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**Ballard Sailor** · 03-18-2011, 06:35 PM

That just looks like it's gona suck, really? That isn't where there are going to be racing is it?

**Buzz Light Beer** · 03-21-2011, 03:28 PM

After Denmark, I think they have earned it.

**PD Staff** · 03-26-2011, 10:16 AM

Hunger Strike at 505 Worlds

Hunger strike on Day 1 of 2011 SAP 505 Worlds

Wolfgang Hunger and Julien Kleiner aboard their rocketship © Christophe Favreau

Germany’s Wolfgang Hunger and Julien Kleiner struck the first blow at the 2011 SAP 505 World Championship at Hamilton Island today, the defending champions winning the opening two races sailed in difficult gusty conditions on Catseye Bay.

Hunger and Kleiner led Race 1 from the first mark and did not look back, extending their lead at each mark of the course in a 15 knot south-easterly breeze that produced waves and a big swell on the Bay.

South Australians Sandy Higgins/Paul Marsh finished the race in second, stopping an all-international assault on the opening race, with the USA’s Mike Holt/Carl Smit taking third.

The rest of the 84 crews who sailed must be wondering what they have to do to overcome the Germans, who recovered after a bad start in Race 2 to pick of the eight boats in front of them one by one to take the lead and extend again, to finish with a sizeable margin over Ted Conrads/Brian Hughes (USA).

Double 49er world champion and Moth world champion Nathan Outteridge and his 2009 49er world champion crew, Iain Jensen, finished a remarkable third in their first 505 competition ever.

©Christophe Favreau

The south-easterly breeze had lifted a notch to around 18-20 knots by race two, throwing up some confused and lumpy seas, which threw a few competitors for a loop, including today’s winners.

“It was challenging and mentally difficult to sail in that sea today,” Wolfgang Hunger said. Julian Kleiner chipped in: “We are not used to those sorts of waves; they go everywhere! We are happy we overcame them to win the second race.”

“Wolfgang was very concentrated – it was very hard to be the skipper on a day like this. We are happy to have such a good performance in bigger winds,” Kleiner said.

Hunger added: “It is pleasing to start with two good results, and not a bad one that we have to discard already. We are happy with our boat speed, but there are places where we can make improvements. We were not sure if we would be good in the bigger winds, as we are one of the lighter crews who are happier in the light and mid strength winds.”

Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen raised a few eyebrows with their top placings of ninth and third, which puts them sixth overall. They had better results than a number of former world champions, including Ian Pinnell (GBR) from 2008 and Mike Martin (USA) from 2009, who finished their day ninth and 11th overall respectively.

The two got great starts in both races, and in Race 2, picked off a few boats up the first work to round in fourth place. “Then we waited for mistakes from those in front of us,” Outteridge said.

The mistake came when the Danish crew of Jan Saugmann/Morten Ramsbaek first dropped their spinnaker halyard down the run, then fouled the spinnaker during the drop. Ramsbaek had to go over the side to recover it.

“We’re a bit shocked we did so well. How are we going to improve on today? We’ve never sailed a 505 before. We got this one from Iain Murray and spent a couple of days fixing it up to race. We didn’t get much time on the water beforehand,” Outteridge said.

He and Jensen are here for a bit of fun before going back to solid training in the Olympic 49er class. Then they will head off to Europe to compete in all the major events. “We also came to support one of our sponsor’s, Hamilton Island – and it’s such a great place to come and sail,” Outteridge added.

Jensen remarked: “It felt really good being up amongst it. We didn’t expect to be so fast in this breeze. The first time we sailed the boat was a day before the pre-worlds, for about an hour! We were lucky, Ayden Menzies (a former crew of Outteridge’s) helped us set up the boat; he’s sailed one for a while.”

Mike Holt & Carl Smit (USA) lead Hasso Plattner and Peter Alarie (GER)

Mike Martin was not so happy with his day. An 11th in the first race, was bad enough, but he and Geoff Ewenson led Race 2 with a little comfort, only to lose that lead to the Danish crew of Jan Saugmann/Morten Ramsbaek and they in turn lost it to Hunger, who went off to the left during the race, when the rest of the front runners had gone right. It only went downhill from there.

“We lacked speed; we’re not very happy. We had a big capsize at the turn mark. We made a few mistakes here and there, so we’ll have to do some fine-tuning before we race tomorrow and we’ll be analysing from the SAP analyses tonight,” Martin said.

After two races, Hunger/Kleiner lead Ted Conrads/Brian Haines (USA) and Sandy Higgins/Paul Marsh in the overall standings, the latter two are on nine points each, both having scored second and seventh places.

In other news, Ian Burford/Dave Christie (AUS) ran into a turtle on the course area and ripped the transom of their boat out, rendering them non-finishers in both races.
Others were scored DNF in Race 2 when they did not make it through the start gate in the allotted three minutes, while some suffered spinnaker mishaps and capsizes, costing them valuable time.

Race 3 of the SAP 505 World Championship is set to get underway from 1.00pm tomorrow, Race Officer Kevin Wilson deciding to bring the race forward by one hour.

Provisional top 10 overall following two races:
1st GER 9027 Wolfgang Hunger Julien Kleiner 1 1, 2
2nd USA 8878 Ted Conrads Brian Haines 7 2, 9
3rd AUS 8946 Sandy Higgins Paul Marsh 2 7, 9
4th USA 9002 Mike Holt Carl Smit 3 6, 9
5th GER 8875 Jens Findel Johannes Tellen 5 5, 10
6th AUS 8626 Nathan Outteridge Iain Jensen 9 3, 12
7th USA 8762 Howie Hamlin Andy Zinn 4 10, 14
8th AUS 9036 Mike Quirk Sam Heritage 6 12, 18
9th GBR 9032 Ian Pinnell Charles Dywer 8 13, 21
10th GBR 9056 Luke Molloy Jim Turner 14 11, 25
Family and fans can follow the fleet live via the tracker with SAP analysis, video and more on the official site at: www.505sapworldchampionship2011.com/

**PD Staff** · 03-26-2011, 09:19 PM

SAP 2011 5o5 Worlds Race 3: Blown Out!

Racing has been abandoned for the day at the 2011 SAP 505 World Championship at Hamilton Island when weather predictions of 18 to 30 plus knots winds came to fruition earlier than expected.

Race Officer Kevin Wilson went out onto the race course and came back to base with the latest: “There are 2 meter swells on the course area and sharp backs on the waves. Right now it’s an ebbing tide, which is due to change at 12.00pm. That will bounce waves up even more, making it treacherous,” he said.

“We monitored the wind and got 24-30 knots regularly. Tomorrow isn’t looking too good either, but right now the plan is to reassess early tomorrow and aim for a 10.00am warning signal if conditions are sailable,” he said.

And gusty it is, with squalls hitting the Bay relentlessly, accompanied by intermittent rain.

Race 3 abandoned
While racing may have been abandoned for the day, not so other matters on the agenda, event organizer Carter Jackson announcing: “Happy Hour will go ahead at 5.00pm as planned.”

Between squalls, some sailors are making repairs to their boats, including Sarah Withall from South Australia, who arrived at Catseye Beach this morning to find a coconut had dropped from a palm tree and straight through the deck of her boat – leaving a hole the size of a bowling ball!

“I pulled the cover of the boat and saw a big hole. It took me a minute to figure out what had happened,” she said.

“A sailmaker is going to help fix it – with lots of tape! It’s my partner’s father’s boat, but he’ll be fine about it – he ran the boat up on the reef here last year!”

Others are just playing catch-up with old and new friends in the SAP marquee where the latest in SAP technology is also there for competitors and officials to use.

Family and fans can follow the fleet live via the tracker with SAP analysis, video and more on the official site at: www.505sapworldchampionship2011.com/

**PD Staff** · 03-26-2011, 10:10 PM

I'm sure there is a logical reason for this!
© Christophe Favreau

**WillB** · 03-27-2011, 08:53 AM

That is a rabbit start. 505's use it to get clear starts in big fleets. Everybody duck the port tack rabbit or start boat.

**PD Staff** · 03-27-2011, 03:51 PM

Ah, the compressed image factor. Sort of looked like the umpire boat was gunning it to avoid Jeff Miller and Mike Smith
and in doing so were about to land in the cockpit of lead boat.

Word from the course indicates today's sailing will be canceled as well.

3:50 PM Welcome to the 'streamfactory' room.
3:42 PM sjoko: No sailing today either ... way too much wind, over 30 kts, gusts op to 40 kts

**Ballard Sailor** · 03-27-2011, 04:36 PM

Good rabbit start shot!

**PD Staff** · 03-28-2011, 08:24 PM

505 Worlds NO-GO for 3rd Day In A Row

Weather gods dictate no play again at SAP 505 Worlds
The weather gods are not playing ball with the 2011 SAP 505 World Championship at Hamilton Island this week; for the third day running, Race Officer Kevin Wilson has had to announce that gusty winds and big seas have dictated no racing.

Wilson and his crew made a number of trips to the course area, but came back with the same answer each time, “It’s just not safe.”

Mike Martin (USA) the 2009 505 world champion, and his crew Geoff Ewenson, decided to test the waters for themselves, so took their boat for a sail. While the heavy weather specialists were able to keep the boat afloat, it became blatantly obvious that it was not a day for the fleet to race.

Everyone else watched from the safety and warmth of shore as the Americans mastered the waves and big gusts, which reached 40 knots at times.

Ian Pinnell, the 2008 world champion from Britain, along with some others, chose to take a dip in the pool in the teeming rain as all waited for news of what tomorrow would bring.

Kevin Wilson said, “We’ll try to hold two races tomorrow and may move the course to the Whitsunday Passage.” That decision would be made tomorrow morning, but Wilson plans to get racing underway from 10.00am.

Family and fans can follow racing live via the tracker with SAP analysis, video and more on the official site at: www.505sapworldchampionship2011.com/

**PD Staff** · 03-29-2011, 08:40 AM

With the 3rd day in a row cancelled, the boys on Hamo Island are getting a tad restless.
1st Mike Martin and Geoff Ewenson take a spin in the breezy conditions and then Mike Holt and Carl Smit take a birthday spin!

All pics ©Christophe Favreau

**PD Staff** · 03-30-2011, 08:44 AM

Holt and Hamlin Move Up In Rankings

©Christophe Favreau

Finally, two more races sailed at the 2011 SAP 505 World Championship as the wind god of Hamilton Island played ball, offering up superb 15-20 knot winds, some great surfing waves and brilliant action that has bought a few competitors much closer to the leading Germans.

An excellent but by no means easy win for Mike Holt and Carl Smit (USA) in Race 3, and a double celebration for Californian Holt, who celebrated his 43rd birthday yesterday, but as he explained: “It’s today in California – so I’m taking that with our win.”

Race 4 winners, Sandy Higgins/Paul Marsh, along with American’s Howie Hamilin/Andy Zinn and Luke Molloy/Jim Turner (GBR) were the last three boats Holt and Smit had to wear down to cross the line in first, surfing big waves and overcoming shifty unstable winds along the way.

©Christophe Favreau

“It was a tough race,” admitted Smit who with Holt finished World’s runners-up in 2009. “Crews kept swapping places back and forth in the top eight or so. The pressure kept changing and we just tried to keep grinding the opposition down.

“Mike had to hike so hard going up the last beat where we got ahead of a couple of boats when we picked the right hand shift, then coming down the run we got the last of them and got away a bit,” Smit said.

“It (the pointscore) is so much closer now, because Ted (Conrads) and Brian (Haines) came second in the second race and Sandy Higgins won the second race, so it moves everyone up closer to Wolfgang (Hunger) and Julien (Kleiner), the German series leaders.

In fact, only three points separates the top three, with Hunger/Kleiner leading Holt/Smit by two points and Higgins Marsh by a further point. The Germans had an ordinary 15th in Race 4, which has been used as their drop, a far cry from the two bullets they scored on Day 1.

South Australians Sandy Higgins and Andrew Chisholm looked set to win Race 3, but as Chisholm explained, “we stuffed up the third beat, were trying to get leverage, but we went the wrong way and finished third.”

© Christophe Favreau

Not to be deterred, the two, whose World’s best was a third on home turf in Adelaide in 2007, led Race 4 from go to whoa.

“We handled the conditions nicely in that one. The breeze had dropped a little, but we did well to hang on in a decent swell and reasonably confused seas,” Chisholm said of the residual effects left from the past few days’ bad weather.

“We had a fairly good hold on the rest of the fleet, but it was close racing all the same,” he allowed.

Like Holt, Chisholm was pleased to be able to close the gap on Hunger and Kleiner. “It’ll be a much closer series now,” he said smiling.

Howie Hamlin/Andy Zinn, Molloy/Turner and Nathan Outteridge/Iain Jensen (AUS) did enough today to stay in touch with the leaders.

Provisional top 10 overall after four races with one drop:
1stGER9027Wolfgang HungerJulien Kleiner113(15), 5
2ndUSA9002Mike HoltCarl Smit3(6)13,7
3rdAUS8946Sandy HigginsPaul Marsh2(7)51,8
4thUSA8878Ted ConradsBrian Haines72(10)2,11
5thUSA8762Howie HamlinAndy Zinn4(10)64,14
6thGBR9056Luke MolloyJim Turner(14)1125,18
7thAUS8626Nathan OutteridgeIain Jensen(9)378,18
8thGER8875Jens FindelJohannes Tellen5516(25),26
9thGBR9032Ian PinnellCharles Dwyer8(13)810,26
10thUSA8714Mike MartinGeoff Ewenson(23)4229,35

Racing is expected to resume from 10.00am tomorrow morning local time, weather permitting, with two further races planned.

Family and fans can follow racing live via the tracker with SAP analysis, video and more on the 2011 SAP 505 World’s official site at: www.505sapworldchampionship2011.com/

**PD Staff** · 03-31-2011, 09:03 AM

6 Races Done, 1 More To Go at SAP 5o5 Worlds

© Christophe Favreau

SAP 505 Worlds: Three crews in running for the title

It was the toughest day of the 2011 SAP 505 World Championship yet; if it could happen it did, inclusive of the weather and the result of Race 5, in which an Aussie crew led from the start, only to have the race stolen from them in the dying minutes.

One thing is certain now; the series will rest on the outcome of one race, or not, tomorrow. It will be between the reigning world champions, Wolfgang Hunger/Julien Kleiner from Germany, Mike Holt/Carl Smit from the USA and Sandy Higgins/Paul Marsh from Australia.

© Christophe Favreau

This afternoon, Hunger was praying the breeze would not be too much tomorrow. “In Race 6 today, there was already too much wind for us,” he said. “My crew is quite light for the boat and Mike Holt is much faster in the bigger winds, they suit it better. Maybe there is too much wind to race tomorrow?”

“We got stuck on the wrong side of a shift coming out in the first race, but we fought our way back to fourth. That is not how we like it,” Hunger added. “We can do better than that.

“In the second race, we played it a little safe in setting spinnakers, and even then we ripped one all the way down. We saw others in trouble and we didn’t want that to happen to us,” admitted Hunger, who is currently carrying a worst score of 15th.

Holt, on the other hand, relishes the chance of sailing in big winds again. “The second race was very shifty and much windier; perfect sailing conditions. We led from start to finish, but we didn’t pick all the shifts right, we won on sheer boat speed,” he said.

However, their winning margin was sizeable, so much so, that Holt said, “we couldn’t see who finished second, we were around 600 metres in front of them and the visibility was poor.”

Kevin Cameron and Josh Mortensen led until just short of the finish

© Christophe Favreau

Holt and Smit finished bridesmaid to Mike Martin/Jeff Nelson at the 2009 Worlds in San Francisco, and does not want that scenario again. “Here we are again. I’m praying for a different outcome this time, and I’m praying we can race tomorrow,” Holt said, knowing winds of up to 30 knots were predicted.

“We’ll sit down and do the numbers tonight and see if Sandy Higgins is in contention as well. We know it will take everything in our power to win the Championship. Tactically we have a slight advantage, as Wolfgang has a 15th as his drop, ours is just a sixth.”

Higgins and Marsh are in a similar position, their best Worlds result being a third in 2007 when it was held on their home turf in Adelaide. They are hoping to go one better at least too.

Back to today’s two races, Race Officer Kevin Wilson had hold off starting on time at 10.00am, because there was little breeze on the course area and it was swirling in all directions amidst rain that bucketed down all day, making life unpleasant for anyone on the water.

When he could get a start in, Wilson had to abandon Race 5 shortly after. There had been a shift to the right and a couple of boats had run into the pathfinder’s minder boat. Before he had a chance to start again, a handful of boats retired with sail damage, broken rudder, etc., caused by big swell, tide and confused seas.

Under tow by the power boat qualia, one 505 turned turtle, then the tow rope got caught in qualia’s propeller, necessitating a rescue boat to go and help both. The day did not get any better, but eventually race five got underway just after 12.00pm.

The Danish crew of Jan Saugmann and Morten Ramsbaek (or “Fast Danes” as they were called on the press boat) stole the race in the closing stages after Kevin Cameron and Josh Mortensen from Australia had led around the entire course and had actually increased their lead over the Danes and Sandy Higgins/Paul Marsh, who finished the race third.

“I saw them (the Danes) gybe out, but we got a freaky gust and couldn’t go with them, then we hit a light spot and that was it. It was disappointing not to win our first ever World’s race after leading the whole way, but there’s nothing wrong with second,” Cameron, from Brisbane said tonight.

“Josh had never sailed a 505 until December and he did a brilliant job in very trying weather,” Cameron praised his childhood friend. “We really enjoyed the 15 knot easterly, but the pressure was erratic and it was shifty,” he conceded.

By Race 6, winds were at 20 knots, visibility was poor and the seaway worse. More attrition as the likes of second placed Luke Molloy/Jim Turner (GBR) broke their boom, and shortly after, Nathan Outteridge/Iain Jensen had a spill in while in second and dropped to 22nd, but stay in sixth and seventh place overall respectively.

And so it was that Hunger/Kleiner came to finish second, which had been so unlucky for those before them, but saved the Germans from dropping to second place overall, as their nemesis, Mike Holt/Carl Smit won that race. Currently, the Germans lead their US rivals by three points.

South Australians Higgins and Marsh finished the race in seventh place, leaving them four points behind Hot/Smit.

Race Officer Kevin Wilson has plans for one race only tomorrow, the final day of the 2011 SAP 505 World Championship. “It’ll be one race with an upwind finish on Course 1 and we’ll have a warning signal at 10.00am. If it’s too windy, we can always move to the western course.

Current forecasts have winds at around 30 knots, but as we have seen this past 10 days, the forecast can’t be depended on.

Rank Country Skipper Crew R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Total Nett
1 GER Wolfgang Hunger Julien Kleiner 1 1 3 (15) 4 2 26 11
2 USA Mike Holt Carl Smit 3 (6) 1 3 6 1 20 14
3 AUS Sandy Higgins Paul Marsh 2 (7) 5 1 3 7 25 18
4 USA Howie Hamlin Andy Zinn 4 (10) 6 4 8 3 35 25
5 USA Ted Conrads Brian Haines 7 2 10 2 9 (11) 41 30
6 GBR Luke Molloy Jim Turner 14 11 2 5 5 (86 DNF) 123 37
7 AUS Nathan Outteridge Iain Jensen 9 3 7 8 11 (22) 60 38
8 GBR Ian Pinnell Charles Dwyer 8 13 8 10 (86 DNF) 5 130 44
9 DEN Jan Saugmann Morten Ramsbaek (86 DNF) 9 17 16 1 4 133 47
10 USA Mike Martin Geoff Ewenson (23) 4 22 9 10 8 76 53

Family and fans can follow racing live via the tracker with SAP analysis, video and more on the 2011 SAP 505 World’s official site at: www.505sapworldchampionship2011.com/

**PD Staff** · 04-01-2011, 09:22 AM

Hunger and Kleiner win SAP 505 Worlds in Dramatic Fashion

Reigning champions Wolfgang Hunger and Julien Kleiner (GER) have taken out the 2011 SAP 505 World Championship at Hamilton Island Australia today and the final race could not have been scripted better, it had all the melodrama of movie thriller.

It was Hunger’s fifth 505 world title win (he also owns two 470 world titles) and Kleiner’s second 505 title (both with Hunger). It was also the second time Holt and Smit have had to play bridesmaid. “I have no choice but to go to the Worlds in La Rochelle next year – I’m hooked,” Holt said.

An outside chance for the title, South Australians Sandy Higgins/Paul Marsh scored their worst result today, a ninth, but were able to maintain their third place overall of yesterday to finish the SAP 505 World Championship in third place. The much crowned sailors last won the Nationals 2009, with second places in 2006 and 2008.

The fleet spread out on Catseye Bay
© Christophe Favreau

To make up for today’s disappointment, Higgins/Marsh won the 505 Australian Championship, sailed in conjunction with the Worlds. Their nearest rivals were Moth world champion and double 49er world champion, Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen in ninth place and 35 points in arrears. The two will now return to their 49er Olympic campaign.

Going into the final race, the Germans held a three-point advantage over Mike Holt/Carl Smit (USA) with a drop in place. Both pairs knew what they had to do to claim the crown. And while Americans Howie Hamlin/Andy Zinn led the race early on, and won the race by a country mile, all eyes were glued to the top two.

Holt and Smit power up for a 2nd
©Christophe Favreau

Hunger and Kleiner, lighter in weight than their foes, were hoping for medium to light airs, while Holt said “bring on the big breeze.”

When the remaining 69 of the 87-boat fleet hit the water, winds were 15 plus knots and a front came through just as Kevin Wilson and his crew were about to start the race. Wilson abandoned at the last moment and waited out the front.

What was left were big seas and big swell, a changing tide and pressure that was as inconsistent as you could get. There were big lulls at some marks and up to 20 knots at others, but mostly it was around 12-15 in between – so conditions were not clear cut.

Hunger: “We got a very good start and tacked on Michael (Holt) but we did it too late, so we went around in the top three at the first mark. From there, we were in front of them, then they were in front of us and so on.

Hamlin and Zinn win race 7
© Christophe Favreau

As the race wore on, Hamlin//Zinn extended, then there was Holt, the “fast Danes” Jan Saugmann and Morten Ramsbaek (the 2007 505 World’s winners) and Hunger with a group in tow. Positions were changing depending on the tactics employed, but not by much. The race behind Hamlin was on!

The gaps were quite big between the top four, but the latter three compressed down the last run and there was not enough breeze and no competitors in their midst for Holt/Smit to make any inroads.

The rest of the fleet was so far behind the top four, it was almost as if they were in a different race. Holt needed to put four boats between him and Hunger and while there were chances early on, all that changed. So up the final beat, Holt/Smit tried to sail the Germans back into the fleet. It had its effect, but a bit late.

A match race of sorts, there was a lot of shouting about rules between the two. Everyone watching was spellbound by what unfolded. Holt pinned Hunger, who was getting frustrated, as tack upon tack ensued almost the whole way to the finish line.

In the process, the fast Danes sailed through to second behind Hamilin/Zinn, America’s Cup sailors Luke Molloy/Jim Turner were an impressive third having been out of small boats for a while, Hunger/Kleiner were sixth and Holt/Smit seventh – just seconds between them after Hunger finally escaped the clutches of Holt.

Hunger said ashore this afternoon: “We were in a good position early, but we were stuck with a group and the three in front of us were sailing in clean air.”

Kleiner breaks in: “We just got on a wave and surfed away a bit and then more waves came and we surfed away from the pack and started to catch up with the Danish and Mike. We were on the reach and we looked behind, and those boats were still under spinnaker.”

Kleiner said he had never seen the tactics Holt/Smit employed on the final beat in 505 competition before. “I have never seen it happen in the 505,” he said amazed.

Hunger was not impressed with Holt’s tactics up the final beat “I don’t understand wanting to win so much. I don’t do this to win, I sail always to see what more I can get out of the boat and do with the boat; that is what is important to me.” The statement seems at odds with the seven world titles he has amassed in two classes.

For Holt, his and Smit’s ambitions were cut and dried: “The game plan was to win the race and to win the Worlds. When we saw the situation as it developed, we tried to sail him back into the fleet, because we knew we couldn’t catch Howie (Hamlin).

“The pressure was very up and down, but shifts were only small – 10 degrees – so there were no big gains to be made with those,” Smit said.

“We raced a good regatta, but they (the Germans) were better,” Holt acknowledged.

“Today we didn’t sail as fast, but we sailed well, although we were a bit conservative. We were hoping for more breeze,” Smit said.

Former 18ft skiff champions and regular 505 sailors, Howie Hamlin and Andy Zinn, placed fourth overall, the same place they finished at the 2010 SAP 505 Worlds. Hamlin is an incredible ambassador and competitor in skiff and dinghy sailing. He has scored at least five previous second places and a third 505 Worlds.

The best placed woman in the fleet was Meike Schomaker with crew Holger Jess, the German 505 supplier. Jess previously won the 505 Worlds with Hunger in 2005, 2003 and 2001.

It was also a milestone to have a Hong Kong entry back at the Worlds; it’s been 27 years in between and by the same crew who represented at Hamilton Island; Laurence Mead, and his skipper Mark Thornburrow, who contested 28 years ago.

The SAP 505 World Championship was a shortened seven-race series. Race Officer Kevin Wilson had to abandon racing for three days after the opening day, because of exceptionally heavy winds and big seas accompanied by incessant downpours of rain that only stopped shortly after the final race started today.

Wilson did a remarkable job in trying circumstances, as he and his twin brother Ross always do. We need to clone these two guys, or have them train others; otherwise major Australian regattas will be in trouble when they eventually retire.

Wilson had a great group of volunteers on the water, and there were just as many onshore. What would our sport do without these people?

Hamilton Island was not at its weather-best, normally it is sunshine and more sunshine and great breezes. At least we got some good breeze and the Island hospitality was at its usual best.

The 2012 SAP 505 World Championship will be held in La Rochelle, France, from 17-27 July.

Provisional top 10 places with one drop:

RankCountryHelmNameCrewNameBoatR1R2R3R4R5R6R7Nett
1GERWolfgang HungerJulien Kleiner113(15)42617
2USAMike HoltCarl Smit361361(7)20
3AUSSandy HigginsPaul Marsh275137(9)25
4USAHowie HamlinAndy Zinn4(10)6483126
5GBRLuke MolloyJim Turner1411255(86 DNF)340
6USATed ConradsBrian Haines72102911(15)41
7DENJan SaugmannMorten Ramsbaek(86 DNF)9171614249
8GBRIan PinnellCharles Dwyer813810(86 DNF)5549
9thAUSNathan OutteridgeIain Jensen937811(22)2260
10thUSAMike MartinGeoff Ewenson(23)4229108861

For all information, video, streaming, tracking with SAP analysis and more on the 2011 SAP 505 World’s go to: www.505sapworldchampionship2011.com/

Announcement

2011 SAP 505 World Chamionships, Hamilton Island Australia

2011 SAP 505 World Chamionships, Hamilton Island Australia

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