505 World Championships - Carnage on the first day

1:33 AM Mon 24 Aug 2009 GMT

'Racing before the 2009 SAP 505 World Championships on San Francisco Bay' Rich Roberts &copy Click Here to view large photo

2009 505 SAP World Championship. It was a long tough slog back to San Francisco for the teams who broke down during the first and second races of the SAP 505 World Championship regatta on Sunday. Those who came in early were happy to be back ashore and were not disheartened. There is plenty more racing in store for them.

'I just want to finish a race,' said Michael Lazzaro (USA), who sailed the 505 North Americans with his brother, Mark, and is sailing the World Championship with his friend, Tim Marymee. 'Mark and I were towed in twice last week and didn't sail on Wednesday. (It was a three-day regatta). This was Marymee's first day in a 505, and it is surely an experience that he will remember. The pair made it to the first weather mark in the 18-20 knot breeze and sailed straight in with a broken forestay. It took them over two hours to sail in. Marymee gained some more experience on the wire and went for a few swims on the way back to shore.

Christian Kellner and Martin Schoeler (GER) were the rabbit in one race and were first around the windward mark. They headed off on the reach, popped the spinnaker, capsized and were quickly overtaken by Howie Hamlin and Ian Mitchell (USA). Their jib ripped on the next beat and the day was over for them.except for the one and a half hour sail back in that was made all the more difficult once Schoeler broke the hook on his trapeze harness. 'We have a lot less damage than a lot of the other boats,' said Schoeler and he sprayed his gear down with fresh water. Others reported spinnakers sheets wrapped around rudders and then centerboards, broken spinnaker poles, blown out jibs and the definitive end to a day of sailing - broken masts.

At first, a trickle of 505's returned to the beach. At times there was a surge and shore crews were busy trying to find dollies to match the mainsails as they approached. With mainsail down, boards up and the boat on the dolly, crews used their last energy reserves to push the trailer up the grade and over the sand to the boatyard.

Australians Michael Quirk and Simon Reffold (AUS) were among the first back to the beach this afternoon. About an hour later Earle Alexander and Ian Gregg (AUS) pulled up on the beach. Anderson quipped, 'That will just about wear you out.'

Preliminary results following the first day of racing have Mike Hold and Carl Smit (USA) continuing to post first and second place finishes just as they did in the 505 North Americans. They are leading with a 2, 1 and are four points ahead of Chris Nicholson and Casey Smith (AUS), who posted a 4, 3 for the day. Nick Adamson and Steve Bourdow (USA) and Howie Hamiln and Ian Mitchell ended the first day with 11 points apiece.

While nine teams did not start the first race of the series, over half of the fleet received 99 points and was scored DNS for the second race. Racing is incredibly entertaining for the lucky spectators who are out on the Berkeley Circle.

Racing continues through Saturday, August 30, 2009.

For regatta results, please see 505 SAP World Championship website click here

www.worldregattas.com

by Lynn Fitzpatrick - WorldRegattas.com

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505 World Championships - Carnage on the first day

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