast, it's very refreshing to see that many of the classes at HISC are comprised of trapeze boats (14's, RS classes, Laser 4000, IC, etc). The bar, cafeteria, and dining facilities would be the envy of many upper-crust yacht clubs in the states. The food, well, as the British claim, they're getting better.

Getting all the racing in proved to be the major challenge for the race committee staff. No wind caused postponements and a cancellation during the Pre-Worlds, and too much wind had the same result during the Worlds. We only managed 4 of 7 scheduled Pre-Worlds races, and 7 of 9 Worlds races. While canceling for no wind is a no-brainer, there was some dissension among fleet opinions on the cessation of racing during the worlds. The Race Committee is, understandably, caught in a no-win situation, and had to necessarily weigh the issue of safety above all else, especially in the Solent where wind against a strong tide generates a highly irregular sea. This is perhaps the biggest issue with an open world championship. The bottom quarter of the fleet is, in many cases, ill-prepared to handle wind and sea at the extreme end of sailability, and the race committee feels obliged to cater the lowest common denominator of skill and boat seaworthiness. I am not being critical of the decisions made, but only to say there was an understandable difference in opinion among the fleet on whether sailing was possible, and indeed warranted for a world championship.

Team CSC spent a great deal of time preparing for this event by studying local current charts, and discussing strategies based on the revolving current vectors during the tidal cycle. HISC hosted the 505 Worlds way back in 1980, and the event was won by Americans Steve Benjamin and Tucker Edmunson. Benjamin chatted us up a bit about how he went about developing his current strategy leading up to that world championship, and this information proved helpful. As it turned out, the current, which sometimes flowed in excess of 3 knots on the course, had its largest effect on laylines. Understanding this effect paid huge dividends, especially as boats stacked up on the laylines early and overstood.

The racing was not just about pure boatspeed. In fact, for the first time in many years, the world champions didn't win a single race. Instead, Mark Upton-Brown and Ian Mitchell, both locals, used a combination of speed and tactical acumen to compile an impressive series, with their discard being only a 6th. There were plenty of shifts, especially on the lighter wind days, while the heavy weather days in the southerlies tended more to be tests of speed, boathandling, and in one 20-mile marathon heat, endurance. Indeed, there was something for everyone as far as the conditions are concerned, and in that vein, it was a well-rounded series.

Upton-Brown and Mitchell, the 1997 505 World Champions, were lured back into the class after a long respite. They hadn't competed at worlds since 1999, and since that time, there have been many developments in the class that they needed to bone up on, chief of which was the larger spinnaker and the new techniques for sailing optimum VMG in a range of conditions. Taking a self-professed "professional approach" to their campaign, Upton-Brown and Mitchell started training last April. I must admit that there was little indication publicly that they had progressed so well, and even their local training partners seemed a bit stunned at their pace when the championship started. Sandbagging? Hmmm. OK, I suspect not, but rather they are just very good big-fleet sailors with a keen understanding of the racing area. I must complement them on sailing an extremely fine regatta, and in my opinion, are very deserving champions. I was also impressed by Mark's victory speech in recognizing the club and it's staff for their sacrifices and expertise in running the event.

I think the heartbreaker award goes to perennial runner-up Howie Hamlin, now celebrating his 7th second-place at the 505 worlds. Howie had another near-miss, sailing an incredible series to place a mere two points in arrears of the winners after a heated final race that actually saw Hamlin in a winning position half-way through. In fact, it was a much younger Hamlin that finished 2nd at the HISC 505 Worlds back in 1980 - as crew! While the "Junk", the 2nd place perpetual trophy, may eventually be renamed in his honor, I believe this position marks the next step for his transient crew, Jeff Nelson. Nelson is the product of the Long Beech Team Tuesday training, and the regular crew of Mike Martin, whom I had the pleasure of sailing with last year. I'm going to make my prediction now that Mike and Jeff will win the worlds next year in Adelaide. You heard it here first, sports fans.

Back in 2003 I saw a budding young German team with great potential. I told these guys that they would eventually be world champions. Each year the team of Jens Findel and Johannes Tellen have moved steadily up the ranks. This year they placed 3rd, and established themselves as contenders in the future. Another equally impressive young German team, Boris Herrmann and Julien Kleiner, placed 7th, and I believe these two teams will have some epic battles in the future.

It was nice to see 5 countries represented in the top 10, including Britain, the US, Germany, Denmark, and Australia. It was also interesting that the seven races were won by seven different teams. This demonstrates the broad appeal of the class throughout the world, and its strength in generating enough international interest to develop high-caliber teams. All of the teams in the top 10 have made significant commitments to the class, save perhaps Olympic Silver Medalist, Ian Barker, who is so good and such a natural talent that all he needs to do is show up to finish among the leaders.

With the next 505 worlds only a scant 5 months away during the Australian summer, many teams attending will have had a solid foundation from which to launch their next bid. The 2007 505 Worlds will be hosted in Adelaide, and sponsored by software giant SAP, thanks to the generosity and enthusiasm of one Hasso Platner, who by the way finished a very respectable 14th this year with Peter Alarie crewing. The organizers have gone to considerable time and expense in promoting this event. Check out their excellent website.

Team CSC finished up its five-year campaign placing 4th at the worlds. We end our involvement in sailing by going out on a high note, if not in terms of our result, then definitely with respect to our satisfaction in fostering amateur sailing at the highest levels. I wanted to extend my heartfelt thanks to CSC for its support over these past 5 years. Together, the results we achieved extended beyond the bounds of championship titles. We significantly permeated the sport of sailing in a way that brought good will to the sailing public, and enhanced the reputation of CSC as a company with strong core values and an indomitable sporting spirit. Dozens of CSC employees had a direct hand in the success of this team, and many more throughout the world followed the team's progress as we rose through the rankings. I couldn't be more proud of the legacy we are leaving.

For full results, race reports, and pictures from the regatta, see: CSC 505 Worlds. (Thanks to SailShots for the front page picture - Ed.)

Jesse Falsone
Team CSC Sailing