tank talk fall 00
DESCRIPTION
USA 505 Class MagazineTRANSCRIPT
T H E M A G A Z I N E O F T H E 5 O 5 C L A S S , A M E R I C A N S E C T I O N
$4.50 FALL 2000
IS THISFLEETBUILDING?
IS THISFLEETBUILDING?
Mike Martin and Steve Bourdow power to a firstplace finish at the 2000 North Americans. Martinand former driver Howard Hamlin have built aworld championship fleet in Long Beach. Lessonslearned. PAGE 13
Mike Martin and Steve Bourdow power to a firstplace finish at the 2000 North Americans. Martinand former driver Howard Hamlin have built aworld championship fleet in Long Beach. Lessonslearned. PAGE 13
2 TANK TALK
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Message from the President
FALL 2000 3
Well, I suppose I’m a glutton for punishment, because here I amagain in office, now as your new 505 American Section President.As I write this, I still haven’t mustered the courage to tell my wife!
Those of you who attended the American Section Annual General Meeting may recall me saying, “If I were elected, you would all pay the price.” Here’s howyou are going to pay:
INVESTING IN THE FUTURE: The American Section will finally finance a promotional video or poster. Ben Benjamin has looked into both possibilities, and I’m going to make certain that he has the funds and manpower to make it happen.
PAYING THE BILLS: We are running a rather large budget deficit now, and weneed members to pay their dues. Dave Stetson will be collecting dues each yearfrom members. I have asked Dave to reinstitute the self-addressed stamped return envelope to assist everyone.
PLANNING CHAMPIONSHIPS: I will be working with Canadian SectionPresident Hugh Morrin to solicit bids for the 2002 and 2003 North Americans. If multiple bids are received for 2002, we may have an e-mail ballot fromAmerican and Canadian Section members to make the final selection. It’srumored that bids from San Francisco and the Midwest will be received for 2002.
COMMUNICATION: I have already asked all regional coordinators to definewhat the American Section executive can do to help increase participation andenthusiasm. I will also be in contact with fleet captains to find out what’s going onlocally. Communication is a two-way street. If you have a problem or a concern,feel free to contact me.
BRAVO! The 2000 North Americans was a huge success! I’d like to especiallythank Bruce Edwards, the Santa Cruz Yacht Club and West Marine for con-tributing so much to the event. It was a fantastic regatta, and I was happy to meet more West Coast sailors.
Also, I’d like to thank the past president, Sol Marini, for his many contributions to the 505 American Section.
Fraternally,
Jesse Falsone
The Magazine of the 5O5 ClassAmerican Section
CLASS PRESIDENT
Jesse [email protected]
VICE PRESIDENT
SECRETARY/TREASURER
David [email protected]
ACTING MEASURER
Geoff [email protected]
TANK TALK EDITOR
Allan [email protected]
SENIOR EDITOR
Jesse [email protected]
ADVERTISING
ART DIRECTOR
Nancy [email protected]
CONTRIBUTORS
Ethan Bixby, Peter Alarie,Ali Meller, Neil Fowler,
Pip Pearson, Barney Harris
FORMER EDITOR
Scott MacKay
To advertise in TANK TALK contact Ben Benjamin at
For more information on the 505 class, go to
www.int505.org/usa
4 TANK TALK
Kingston to Hold 2001North Americans
The dates are not yet firm, but the Kingston
Yacht Club has been selected as the site of
next year’s North Americans. The event will
likely be held the first two weeks in August. Kingston is
an ideal location to sail 505s. The fresh water racing
area is just minutes from the club and Lake Ontario is
well known for strong breezes. Kingston is a charming
town, full of good bars, good eateries and lovely parks.
Did we me mention that the Kingston Yacht Club bar is one of the best on the East Coast? }
SHORT TACKS
Overlooked?CO-ED REGATTAS TAKING HOLD
Like many modern sports, 505 sailing has gradually subscribed to
the “size matters” mentality. Unfortunately, this has lead to the
exclusion of many great sailors from the 505, namely women. With
the exception of some Midwest fleets, the 505 is dominated by all-
male teams. This wasn’t always the case. Class veterans could tell
you that 505s were actively sailed by numerous mixed-gender
teams from the 1960s through the mid 1980s.
After a long respite, women are coming back to the 505. East Coast
and West Coast fleets have recently run co-ed 505 regattas this year
with great success. The West Coast sailors held their co-ed champi-
onship in July at the High Sierra Regatta with six teams. They
enjoyed a weekend of sailing and camping. The East Coast hosted
their one-day “505 Region II Co-Ed Championship” in September
with 14 teams. The enthusiasm was unmistakable, even if the wind
did crap out. Consider scheduling a mixed-gender event in 2001.
Emphasize the elements of friendly competition and fun, and use a
little more rake if you need it.
A GrippingDevelopmentThe crew’s union is full of strong opin-ions about the right pair of gloves. Justfor the record, we are partial to HarkenBlack Magic’s and have strong opinionsabout those wimpy Ronstan full fingerversions. But it turns out, the best ofglove of all can be found at your localHome Depot —in the gardening sec-tion of all places. They are made by theMidwest glove company, cost about $3and feature comfy interiors and apatented grip technology. They dowonders to cut down on cramping andall around gripping ability. Sure, theywear out after about a regatta, but atthree dollars a pop that puts them on apar with the Harken’s, which last abouthalf a season. They come in pretty col-ors, too.
2000 North Americans in Santa Cruz.
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FALL 2000 5
Go Sailing!
U P C O M I N G 5 O 5 E V E N T SIt’s fall, and that means the season is winding down after a fast-paced summer schedule. Butthere is still some sailing to get done. Chilly fall regattas include the annual Pumpkin Patch,
Oct. 14-15, at West River Sailing Club near Annapolis and the Fall Dinghy event, Oct. 28-29,at St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. Even if you can’t make it to the 2000 World
Championships this November 16-24 in Durban make sure to follow the results on the web.American teams have their best chance in years to dominate. The Pre-Worlds are November13-15. Looking to the new year, the East Coast Midwinters are slated for Feb 2-4 at St.Petersburg Yacht Club. This is a schedule but not a venue change for the event. And nextyear’s Worlds will take place Sept. 19-28 in Portugal.
For more information about these and other events go to: www.int505.org/
usa/events/regs.htm. To get your events listed send them to [email protected].
Something to SingAbout?
A t world championships, theBrits are fond of breakinginto a theme song every time
our own Ali Meller makes a publicutterance. The song is not exactly fam-ily friendly, if you know what we mean.Well, the Brits may be singing thattune a lot more in the future. Meller,the current international vice presi-dent, is being nominated to replace Pip Pearson as the 505 internationalpresident. The election is slated forNovember in Durban. Closer tohome, Geoff Hurwitch has beenappointed as the new acting classmeasurer. He replaces Bruce Tilley.
Cam UpdateThe American Section has donated$100 to Cam Lewis’ Team Adventureprogram, which is fielding a boat forThe Race. Lewis tells us he will beproudly carrying the official 505 flagduring the competition.
Ten boats shipped to the Santa Cruz NAs from theEast Coast. So imagine their surprise when theyshowed up to load boats at a New Jersey parking lot,only to find that the shipping company had dispatchedthe wrong container. Instead of a “sea container” withplenty of fasteners and hooks, the sailors were left witha “rail container” with absolutely no tie down points.Team Engineer Barney Harris and crew completelyretrofitted the container, attaching about 20 U-boltsto the deck to help secure boats. They also attachedseveral wire loops with cable clamps (above left) tohold tie down lines and slings. The boats made it outand back with no major reports of injury.
GETT ING TO THE 2000 NORTH AMER I C ANS
6 TANK TALK
sp
ee
dMaster Your Domain:
Learning from a Champion B y T i m C o l l i n s
I got the call a couple of months ago from my crew Bill Smith. He would be recovering from thesecond of two operations needed to repair his
severely damaged elbow during the East CoastChampionships. I was bummed at first. We had wonthe regatta two years running. But then I thought backto a conversation I had with Mike Mills. Over a cou-ple of beers, I had mentioned to Mike that it was timefor him to return to the class. I followed up, and aftersome persuading, he agreed to sail. His retirement wasover at the ripe old age of 29.
Almost two years had gone by since he and NickTrotman won the coveted 505 World Championship,and neither had stepped foot in a 505 since. Nick andhis beautiful wife Abby recently had a daughter namedEva. Mike had his own distractions.
He and his dad had undertaken the gargantuan task oftaking a 100 year-old marine supply company into the21st century. On the sailing front, Mike had put his energy into windsurfing and racing an A-Classcatamaran.
Which brings us to the 2000 East Coast Champi-onships. By now you’ve read the regatta report andseen the results. So we didn’t win. These two guysfrom Canada did. They sailed a great regatta! In theend, we had our chance—three teams, all even, goinginto the last race. Mike and I talked over our strategy,took a drink of water, gated early and watched the racefor the championship unfold from the cheap seats.With that said, it was a great experience sailing withMike as a teammate rather than a competitor. The fol-lowing are some observations.
TALK, TALK TALK
Communication for any new team is of the utmostimportance. We are both pretty laid back, and we real-ized that speaking up and being straight made a bigdifference in our performance. Sounds obvious. But ittook us a couple of days to be able to say things like,“Tell me when you think we are going slow, or if we
are not pointing”, or: “If I were you, I would put waxall over the rail because it gets very slippery without itwhen the breeze is up.” Mike has his own way of talk-ing. It took me a couple of races to figure out thatwhen he says, “It’s all good”, that really means: “Suckit up and have fun, because we ain’t looking so good!”
SPEED RULES
The last time Mike sailed a 505 he raced the fastest505 in the world. We spoke often about the speedequation, but we couldn’t get there no matter how
hard we tried. With the added 15 pounds on the wire,I was able to put the bow just about anywhere I want-ed. However, we were often slow and clumsy on thereaches. I should say that I was very impressed withMike’s aggressive nature off the wind. He puts a pre-mium on surfing each wave (crews take note). Workingthe boat harder downwind than up has always beenMike’s style. Upwind, Mike and Nick always had thisbow down, healed over look that took you by surprise.For the first couple of races, we tried this technique butwound up going low and slow. We tried not to thinktoo hard about it, but we both came to the conclusion
FALL 2000 7
continued page 8
Tim and Mike at the East Coast Championships.
8 TANK TALK
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that the hull shape and blade differencesbetween Mike and Nick’s Rondar and myKulmar might be the answer.
MASTER YOUR DOMAIN
Strength + speed = complete domination. I liketo remember the famous quote from the TankTalk Fall ’98 article when Mike was asked,“What is the Mike Mills formula for being arock-star crew?” And the response: “Be large!” Ithink he understated the answer. Mike wrote anarticle a few years back that explained howimportant it is for a crew to master the fourquadrants of the boat. This is a staple for anycrew aspiring to go the distance. Over the yearsI have had the opportunity to sail with somegreat crews who carry that powerful presence inthe boat. In my opinion it is a mix of foot place-ment, weight distribution, speed and power.These guys have tremendous success in all kindsof conditions. But if you ask what they prefer,
they all same the same thing, “Breeze on!”
I hope to get Mike out sailing 505s again soon.Shortly after the awards ceremony, I witnessedMike and Lars Guck talking about SouthAfrica. Who knows? Something tells me wehaven’t seen the last of him. }
M I K E M I L L S ’ S T A T S
1998 505 World ChampionVice President and stockholder inJamestown Distributors, Jamestown, RIPrinceton U. GradLives in Portsmouth, RI
Spends most of his time automating his warehouse and increasing his supply chain efficiency, hanging out with his girlfriend Nina, windsurfing and surfing.
Champion CONTINUED
pre
p
We all know that good boat work can meanthe difference between getting the boataround the course or a frustrating string of
DNFs. In the last issue, I talked about a generalapproach to getting the yacht ready for the startingline. But it’s time to get specific. Here are some of theday to day rules I try to live by. You’ll find that stick-ing to the program may well improve your perform-ance on— and off — the water.
BUY EXTRA: If you are replacing your spin sheets,buy another set to have on hand. If you drop that nutinto the grass, you have another at the ready. Havingspares is a big time saver.
DON’T MESS WITH PERFECTION: If it ain’tbroke…Once you have a system working perfectly, donot change it. ANY of it. Seems obvious, but…Changes include type of line, cleat and block, as wellas placement of the components. Another good reasonto have extras on hand: You may not be able to findyour type of line when your sheet fails somewhere inthe heart of Texas.
LINE CHOICE IS CRITICAL: This is huge andgoes with the above. A line that works with one typeand size of cleat may not work as well with another. Becareful with line changes, and if your refinement isworse, go back to the old line. Jib sheets, spin halyardand pole launcher lines are important examples of this.If you are having a problem uncleating the jib, findsomeone who has a good system and copy their linetype, size and cleat selection exactly.
USE CASCADING SYSTEMS: This is a greatrefinement to any purchase system, and will allow youto use less hardware, fewer purchases and end up witha system that is easier to pull and ease. Use very smalldiameter, high tech lines in the early running parts ofthe system and easy to handle line only on the finalpurchase. Team Spot says you loose about 5 percentfor every turn, so you can make some big gains here.
SMALLER LINE IS EASIER TO USE: Mostboats that I look at have oversized lines on every sys-tem. Smaller line is cheaper, runs easier, soaks up lesswater and will make your “stiff” system work much
smoother. Modern line is so strong that there is no realconcern with loads, so go as small as you dare.
MAKE RIGGING QUICK AND EASY: Look forways to simplify your rigging, as this will save you timeevery time you go sailing, giving you more time towork on the boat!
GETTING IT RIGHT: “Never time to do it right,always time to do it twice.” Stop wasting valuable timeredoing jobs. Your list is long, but it doesn’t get short-er when the same item appears at the bottom of the listagain. This is my boat prep mantra.
MULTITASK: Do similar tasks at the same time.Sewing your new sheets? Cut and sew that extra set aswell. Anything else on the list that requires the needle?Installing a new vang cleat? Check the other one, andtighten the ram cleat while you have the tools in yourhand.
AVOID DISTRACTIONS: Turn off the phone andwork through the job before stopping. It is too easy toloose track of what you are doing, leaving tasks unfin-ished. This is the big reason why it is impossible to beefficient in the dinghy park. A 5-minute job at homecan easily take 25 at the regatta. My rule is avoidboatwork at regattas.
Whip Your Off the Water Program in Shape
B y P e t e r A l a r i e
FALL 2000 9
Alarie’s Tip: Smaller line is better.
continued page 10
10 TANK TALK
DIVIDE AND CONQUER: Get your part-ner over and assign items off the list, workingtowards your strengths. Think about the nextjob while you are finishing the last, so you canmove right to it.
DON’T GIVE UP: Your first shot at a refine-ment may not work. Think about why and tryagain. Seek advice on specific problems. Thereare lots of smart people out there making theirboats work well. Understand the logic as well asthe specifics to help you solve other problems.
OFF SEASON ONLY: Most major work toyour program should be done in the off season.While boat work can be rewarding, going sail-ing is more fun and more productive. Don’twaste even part of the season with jobs like this.
BUDGET: Do a written budget for large proj-ects and include all items such as fasteners andchemicals. It will cost more than you think, soif you can just barely afford it, wait until nextyear or reduce the scope.
PHILOSOPHY TO LIVE BY: Projects willtake longer than you think. I am not breaking
new ground here, but really. Estimate the timenecessary and multiply by four, and then add abit more. It will take even longer than that. I amnot kidding. You’ll see. Consider seeking pro-fessional help. This will add to the cost of yourjob, but many shops will do fixed quotes onlarge jobs, so you can accurately identify costsup front. The work will get done right, and youcan schedule it into your sailing season and stillhave time to see your shrink! }
Prep CONTINUED
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The 505 course features the hot reaches thatkeep us coming back. There is nothing likeripping around the windward mark, setting
the kite and blasting towards the wing mark. But it’seasy to forget that a little pre-race homework andattention to the compass can save us from some majorheadaches and provide a big tactical advantage off thewind.
Let’s start with the basics. The course to the weathermark (W) is typically posted on the race signal boat. Ifit is not, try to spot the mark visually and point yourboat at it to get your own heading from the startingline or leeward mark. Subtract 120 degrees from W to
get the heading for the first reach (R1), add 120degrees to W to get the heading from the jibe mark tothe leeward mark (R2), subtract 180 degrees from Wto get the heading from the windward mark to the lee-ward mark (L). That’s a lot to remember, so write thenumbers down in a conspicuous place.
We have found it very helpful to set the spinnaker andsail each of these headings prior to the start. Doingthis enables us to preset pole height, and stopper balls,as well as getting a look at how tight the reaches willbe and how square the run is. If you can correlate this“feel” for how tight the reaches are with your knowl-
edge of the breeze pattern you have the ingredients forsome high level, high speed, tactical racing.
Going back to our numbers, you have just sailed theheadings for R1, R2, and L; you note that R1 is a bor-derline three sail reach, R2 is not quite as tight, and Lseems to be a long starboard, short port jibe. Take aquick wind shot to establish where you are in the oscil-lation. In this case, let’s say it is all the way right in its25 degree range. What does that indicate? It tells youthat any shift left of max right, or any increase in veloc-ity will turn R1 into a two sail reach. You better have agood reason to set immediately on R1! It also indicatesthat even with the wind at its max right you can use allthree sails on R2, and that any shift left of max rightmay turn the run (L) into a starboard fetch.
HIGH OR LOW REACHES?
As you approach the windward mark you should nowbe able to determine, by reading the appropriate45degree line, or digital version, where the wind is.From your pre-race prep and continual observations,you should also have a good idea where it is going. Ifall this indicates there has been a progressive shift tothe left, that is still growing, it will be necessary to sailhigh of the layline to ensure fetching the jibe markwithout having to strip the spinnaker. If your researchreveals a progressive shift to the right, it will pay to golow initially to gain the inside at the jibe mark, andavoid sailing dead downwind at the end of the reach.
In an oscillating breeze an “S” shaped course will bethe fastest but it is necessary to know where you arein the oscillation as you start the reach. If, at the endof the beat, you have picked out a 10 degree starboardlift, and are confident that this is all the way right, itwill be fast to start out sailing about 10 degrees highof the layline. Then you can bear off as the apparentwind comes forward and head up as it goes aft. Bycarefully maintaining this apparent wind angle it ispossible to follow the oscillations down both reaches.Few sailors attempt this as it requires a little breath-ing room to sail your own course. Once you haveestablished that room (it is less than you think) it ispossible to open surprisingly large chunks of water in
Sail Hotter Angles by the Numbers
B y N e i l F o w l e r
FALL 2000 11
Fowler at the 2000 East Coast Championships.
continued page 12
12 TANK TALK
a short amount of time. This method requiressome practice to perfect but can be very effec-tive. An added benefit is that you will findyourself approaching the leeward mark with astrong sense of where you are in the breezepattern; a big edge over competitors who needto put their boats on the wind to figure outwhere they are.
DISPLACEMENT RUNNING
Running is similar to reaching in that it is aimedat keeping the apparent wind forward and boatspeed up, while sailing the most direct line tothe leeward mark. To accomplish this requiresreversing the upwind approach and sailing theheaded jibe. As you approach the weather mark,you need to make note of where the wind is andwhere you think it is going. Start out on theheaded jibe and pick a course that has proven agood compromise between speed and headingfor the mark. Make note of the heading andstick pretty close to it. When the wind movesaft, or you find yourself steering a higher course
to maintain your fast apparent wind angle, it istime to jibe. In this manner it is possible to sailthe headed jibe all the way down the run, max-imizing speed, and minimizing distance sailedwhile maintaining an awareness of the winddirection and shift pattern.
On wire running, I respectfully defer to ScottIkle’s clear description in the December1999 / January 2000 Sailing World. I would addthat it is possible to follow the shifts down ahigh speed run employing the same techniquesas reaching; pick a fast apparent wind angle andmake note of your compass heading. As youalter course to maintain that angle keep an eyeon your compass headings, they will reveal anychanges in wind direction. Mastering the com-pass takes time and concentration. But sailingby the numbers pays dividends on any leg of thecourse. }
Numbers CONTINUED
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it was hard to make it work in the 505fleet.” He raced keel boats for a while,even won the Etchells North Americans.He took up bicycle racing. Then in 1995,his kids all but grown and his marriage onthe rocks, Thompson got a call fromHoward Hamlin. “Howie calls me andsays let’s go sailing,” says Thompson.
Thompson had always thought aboutsailing the 505 again, but did little aboutit. It was Hamlin who provided the spark.He hooked Thompson up with boats andcrews. He followed up with phone callsand gentle prodding. This August,Thompson placed fourth at the ultra-competitive North Americans. He isgearing up to return to Durban for theworlds this November. He and crewAndy Zinn (another Hamlin recruit) havea strong shot at a top ten finish. Asked ifhe would have returned to the class with-out Hamlin’s intervention, Thompsonsays matter of factly, “Not a chance.”
With top recruits like Dan Thompson,Howard Hamlin has built his LongBeach-based fleet into the most competi-tive in North America. Team Hamlincounted three boats in the top five at thisyear’s North Americans, and could put asmany in the top five at the Durbanworlds. The pillars of the Hamlin pro-gram are super rigorous Tuesday nightpractice session and, most of all, a recruit-the-best philosophy. Given the success,we could all learn from Hamlin’sapproach to fleet building. But the lesson
from Long Beach turns out to be morecomplicated than it might seem.
Trial and ErrorAbout a year before he called Thompson,Hamlin had a conversation with his crew,Mike Martin. He told Martin that hewanted to win the worlds. Martinlaughed and pointed out that Hamlin hadsome work to do. For one thing, he neverpracticed. And even if he decided to start,there was no one to practice against. TheLong Beach fleet consisted of one team,Hamlin and Martin.
“The original goal was to win the worldsso we decided that we couldn’t do thatwithout people to practice against,” said
In 1979, Dan Thompson placed third at the Durban worlds. Two
years later, he got out of the class entirely. There was the family
to tend to, the demanding wife and two children in diapers. “It
was a married with children type story,” he says. “With young children,
L E S S O N Sfrom Long BeachB y A l l a n F r e e d m a n / P h o t o g r a p h s b y S c o t t L e c h n e r
Hamlin at 2000 North Americans.
FALL 2000 13
14 TANK TALK
Martin. “So we decided we needed a fleetin Long Beach to sail against.”
That first year, the pair got busy. Theytook the round-up-the-cattle approach.They held regattas where they’d matchup new recruits to skippers and crews.They’d look for anyone they could. Butthey found that after a year they were notgetting results and were no closer to win-ning the worlds. In fact, Martin recalls, the recruitment drive netted few realprospects and proved such a distractionthat it probably hurt their performance atthe 1995 worlds. “We saw our perform-ance actually go down,” he says.
It was time for a new approach. And thatmeant targeting the boat to a differentclientele, skilled sailors whose experienceand build were suited to the class. Hamlinsaid he has learned an important lessonabout fleet building. The less skilledsailors get in, get frustrated and drop out.That’s a big time waster for all concerned.The ideal recruit sticks around and isgood enough to push the old timers to get better. He doesn’t mince words incriticizing those in the class who favor
talking up the boat to“every Tom, Dick andHarry.”
“To spend your energyon them is foolish,” hesays. “Spend your timeon people who havepotential.”
A case in point is theLong Beach team ofAndy Beekman andBen Benjamin. Martinand Hamlin pushedhard to get them inthe class. Beekman
was a graduate of the super-competitiveLonghorn Yacht Racing Association jun-ior program in Texas. And Hamlin andMartin were particularly impressed withthe 26-year-old Beekman’s speed down-wind, an area that the fleet leaders knewthey wanted to work at improving. Theysold Martin’s boat to the team for “undermarket value.” Said Beekman, “Theybasically brought me into the club.Howard’s mentality about it is get some-one in the fleet who is going to stay andpush him.”
Getting ResultsSince their initial conversation back in1994, Hamlin and Martin had seemed tobe getting ever close to their goal of win-ning the worlds. They had a near miss in1998, finishing second behind Mike Millsand Nick Trotman. The following year inFrance, they finally captured the top spotin a demonstration of superior speed andboat handling. Right behind them in sec-ond place was team Beekman andBenjamin.
So how’d they do it? Having built a small,stable fleet of expert sailors, Hamlin andMartin had put in place the second majorelement of their worlds program, a rigor-ous practice and tuning program. Beforethe 1997 North Americans, the LongBeach team began practicing regularly onTuesday nights during daylight savingstime and have kept at it. They’ll go out atabout 5 p.m. and compare straight linespeed and work on technique on all legsof the course. They’ll sail for three min-utes on one tack, stop and talk over whowas doing what.
Hamlin said there is no question that thepractice sessions have made a big differ-ence in his performance. By his count, heused to sail 25 to 30 days a year. Under hiscurrent regime, he sails on 75 days.Beekman said the program is probablyone of the best in the world. “When youget off the line and two minutes later youare sailing against the same people youare sailing against every Tuesday nightsomething is going on,” says Beekman.“It is all about practice.”
The key to the program is that Hamlincalibrates the boats so that they are exact-ly the same. All the boats are Wateratsand Hamlins with launchers and Ullmansails. And each team sails with an identicalset of numbers for such items as rig ten-sion, board height and ram. That means,for example, that when Hamlin says thathis board was set at two in 20 knotseveryone in Long Beach knows exactlywhat he is talking about and can replicatethe setting.
Each of the teams sails with a tuning grid developed by Howie for all the key settings for different wind speeds.Thompson said the tuning sheet provides
Team Tuesday: Hamlin, Waterman and Zinn.
Martin and Bourdow.
FALL 2000 15
an important baseline. Whenever they areoff the pace, they go back to the tuningsheet to make sure they’re sailing with theright adjustments. A common calibrationsystem is also a vital fleet building toolbecause it creates a system for everyoneto follow, making it easier for middle toback of the fleet boats to get up the learn-ing curve.
In addition, the Long Beach sailors holdto a team approach. That means that theytry to share everything. They have fre-quent on the water conversations, spend-ing a lot of phone time comparing notesand keep in close contact at regattas. Atthe North Americans, Hamlin and crewPeter Alarie noticed that Martin and crewSteve Bourdow (Martin is sailing his ownboat this year) were sailing too low on theruns. They let Martin know, even thoughthe two were battling it out for first place.
Rob Waterman is one member of TeamTuesday who has yet to be afforded rockstar status. He placed a solid 12th at theNAs with a skipper who had sailed in theboat only a handful of times. He creditsthe Hamlin program with speed gains.He crews and can often hook up with adriver and, armed with tuning informa-tion from the Tuesday night sessions,push the boat around the race course withconsiderable success. “While I don’t go tothe worlds, I gain a hell of a lot out of thedeal,” he says.
Lessons LearnedThe question is whether the rest of us canlearn just as much from the boys fromLong Beach. There is no doubt thatHamlin has constructed a world class pro-gram for developing world class champi-ons. And he makes a point of noting thatanyone is welcome on Tuesday nights.“We don’t discourage anyone to come sailthe 505,” he says.
Beekman said the goal at Long Beach isfor all of the teams to win the worlds. Buthow practical is the program for sailorswho don’t share the passion? The Hamlinprogram does not come without sacrifice.For Beekman, that has meant throttlingback on his career goals and making surethat his boss knows that he’s got to leaveearly on Tuesday afternoon to go sailing.“You can’t do both,” he says. “You can’t
extend your professional career and sail ashard as we do.”
Waterman agreed, “I think the Tuesdaynight thing is for people who are reallygung ho, who have a fair amount of timein the boat or money. The rest of us poorslobs have kids and wives.”
Martin argued that fleet building is aboutsetting priorities. Every fleet needs to fig-ure out what approach works best forthem. The numberof active boats atLong Beach, five, isclose to ideal for atraining program.But that hardlyworks for buildingstrong numbers atregattas. If every-one had embracedHamlin’s approach,it seems likely thatthe turnout at thisyear’s 45 boat NAswould have beenconsiderable lower.
The answer is tak-ing away the rightlessons. For example, Hamlin’s calibra-tion system is an ideal tool for making anysailor better, no matter what his status.Martin says go out an set up a practicesession that works for you. It doesn’t nec-essarily have to be along the lines of TeamTuesday. “Everybody has got to targettheir fleet building to their fleet,” saysMartin. “If your driving force is not towin the worlds but to get 20 boats on theline then you are going to have a differentfleet building approach.”
No matter the limits of the approach,Thompson gives Howie plenty of creditfor building a world class program that isan engine for fleet growth. “Howard hastried it all different ways. He has triedbringing the general masses in. He hastried bringing in the super sailor. I thinkwhat we have learned so far is that if yourecruit the better sailors in the class theothers will follow. But you have to make itfun for the other sailors. Howard doesthat. He goes around and calibrateseverybody’s boat. He does the debriefsafter every race. He makes people feel likethey’re part of the community.” }
“You can’textend your professionalcareer and sail as hard as we do,”Beekman says.
16 TANK TALK
One boat and a lot of dreams jumpstarted the Northwest Fleet inthe fall of 1996. Long absent
from the waters of Western Washington,the 505 had been nearly forgotten,replaced by the flash of the I-14 and49er. Parker 6309, fueled by stories ofenormous fleets and red hot racing,began to stumble around race courses.We got plenty of comments.
“I didn’t think any of these were aroundanymore.” “Sailed one in college.” “There’sone in my parents shed (barn, garage, carport...).”
So now the challenge begins. If all thesepeople at the launch ramps either hadone or used to sail one, how do you get‘em out so you’re not the lone antique onthe water. We began chasing a handful ofrumors. We looked under suspiciousblue tarps in back lots and backyards. Weclutched crumbled pieces of paper withnames and numbers.
Somehow, Paul VonGrey found himselfin possession of an old Northwest ros-ter. His phone bill became monumental.Slowly, quite literally one boat at a time,hulls got dusted off, repaired and put on
the race course. We mailed flyers beforeregattas to every address on our grow-ing mailing list. “Wanted” posters ask-ing for boats were mailed to PugetSound yacht clubs.
We offered introductory rides and lots of undivided attention to newcomers and interested parties. Old boats werepoured over and miscellaneous parts/sails given away.
Reading the classifieds, local nauticalpublications and chasing the boats-for-sale traffic became an obsession. Con-tacting the sellers and buyers offeringencouragement along with whateveradvice we could give helped immensely.Driving to homes, bending over hullswith spare parts and epoxy was a hobby.
Fairly early in the game, spurred on bythe success of www.int505.org, we devel-oped a web site solely to give presence toourselves and as an aid to those lookingfor contacts locally. The logo was thenused on tee shirts that were given asprizes at regattas and sold.
While high profile sailors, collegiaterockstars and a slick paint job can bring
any boat a lot of attention, the bulk ofsailors are Joe Average. When we triedfocusing on a specific group, the experi-ment backfired. We entrusted a boat freeof charge to an accomplished high-schooler. The boat now sits under a bluetarp, rotting.
All the hard work is paying off. Twelveboats hit the line at the 2000 SeattleOne-Design (SOCKS) regatta. Thereare now boats and regattas in Oregonand Washington and, of course, BritishColumbia.
Missing from our rise to success is a placeto call home. We’re convinced that boatsin a dinghy park, be it a yacht club (pri-vate) or a public marina, would give usmore exposure and credibility. The initialshock and surprise on the faces of notablesailors such as Allen Johnson, ChrisHenderson, Carl Buchan (Olympian)and Brahm Daly (49er class president) indicates to us that local dinghy sailorshad the boat nearly dead and buried. But their enthusiastic show of supportfor our presence at SOCKS tells of astrong belief in the benefits of 505 sail-ing. Can they be brought back fromTasars, Lasers and 49ers? Maybe, maybenot. But a constant presence might leadto a ride which might lead to...
Having been quiet for so long this fleet isfull of energy yes, but experience no.Without a veteran to fill in the knowl-edge gaps, our learning curve is long. Wesuck what information we can fromwhomever will talk but could clearly usethe guidance and expertise from a longtime 505 sailor. Somebody to answernagging questions. Someone to uncoverthe secrets and build our on the waterarsenal. }
I N S E A T T L EA Different LessonB y S u e A t h m a n n
Why on earth did I buy this boat sight unseen? Yeah, the price was right.
Cheaper than a half rotten Laser. But now I’m standing in this guy’s garage,
1,200 miles from home, picking up something I’ve never even heard of. Am
I nuts? With a sense of foreboding, I dragged the thing back to Seattle. My
brother and I spent an entire week guessing. Then the downloading started.
Every page from the website—printed, hole-punched, indexed and under-
lined—went into a green binder.
FALL 2000 17
curiously overlooked. Since the late1970s, the shape of the 505 centerboardhas remained virtually unchanged. Untilnow.
505 foils are undergoing a long overduerethinking. The focus is the long and nar-row high-aspect centerboard. So far, theperformance of the boards has beenimpressive. Seven of the top ten boats atthis year’s windy North Americans inSanta Cruz sailed with the Waterat-builtboards. And the apparent success of thenew board has touched off an importantdebate about the benefits of going highaspect.
To be sure, the boards, and their compan-ion high-aspect rudder, have yet to makeit into the mainstream. They are still onlybeing used by the go-fast California teamsand a few East Coasters such as myself.The standard foils are winning regattasand no blade can transform a mid-fleetsailor into a world champion. But onething seems clear. The sheer dominanceof the boards at the North Americansraised the question of whether a champi-onship program can succeed without it.There are still plenty of doubters outthere. But consider this: The ultra-competitive teams who have gone highaspect show no sign of turning back.
EVOLUTIONBy my reckoning, the idea for the newboard started at the 1995 worlds inCornwall, England. Howard Hamlin
and I both heard KristerBergstrom, the four timeworld champion, observe thatno one was paying attentionto centerboard design. I didn’trealize it then, but Hamlinand I both concluded thesame thing: Bergstrom wasright.
After Cornwall, I talked toLarry Tuttle at Waterat. The505 board design hadremained virtually unchangedsince 1979, and he agreed itwas probably time to rethinkit. He immediately focusedhis attention on a higheraspect centerboard. Untilthen, Tuttle had little incen-tive to develop new foils.The old foils were workingwell and without someone toinvest the money in foildevelopment it made littlesense to proceed.
While the 505 design hadremained stagnant all thoseyears, foil designers for other boats hadincreasingly turned to higher aspectblades. Their conclusion: A long boardwith a short chord generated more liftand less drag. In 1992, the ratio of lengthto chord for an America’s Cup boat was12 to 1. Waterat had followed the trendwith its high-aspect sailboard fins andfoils for other boats.
LONG BOARDRevolution
B Y M A C Y N E L S O N / I L L U S T R A T I O N S B Y L A R R Y T U T T L E
The 505 has changed a lot in two decades. Sails have gone high-tech.
Launchers dominate where bag boats once ruled. Hull construction is
stronger and more durable. Yet one vital part of the 505 has been
Two boards: standard Waterat board (top)sports snug fit. High-aspect board (bottom)sits taller above trunk.
18 TANK TALK
CalculatedCenter of pressure
CalculatedCenter of pressure
CalculatedCenter of pressure
Waterat Standard
Waterat Standard
Waterat Standard
505 Centerboard Evolution
Waterat HA11997
Hamlin/Martin1998
Waterat HA31999
BOARD REVOLUTION: Three high-aspect centerboards. Behind each, is a standard Waterat board (shown in gray). HA 1, left, has the same area as the standard board. Hamlin/Martin, center, and HA 3, right, have 7 percent less area to reduce power in thebreeze. The calculated center of pressure is lower on the high-aspect boards. Boards are first editions of designs.
FALL 2000 19
But there was a major hurdle to clear.Tuttle couldn’t simply build a bigger boardand put it in the trunk. Sure, class rulesprovide that the centerboard can be of anyshape. But the rules also state that theboard must fit in the trunk, and that the aftend of the trunk be no closer than 1200mm from the transom. The problem forTuttle was how to find a way to fit a bladethat measured in at about 55 inches into a50 inch space. And to add to the challenge,he had to do so without affecting the bal-ance of the boat: He couldn’t just move theboard forward without the boat developingexcessive weather helm.
By the summer of 1996, Tuttle hadachieved a breakthrough. He designed abracket on the front of the centerboard,just forward of the standard centerboardbolt hole. When you see it, you are notimpressed with its complexity. But in theforty year history of the class no one elsehad thought of it. This bracket allowed theboard to hang from a bolt more than 5inches forward of the standard fitting. Inthe simplest terms, it allowed a board 55inches long to fit in a 50 inch space. Andmost importantly, it did not affect the balance of the boat: The design of thebracket allowed the long board to beextended in the water in the same locationas the standard Waterat foil.
With the major breakthrough achieved,Tuttle wanted a long and narrow board tocreate maximum lift and minimum drag.The area of the first long board was thesame as the standard foil and 4.75 incheslonger. By going to the maximum length,there was the risk of generating too muchpower. But in this first version, the onlyattempt to depower the board was tomake it more flexible, much like ourbendy masts.
SPEED TRIALSWaterat shipped its first high aspect cen-terboard in June 1997. Tuttle sent me themahogany pads and the necessary instruc-tions to make a new bolt hole. The boardfit, it jibed, and the boat was balanced.Mike Mills and I took it to the DenmarkWorlds with some apprehension about itsperformance in the breeze. Although wedid not sail the boat well in light to mod-erate conditions, we were faster in astraight line than boats that I could not
beat before. We also learned that the boardwas sensitive to rake in moderate condi-tions. In moderate conditions with chop,we did not have an advantage.
We had no windy races. I reported toTuttle that in light air the board was asignificant improvement. I knew that awell-prepared team using my board inDenmark would have won. At the time, Ithought that every Americanwould have the foils for theHyannis Worlds. I was wrongwith two exceptions. MikeMartin / Howard Hamlin andScott Ikle /Tyler Moore alsostarted sailing with them.
Then came the second chapterin the evolution of the foils.Tuttle and Mike Martin beganto work on further refinements.After extensive consultations,Martin designed a set of foilsfor his program. Martin’s designincorporated the pin bracket tocreate a higher aspect foil, buthe wanted foils that he thoughtwere better suited for thebreeze. So he designed a boardthat was smaller overall and hadless area at the tip.
Martin and Hamlin used a ver-sion of the new foils at theHyannis Worlds. Although theywere prepared and fast, theyfinished second to Nick Trotman andMike Mills. The difference was probablymore technique than equipment. But peo-ple began to notice the new foils, andMartin and Hamlin deserve credit for that.The evolution of the board acceleratedafter Hyannis, and the results were obviousat the worlds the following year in France.The high-aspect boards, refined afterHyannis, placed first, second and third atthe regatta.
GETTING IN TUNEThe third chapter of this story concernstuning the foils. The design of the highaspect foils contemplates that the boardand the newly designed high aspect rudderwill both act as a lifting surface. Tuttle sug-gested that this evolution might requireyou to rake the rig more to balance theboat. The boards used at the worlds inFrance had a longer horn so you could
Nelson off Santa Cruz.
20 TANK TALK
rake it forward. The original concept wasthat the board should be raked forwarduntil the crew went on the wire at whichpoint it should be vertical.
I did not know it at the time, but Martinand Hamlin were figuring out that theycould sail with the board raked further for-ward in more breeze than Tuttle hadthought. We had a tuning session in Junein Falmouth, Mass., where Peter Alariecoached us. We did a lot of sailing in about18 knots and Alarie urged us to sail withthe board raked forward. We did and itworked. Several weeks later in Kingston,we had similar wind and had similarresults. I privately noted that after sailing a handful of regattas with the new foils,Alarie, initially a doubter, had becomeconvinced that the new foils were far supe-rior to the standard foils. Lars Guck,Alarie’s boat-building partner, has pro-duced two high-aspect boards.
Hamlin and Martin also changed theirtechnique in light air and started sailing
with some heel and weather helm. Alariethinks that technique works because theboat is easier to steer with some weatherhelm. I think it works because the rudderworks as a lifting surface when it is loadedup.
As a general rule, the board is more diffi-cult to tune, requires more practice tomaster and is less forgiving. That meansthe more time you put in the greater benefit you’ll receive. With the crew onthe wire, for example, the boat is moresensitive to board position. One inch ofboard movement is more significant thanon the standard versions.
The current state of knowledge seems tobe as follows:
■ Light to moderate air: board raked all the way forward; intentionally develop weather helm to load up the rudder.
■ Full power or slightly overpowered: consider bringing board up to vertical position.
There seems to be a disagreement aboutover-powered conditions. I understoodMartin and Hamlin at the Santa CruzNorth Americans debriefings to say thatthey rarely, if ever, raked the board backpast vertical. They argue that the boardshould jibe in all wind conditions. Tuttlebelieves that in over-powered conditionsyou should continue raking the board untilyou prove it is raked too much. I know onething. I sail with Mike Welch who is about 6 feet 2 inches and 200 pounds. Intwenty-five knots, John Fry/Robin Brown, Andy Zinn/Danny Thompson and SteveBourdow/Mike Martin are faster. Thosecrews have significantly more leveragethan Welch. For the time being, if we can-not match their speed in 25 knots, we aregoing to rake the board more even if theboard stops jibing.
It seems clear that more design refine-ments are in store. One idea is to makethe boards narrower and create largerrudders to work as a lifting surface in tan-dem with the boards. Another idea is tomake the boards twist and flex more sothey can depower in the breeze.Whatever course the new boards take,they seem to have permanently alteredthe 505 speed equation. }
505 CenterboardsPivot position in CB well from transom:
Waterat Standard 8 ft. 4"High Aspect 8 ft. 10.5"
Waterat Sailing Equipment
505 Centerboard pivot
The centerboard pin is further forward for thehigh-aspect board. Thehigh-aspect pin (left) is8'10.5'' from the transom.The standard is 8'4.''
Peter Alarie is good. How good? Hecould be the most successful 505crew of our generation. He’s won
eleven 505 championships in NorthAmerica since 1988. And he has done sowith seven different skippers. In short,he’s been the common denominator in more than a half dozen winning 505campaigns.
And he has built a career on more thanspeed. Few match Peter’s expertise in boatwork with skills acquired through careersin cabinetry and boatbuilding. On thewater, Peter combines superb boat-handling skills, tactical mastery, and awinner’s attitude. Howie Hamlin hasdescribed Peter’s sailing mentality thisway, “calm aggression.”
At 33, Peter isn’t a kid anymore, but he’sstill got a lot of the kid left in him. Thiswas painfully obvious to me at a go-carttrack in Falmouth during the 2000 NewEngland Championships. With six of usrevved up on the track, Peter suggested ateam race with only one rule—no rules.While most kids are content to just smashinto each other randomly, Peter’s strategyincluded double teaming, side-swiping,and hat grabbing. After we were “asked toleave” the track by the teen-age employ-ees, Peter showed quite a knack for arcadegames, especially the ones that involvedkilling things. From there, it was off tothe batting cage. Our particular pitchingmachine had run out of balls, so a few ofus decided to speed things up by assistingan employee with loading the machine.Peter turned this exercise into a dodge ballgame, thus precipitating our departure.
To the less acquainted, Peter might comeoff as a tad bit arrogant. As a coach, he’llflatly tell you why you’re slow or whyyour crew work stinks, and he does so in atone that makes you believe that his
observations should be obvious to themost casual observer. He just doesn’tsugar coat anything, and sometimes thetruth hurts. But Peter didn’t get to be achampion by lying about his own per-formance, and if being brutally honest is atrademark of arrogance, I don’t thinkPeter really minds that label.
Teamed with Howie Hamlin for the 2000505 Worlds in Durban, this may bePeter’s best chance to win a worlds, andhe isn’t taking this opportunity for grant-ed. Peter is absorbing the best thinkingand techniques developed by West Coast505 sailors. Ironically, distance may alsobe working out to his advantage in thatcommunication, plan-ning, and time man-agement all factor inheavily when you areseparated from yourpartner by 3000 miles.In his relentless questto improve his sailingskills, Peter seems tohave realized that hisgreatest competitionmay be himself. Iinterviewed Peter bye-mail.
JESSE FALSONE: WithCam Lewis busy with his syndicate for “TheRace”, you teamed up with Howard Hamlinfor 2000. Is this serendipity for you and doyou believe in fate? How long did it take foryou to commit to the whole program withHoward?
PETER ALARIE: I was pretty psyched whenHowie called me about sailing the Worldsthis year. How could you not be? I don’tknow about the fate issue. I think that is abit of a stretch. It’s more just being in theright place at the right time. I don’t reallybelieve in fate. But as a rule, I like to leave
Peter Alarie:
Sailing from Where You AreI N T E R V I E W B Y J E S S E F A L S O N E
FALL 2000 21
Peter and Mike Zani at ’98 Worlds inHyannis.
22 TANK TALK
my options open and I love to do things ona whim—to change plans if somethingcool comes along. My work has allowedme great flexibility with sailing plans andsuch, so people tend to call me at the lastminute to fill in. Brad Read once remarkedthat he had more luck getting me to sail ifhe called me the day before an event,rather than two months ahead of time.Well, Howie did just that for last year’sPCCs when Cam got caught doing someother deal at the last minute. We wereboth nervous about sailing with eachother. There were lots of expectations, butwe were immediately comfortable in theboat, and we sailed very well at the regat-ta, winning something like six of nineraces! At that time I planted the bug in hisear about sailing the Worlds together, buthe was still signed on with Cam. I justwaited out the situation, and when Camgot his funding in line for The Race, Howieand I inked the deal.
JF: Sailing with Howard on the West Coast has meant lots of travel. Other thansailing with the current world champion, isthere an upside to this type of long-distancecampaign?
PA: I would say that one of the upsides tothis type of campaign is that we are veryfocused when we do get together. We e-mail a lot about ideas, goals, things to workon, and feedback from the sessions. On atypical weekend, I fly out on Thursdaymorning, we sail Thursday afternoon, boatwork on Friday morning, sail Friday after-noon, race Saturday and Sunday, then I flyhome on the redeye. We have had at leastone other boat out each sailing day and tryto get a coach out as well. Knowing thatwe have limited days to train really forcesus to have it together, establish clear goalsand to push extra hard when we do get outon the water.
Also, by staying in touch between sailingsessions, we both find that when we do sail,it seems like we have improved in the timeoff. Howie sends me their weekly updatesand training schedules (they sail everyTuesday evening in Long Beach with 3-6boats), so I feel like I am part of the train-ing, learning what they learn, even thoughI am not present. I also find that I am visu-alizing more than I have in recent years,something I used a lot sailing the FlyingDutchman and in college. When we talk
about things or techniques, I am goingthrough it in my mind, and when we getin the boat three quarters of the work isdone. This really works well for me, but Ithink that I needed the new challenge ofsailing with Howie to get me back into it,to provide the inspiration to get better, tolearn new techniques and a whole newsailing style.
JF: With all the collective sailing experiencebetween you and Howie, it’s hard for newsailors to imagine what you would have toimprove upon. What would a typical goallist look like for your team during a week-end practice session? How do these differfrom goals you make for a regatta?
PA: Once each team member gets to a cer-tain level of sailing, then you can look atthe improvements coming in the form ofactual teamwork. While you can alwaysget better at doing any one maneuver asindividuals, the gains that you can make asa pair are where big gains can be realized.There are both types of improvementsthat we work on. Take tacking for example.We can each get better at our job, and wecan also improve together the timing, theflow and the consistency. You can fine tunethe movements as you get better, with theend goal being that each tack is very good,no matter what the conditions, how manyboats are around, how much pressure is onmaking this one tack. You want to knowthat in 25 knots, with a boat tight on yourhip, that you can tack and cross that guy noproblem. That can sometimes be the dif-ference between top five and top 25 in abig race. There is also a level of confidencethat this type of preparation brings, andthat cannot be underestimated. When youknow that your tacks are the best, youknow that is a weapon in your pocket. Iguess what I am talking about here is beingable to sail the race without ever consider-ing what it is that you are doing in terms ofboat handling. You are not afraid to gybetwo times in 10 boat lengths in 25 knots ifit means you have a chance to pass some-one. You do not consider the moves. Youjust execute what it is that you think youneed to do. Boat handling is an element ofsailboat racing that you have total controlover. Not many of the other elements ofour sport are like that. If you want totallybad ass boat handling, then go out and getit! We work on it constantly, and our goalis to always be able to pass someone just by
THE COMMON DENOMINATOR
What do Macy Nelson, Mike Zani,Howard Hamlin, Tom Kinney, ZackLeonard, Karl Zeigler, and NealFowler have in common? All seven championship-winning 505 helmsmen have sailed with PeterAlarie—three for long-term campaigns.
Other skippers benefiting fromAlarie’s services: Dave Dyson(second at ’91 NAs with Peter),Chuck Allan, and Allan Kruger.
505 CHAMPIONSHIP TITLES
North American Championships –’93, ’94, & ’97
East Coast Championships – ’95
Pacific Coast Championships – ’99, ’00
Midwinter’s (East Coast)Championships – ’88, ’89, ’93, ’98
New England Championships – ‘00
FAVORITE SAYINGS
“Fly a hull!”, “She’s luscious”, “It’s like butta”, “Spook the Heard”,“That’s so East Coast”
doing a maneuver. That is a pretty bigweapon-thinking or knowing that by sim-ply gybing, you have a very good shot atpassing the boat in front of you.
So, as far as goals go, when we are practic-ing by ourselves, we work relentlessly onboat handling, as this is the best use of ourtime. In between drills we will work on justsailing a point of sail, but the overall focusis on smoother handling. We also takenotes on what our problem areas are andwork on that. Always try to improve yourbiggest weakness first, then work on thestuff you can do okay. While practicingwith other teams, we work on speed orracing, as this is best use of a group. Weoften find that we can combine boat han-dling in a group session by simply gettingon the water 20 minutes early. You can doa lot of tacks and gybes in 20 minutes!
Goals at regattas are different. My goalsusually revolve around trying to competewell. I like to finish a regatta and feel real-ly good about how we sailed, regardless ofthe outcome. For example, we won aregatta in Santa Cruz, but neither of us wasthat psyched about it. We won because wedid not make any mistakes and passedmany boats with boat handling, but wewere let down because we were not thatfast and we were a bit asleep tactically. Butwe looked at what happened, and made afair assessment of our performance. Wewon because other teams screwed up, not because we were the best team thatweekend.
JF: You mention a whole new sailing style.You’ve been sailing the 505 at the top of thefleet for a decade, so one would assumeyou’re set in your ways. Can you offer us aspecific example of a technique that youchanged and how it had a positive effect onyour sailing?
PA: I have completely changed all of mycrewing techniques in the 505. I now tackby hooking in on the tank before going outon the wire after years of going out on thehandle. I am also a huge fan of the so called“skiff gybe”, which is what Howie and I donow. Both of these changes are aimed atheavy air sailing. Tacking on the handle isstill better in marginal trapping, as youhave a better feel of how much weight tothrow onto the wire, and you can swing inand out quickly.
The skiff gybe is awesome, and you reallyneed to experience it to believe how easy itis. You must have a fork end and a smoothworking pole launcher for this to work.Each element of the gybe has been workedout, and if you leave out a step, it will notwork. Before a gybe, Howiecleats the windward jib sheet withno slack in it and throws the polelauncher line overboard in frontof the trap shock cord. The endof the launcher line must beloose. When we go to gybe, Iuncleat the leeward jib sheet,Howie then finds a good wave, Iunhook from the wire, and say“ready!” Howie then turns on thewave at full speed, as you wouldgybe a Laser. I swing in anduncleat the pole line as if my lifedepended on it (and sometimes itdoes!). I have my launcher cleaton the mast, with the cleat facingdown. The pole rockets back andwe carve the turn on the wave.We turn so fast that the chuterotates itself, with Howie onlygrabbing the new sheet after theboom is over and he is hiking on the newside. As the boom comes over, I switch thetwings with our two handle system, standup and launch the pole. When done toperfection, you can get the pole out fullybefore the chute really loads up (you haveslowed down the turn, but you are stillturning up towards the reach), grab thenew sheet from the skipper and over theside you go. Make sure to wave at the boatyou just rolled!
JF: I’m very interested in your visualizationtechnique. Do you go through this exerciseonly in your mind, or is there a physical element?
PA: Every male over the age of 12 alreadyknows all about visualization. We do it allthe time, and not just in the bathroomanymore! You simply imagine what it isthat you are going to do, step by step,before you do it. You can work on yourtacks during your lunch break by simplyclosing your eyes and going through themotions, breaking it down to the finestdetail. I am told that this is not just a men-tal exercise, but that you are actually map-ping the nerve firing patterns by doingthis! What this means, and I have seen theresults, is that if you spend a few minutes
FALL 2000 23
Peter with Zack Leonard at his first 505 regatta, Hyannis, 1986.
If you want
totally bad ass
boat handling,
then go out
and get it!
24 TANK TALK
each day thinking about your tacks, thenext time you get in the boat, it will be likeyou have done 50 extra tacks in the timeoff! I will often do this during a practicesession, especially if I am having problemswith some element of a maneuver. Beforeyou do the maneuver the next time, runthrough it in your mind, step by step. Itcan help you find the problem area, and itwill make the next one smoother. I figuredout a foot placement problem mid sessionby going through all of the possible plac-ings in my mind, between tacks. By thetime we tacked again, I had found the bestplacement for my feet, and the tacks weremuch better.
JF: What’s the most important ingredient inthe success of a 505 team, and how is thisingredient developed?
PA: It’s tough to say what the most impor-tant ingredient is. Desire is probably themost important factor. The will toimprove can overcome all of the setbacksand disappointments that you experienceon the way towards your goals. Howie hastremendous desire to do well, and this wascertainly a factor in his 20 year quest to win the 505 Worlds. Desire keeps youfocused when things are down, and
can give you thestrength to perse-vere. How do youdevelop desire? Iguess you just haveto decide for your-self that you careenough about 505sailing to give ityour best all thetime. Some peoplejust do not have it,and that is totallyfine. But these peo-ple will be saddenedto learn that theywill never win in
this class with a half-hearted effort; thereare too many talented sailors that have aburning desire to kick ass.
JF: How has your success in competitive sailing enriched other areas of your life?Has it had a negative impact on any areas?
I made a choice a long time ago with mylife. I decided that I would never have a jobthat would prohibit me from going sailing(or any other activity) as much as I wanted.
I have never regretted this choice, and infact, I feel that it has made me generallymore happy than I might be if I was work-ing in some office with only 10 vacationdays a year. This has enabled me to raceand sail a ton, which has in turn led tocompetitive success. So it is a bit of a back-wards relation, but I do feel that sailing hasmade me happier, especially being able toblow out of work on some ripping after-noon and fly a hull around the bay!
The only real negative that I can think ofis that I am a bit competitive with every-thing that I do, and I expect to do well. Ifind that I really have to make a consciouseffort to just chill out and enjoy thingssometimes. What I do now is announce tomyself that “this is just for fun, so ease up!”I did this 55 mile catamaran race aroundNarragansett Bay last weekend. Total hackevent, but it was really fun! We showed uplate, casually rigged up, and just went for acruise. Blazing along, flipped with the kiteup, whatever! Good stuff.
JF: There have been a number of talentedyoung sailors who have jumped into the classwith unreasonable expectations. As a result,many have dropped out after a short time.In what ways does college sailing prepareyou for a boat like the 505? In what waysare college sailors generally unprepared forthe 505?
PA: I think that college sailing is great forteaching you how to sail boat on boat andtactics on the short course. You also seesome of the better college kids get prettygood at kinetics, which can translate toother boats like the 505. Other than that,it does not do as much for our youngsailors as everyone thinks. College sailorslearn nothing about boat preparation andmaintenance. In fact, it often seems likethese kids end up with absolutely norespect for boats and how to care for them.They also learn very little about sailboattuning and the elements that make boatsgo fast. I think this is a huge problem withour junior/college sailing programs thathave been set up in the US. These youngsailors can race hard for 10-12 years,attending national level events, and neversail in a boat with a bendy mast that iscapable of planing upwind! This type ofsailing is fine for college and high schoolstyle racing, but when our juniors are sail-ing the same types of boats all summer
Worlds ’98.
The only real
negative that
I can think of
is that I am a
bit competitive
with every-
thing I do,
and I expect
to do well.
long as well, that is a problem. The wholeClub 420 movement should be stoppedright now. It is making our juniors suck.The boats are 50 pounds overweight witha totally unresponsive mast. There is nodevelopment or tuning to speak of. Theseboats are so bad that in moderate air, it isfaster to hike than to put your crew on thewire! These same kids, now three time AllAmericans, then show up in a 505 and getjust killed by people they have never heardof! No wonder they get frustrated. Theyhave an idea that they are pretty good atsailing, when in fact they have justscratched the surface of what is out there.The ones with the desire, the real desire,not coach inspired confidence, dig in andfigure it all out. The others go and sailkeelboats, where their sailing knowledgetranslates (slow boats, unresponsive rigs),or they drop out altogether.
We really need to get the young sailorsinto boats that have a performance levelthat will challenge them and show themwhat makes a sailboat work. I started sail-ing 505s as a freshman in college, and itwas the best thing I ever did for my sailingcareer. All of a sudden I had a clue abouttuning, weight movement, and what ittook to do well in this type of boat. It tooka while to succeed in the class, but onceyou can make a 505 go fast, you can getonto any boat, anywhere and make it cook.
JF: Like many people, some of your earliestsailing experiences were on a Sunfish. Howdid these experiences influence your path insailing? What other early experiences droveyou into competitive sailing?
PA: I took to sailing very quickly when Iwas young. I did a bunch of reading beforeI went sailing for the first time, and as aresult it all made perfect sense to me. I wasmoved into the advanced class after thefirst week and the advanced class was allabout racing. I won the first regatta Ientered, NBYA Junior Race Week, whereI sailed Sunfish Doubles with my friendChris Plant. I raced locally for severalyears, winning bay championships, andwas then given the chance to sail in theYouth Nationals in 1983. I did not do thatwell, finishing 37th out of 50, but it wasgreat exposure for me, and showed me thatI was indeed a small fish in the big pond.
I think the period that I learned the mostwas during my college years, when I sailed
a ton in just about every boat I could geton or in. We didn’t have a coach at Yale, sothe team was self run. Basically a group of us decided that we wanted to get good,and we worked hard to achieve that. I started sailing 505s and FDs, which wasa real eye opener! I give my good friend,Zack Leonard, a lot of credit for helpingme refine my sailingduring this time. Wewere fierce friends,competing against eachother and working toimprove.
JF: I get the feeling thatyour campaign withHowie is much differentthan any other you’vebeen involved with inthe past. Is this a truestatement? If so, what isdifferent about the campaign and how youhave personally approached it?
PA: Howie is just very organized and driv-en. It was a very easy program to jumpinto, and I am very thankful for the chanceto sail with him. We have a lot of fun. It isjust so easy when you have your shittogether, and you can focus on enjoyingthe time on the water. Howie has manyyears of experience, but I think that wherehe is the farthest ahead is in the shoresidelogistics. There is a system for everything,and everything has been trimmed down tothe bare minimum. He does not have abig tool box or a lot of extra stuff, but wealways seem to have just what we need.
It is interesting to see the California side ofthe 505 scene. We sailed a lot with Nickand Mike leading up to the 1998 Worlds,but our approach was totally different. Wewere not as focused in our approach toanything, we just sailed together a lot. Wedeveloped speed, but it seems like it wasmore by chance. We always tuned by feel,while Howie tunes by the numbers. Hekeeps track of what has worked in the past,and goes back to it until it is proven wrong.We would change things around until theyfelt fast, and then check out how we weregoing. When we talked during a tuningsession, we would be talking about this“feel”. “Does the boat feel loose/bound up,main driven/jib driven, can you pull the
FALL 2000 25
At Guck, Inc., with high-aspect 505 rudder.
2000 East Coast Championships.
26 TANK TALK
bow down and accelerate, or do you tipover...” When I first started sailing withHowie, I would ask him how the boat“felt”, and he would say, “I don’t know...”It seemed like he had never really consid-ered that as criteria for tuning. Interesting,I guess.
Personally, I am just psyched for thechance to learn even more about 505 sail-ing and sailing in general. I think that it isreally great to get out and sail with asmany people as you can. I always learn by
getting in the boat with someonenew, even if you do not think thatthey are very good. They may askyou a question, and in answeringyou may discover something aboutwhat you thought was true. In hav-ing to explain, it forces you to havea deeper understanding, and youmay find that you really have nogood reason for believing some-thing that you have held true foryears!
JF: I’ve heard that you have threat-ened never to sail keelboats again.Would you consider sailing in anAmerica’s Cup campaign as a professional?
PA: In fact I do not sail keelboatsanymore. People call me, and I saythat my day rate is $400 plusexpenses, and they tell me to getlost! No one really knows who Iam outside of the dinghy world, so
they are not prepared to pay me to sail. Ithink keelboats all suck, so I will not goout with them unless I am paid. It allworks out very nicely!
The AC thing is sort of interesting, but Ido not think that I would thrive in thatenvironment. I would have the same atti-tude that I have with other keelboat sail-ing, and I am sure that I would get thesame reception. It is so political I am notsure I could handle it. I think I would havemore fun running the logistics of a pro-gram like that and just stay out of the cry-ing game on the boat. The sailing just doesnot look that fun. I would rather fly a hull.
JF: When you say “fly a hull”, I assume youare referring to sailing you’re single-handedA Class Catamaran. Is it more fun for youto sail alone or on a boat with a good teamatmosphere?
PA: “Fly a hull” is an all-purpose remarkthat we use in a lot of situations, much likethe well known “forgetaboudit”. Whenyou go smoking by a rail full of keelboaters you say “fly a hull!” Want to gosailing, “let’s go fly a hull!” Saying good-bye to a friend, “hey man, fly a hull.” Itworks in a lot of situations! Anyway, I doreally love A Class sailing, although I havebeen without a boat for almost a year now.We have other cats at the shop that I sailquite a bit, and they are all very fun!
JF: Describe your pre-race routine that helpsyou establish the best mood for competition?Do your target moods vary depending onthe conditions?
PA: This is a very interesting topic, onethat most people do not have a clearunderstanding of. Your level of stimula-tion is very important to how you will per-form in a competitive environment, and itis different for everyone. If you are too“excited” or “up” you will not performwell, you will have vague focus, and youwill not be able to execute as smoothly asyou are capable. You will also be prone toloose your shit if something goes wrong,missing other opportunities to gain. Theopposite is true if you are under stimulat-ed. You will not have the fire to roll overthe guy to leeward, and you may miss asplit second opportunity because you arenot in the game. Everyone’s ideal level ofstimulation is different, and you can onlyreally tell where you should be by trial anderror. When you have a good day, thinkback on your mood starting off, and try toget back to that place the next day. Onceyou find your zone, stick to the routinethat got you there, including diet (food,coffee), timing (rushed or leisurely) andinteraction with other people and boats.
For me, I like to be relaxed and focusedbefore a race. The way I get this statevaries, but in general I like to be early tothe course, just sail around for awhile, dosome tacks, set, a few gybes, takedown,and then talk about the conditions andwhat we see on the water. I do not like totune before the race with other boats, as Ifeel this only distracts me from my job,which is to figure out the conditions andwhat we are going to do in the upcomingrace. We will tune with others, but this ismore for Howie, and I try not to get tooinvolved with our setup. My feeling is that
Peter Alarie with Zack Leonard at theCoast Guard Academy.
FALL 2000 27
we are not going to learn something new10 minutes before the start, and we maywell just get freaked out about our setup,thinking we are slow. The only thing Ireally care about is that we will be fastenough to race up the first beat. I knowthat in general we have this kind of speed,so I just do not want to think about it.Hitting the first shift or being on the cor-rect side of the beat is much more impor-tant to me.
As far as different conditions, my moodsdo vary a bit. I used to really hate light air,but I got into it by changing my attitude,thinking of it more as a chess game, tryingto out fox and out maneuver the otherboats. I get into being really still and try-ing to really feel the boat and find waysthat I can make it go faster, find morewind, or just figure out what may happennext. In heavy air, it is more of a thrill rideand you can let the adrenaline take over abit (but not too much!). This is more ofthe gear jamming mentality, where youjust try to grind down the opposition, orget past them with an explosively perfectgybe in that gnarly puff. But underneath,there is still that focused calm, where youjust do not get rattled, you just keep doingyour best. Jonathan McKee used to coachus in the FDs, and his mantra was always“no matter what happens, you’ve got torace from where you are.” Pretty soundadvice, and it helped me control my tem-per and stay in the game, no matter howbad I may be doing.
JF: Can the 505 continue its success wellinto the 21st Century? If so, how?
PA: I think the 505 is a very balanced andexciting boat, and that is the reason that ithas survived so well. I am not sure whatwill keep it going or kill it, but there sureseem to be a lot of opinions out there. Thelarge spinnaker movement does not haveme convinced, but I have not sailed withone. Tight reaching is certainly one of thefeatures of the boat, and I would be waryof moving away from this. If we go withbigger kites, we will have to sail deeperreaches, and that just may not be as cool.My experiences with the A Class haveshown me that lighter weight is a goodthing, and the switch to carbon rigs needsto happen. Aluminum is a bad material fora mast, and we should all just suck it upand figure out how to make carbon mastswork with our existing fleet structure. It
would also make sense to slowly takeweight out of the boats. If we could beracing around in 220 pound boats withcarbon masts, we would not need biggerkites! But who knows, changes like thatcould just kill the whole thing. It does notseem like there is much wrong with whatwe have now. Is change necessary for thefuture success, proba-bly so. Looking ahead50 years, the 505 willseem like a Snipe if it istotally stagnant. Makeit lighter, and it willalways seem modern.
JF: Are you determined to sail the 505 until you win a WorldChampionship?
PA: I do not really feelany pressure to keepsailing 505s, or anyother boat, for a goallike that. There is somuch that goes intowinning a regatta ofthat caliber, it all has to be right. Being thebest team is not always enough, you haveto catch some breaks and be fortunate toavoid the weirdness. As with any othertype of sailing, I will keep doing it as longas it is fun. I no longer feel that I have any-thing to prove, so sailing is competingwith other things for my free time. Thething that is the most fun wins out in thetime lottery. I have been getting into catsailing a lot. That has really inspired meon the sailing front. Probably the best raceI did last year was a cat event that racedaround Key Largo, 110 miles over twodays. The second day we tight reached 44miles up the bay side of the Key, followingdodgy channel markers, weaving throughreefs and over sandbars, paddling throughmangroves. When we got the finish line, Icould not believe it; I thought we had 20miles to go! Average speed for the leg wasover 20 knots, and we were literally pad-dling for about 12 minutes of the 2 hour10 minute elapsed time! After a race likethat, you realize that there are a lot of real-ly fun things out there!
Will I continue to sail 505s? You bet. Weare rigging up a new boat at the shop, andI am sure I will be sailing with someonenext year. The boats are just too muchfun! }
Peter in Bristol, 1998, racing on A-Cat.
Jonathan
McKee used to
coach us, and
his mantra
was “no matter
what happens,
you’ve got
to race from
where you are”.
28 TANK TALK
Iam a crisis looking for a mid-life soan office mate mentions thatTESOD, our local Tuesday night
one design series, is starting next week.This is a great activity organized by theSevern Sailing Association and Annapo-lis Fleet 19, a “run what you brung”event that mixes 505s, Lasers, Jets,Thistles, Lightnings, Solings, Bytes,Vanguards 15s and anything else thatmight show up. The 505s generally putmore than a few boats on the line for asmany short course races as fit betweenabout 6 p.m. and twilight.
The committee boat sits just out of spit-ting range from the bulkhead at SSA.The action is close and furious withboat handling being even more critical.The rules apply but sort of like afterwork softball. There are no protests, butyou can threaten to kill people whocheat and threaten to kill people whoaccuse you of cheating.
I show up at SSA on a Tuesday around5 p.m., and it’s like I walked in to donateblood. Everyone is real happy to see me.Instead of a chase lounge the attendantsare trying to find me a spot in a feather-weight, wind-driven rocket ship lacedwith about five miles of impossibly thin,color-coded line.
“Sure,” I am thinking, “I have sailed mywhole life, I can fake this.” My drivertalks about rake and twings and ramsand stuff luffs, and I feel my brain beginto pre-bend. The boat becomes riggedand we truck the dolly over to thelaunch ramp. My borrowed harness ismissing a couple of inches of inseam,but other than that I am not too queasy.
I concentrate on guiding the boat downthe ramp and step right into a gapbetween two sections of the ramp. Itwas like the hangman pulled the trapdoor on the gallows. My driver asks if
I’m all right then says, “I think I’ll takeout my contacts.” There’s a vote of con-fidence.
We sail out in a 12-15 knot breeze andhead up wind. I start to hike out. I hear,“Dude, go out.” He points to the tra-peze ring. So I grab the ring, place itcarefully under the harness hook, testthe height, stand up, adjust the harness,re-check the hook, pull on the trap wire,swing out a little, squeeze a foot ontothe rail and swing out. “No, dude, youjust go out, hookingup before you go isfor putzes.”
Ready to tack? Thereis a good deal of non-verbal 505 communi-cation, like a game of bridge. I answerready to tack byuncleating the jib andam promptly pinnedby the boom againstthe former windwardtank. I unhook beforethe boat flips and flailmy way over the cen-terboard, under theboom, behind the vang and through thejib sheets that look like a perfect cat’scradle. I pop out the other side expect-ing a medal. “Dude, get trapped out.”
After a couple of tacks, we are a half-mile to windward of the start. “Ready tohead back,” the driver says, “let’s hoist.”I see no cooler in this boat, so I assumethe driver does not mean beers. I askbefore moving and somehow this guytalks me through a spinnaker set. Theraw power is overwhelming and, for anyadrenaline junkie, life altering.
The spinnaker sheet shreds my oldcycling gloves and then my hands. I donot care. The chute starts to curl. I sheet
in and “pop” the boat jumps out of thewater. Totally extended on the wire, thespray is like a fire hose against my legs.
We douse, head up to the start and spinin circles, on purpose, like the WhirlingTeacup ride in Disneyland. We managea decent start without any death threats,per se.
After what seems like five tacks in thirtyseconds, we round and set the spin-naker. With six boats roaring towards
the jibe mark about 100 feet away,“Glad I’m in a rental.”
Jib sheet, pre sheet, swing in, lose sheet,twing, blow pole, duck, throw, pole on,grab sheet, swing out, sheet in, hook up.Eight point five seconds plane to plane.Well, not quite.
Back at SSA after four or five races, I canbarely stand. I am worthless putting theboat away. As my driver leaves he asks,“See you next Tuesday?” “For sure!” Isay and stumble off to rehydrate.
I learned a lot that night, but I never didlearn where all the bruises came from.}
s t o r y
FALL 2000 29
Takin’ for a Ride B y Wa l t e r R e i t e r
TESOD Action
30 TANK TALK
r e s u l t s
PACIFIC COAST CHAMPIONSHIPRedwood City, CA / Aug. 5-7Moderate-Heavy Winds
PLACE / TEAM POINTS
1 8266 Howard Hamlin/Peter Alarie 112 8714 Mike Martin/Steve Bourdow 143 7201 Dan Thompson/Andy Zinn 244 7771 Andy Beeckman/Ben Benjamin 29 5 8680 Bruce Edwards/Dave Shelton 356 7873 Nick Adamson/Alan Norman 407 8627 Tim Collins/Bill Smith 438 7875 Jeff Miller/Paul Allen 499 8012 Henry Amthor/Mike Smith 6610 8681 Robin Brown/John Fry 7111 8084 Colin Campbell/Rob Waterman 75 12 8554 Douglas Hagan/Stuart Park 7613 7773 Dalton Bergan/Jeff Nelson 9714 8593 Evert Meyer/Chris Hanke 9715 8024 David Chatham/Matt McQueen 102 16 7068 Ted Ferraone/J.B. Ferraone 10917 7096 Bryan Largay/Matt Sanders 11518 8085 Rene de la Rie/Allan Freedman 11619 6991 Bill Jenkins/Dan Merino 13420 7069 Patrick Whitmarsh/David Byron 135 21 7359 Gari Ruggles/Greg Gump 13622 7095 Bailey White/Patrick Weaver 13823 7610 Cynthia Des Brisay/Charles Hansen 13924 8735 Dustin Romey/Karl Knauss 139 25 7349 Larry Tuttle/Jay Kuncl 14526 7153 Carisa Harris/Alex Mehran 14727 7156 Aaron Ross/Greg Sorrells 14728 7886 Dan Strellis/Kristin Guinther 151 29 7876 Steven Lieberman/Joshua Lieberman 157
NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPSanta Cruz, CA / August 9-13 Moderate-Heavy Winds
PLACE / TEAM POINTS
1 8714 Mike Martin/Steve Bourdow 11 2 8266 Howard Hamlin/Peter Alarie 11 3 8680 Bruce Edwards/David Shelton 17 4 7201 Dan Thompson/Andy Zinn 28 5 7349 Mike Holt/Jay Kuncl 29 6 7873 Nick Adamson/Alan Norman 38 7 7875 Jeff Miller/Paul Allen 42 8 8631 Ryan Cox /Carl Smit 45 9 8681 Robin Brown/John Fry 49 10 8627 Tim Collins/Bill Smith 60 11 8722 Macy Nelson/Michael Welch 69 12 8084 Colin Campbell/Rob Waterman 77 13 8554 Doug Hagan/Stuart Park 79 14 8734 Ethan Bixby/Ali Meller 85 15 8012 Henry Amthor/Douglas Amthor 92 16 8643 Barney Harris/Jesse Falsone 95 17 7153 Chuck Asper/Alex Mehran 96 18 8024 David Chatham/Matt McQueen 104 19 7096 Brian Largay/Matt Sanders 104 20 8013 Dave Smith/Rick Thompson 118 21 7771 Andy Beeckman/Ben Benjamin 120 22 8731 Thad Lieb/Paul Kerner 130 23 8192 John Hayley/Winson Cummin 131 24 8610 Ted Ferrarone/J.B. Ferrarone 137 25 7774 Paul Tara/Phil Vandenburg 138 26 8593 Evert Meyer/Chris Hanke 152 27 8081 Joey Pasquali/Rory Giffen 159 28 7353 Ian Plumbley/Tom Burnard 171 29 8085 Rene de la Rie/Allan Freedman 174 30 7877 Steve Anderes/Bruce Fleming 175 31 7610 Cynthia Des Brisay/Charles Hansen 176 32 7773 Charlie Boukather/Jeff Nelson 197 33 7095 Bailey White/Patrick Weaver 200 34 7613 Erik Cockburn/Phillip Ryan 212 35 8735 Dustin Romey/Karl Krauss 213 36 8559 Paul Von Grey/Peter Tuck 221 37 6983 Eric Willis/Wendy Herzberg 222 38 7156 Aaron Ross/Greg Sorrells 222 39 7876 Steven Leiberman/Joshua Leiberman 234 40 6991 Bill Jenkins/Dan Merino 237 41 8073 Catherine Viechnicki/Steven Long 239 42 7611 Craig Perez/Kevin Rey 244 43 7886 Dan Strellis/Kirstin Guinther 268 44 6227 Grant Murray/Ian West-Lewis 276 45 7318 Richard Peck/Allan C. Wilson 276
EAST COAST CHAMPIONSHIPNew Bedford, MA / August 25-27Light-Moderate Winds
PLACE / TEAM POINTS
1 CAN8264 Jeff Boyd/Martin ten Hove Kingston, ON 16
2 USA8083 Neal Fowler/Dave Dyson Dennis, MA/Westport, CT 17
3 USA8627 Tim Collins/Mike Mills Bristol/Portsmouth, RI 19
4 USA8754 Lars Guck/Peter Alarie Bristol, RI 20
5 USA8012 Henry Amthor/Jesse Falsone Hampton, VA/Annapolis, MD 22
6 USA8734 Ali Meller/Fiona Lockwood Annapolis, MD 23
7 USA8722 Macy Nelson/Mike Welch Baltimore, MD/Boston, MA 34
8 USA8085 Rene de la Rie/Allan Freedman Wash D.C./Silver Spring, MD 46
9 USA8194 Tom Kivney/Adam Schell Hingham, MA/Kingston, ON 48
10 USA8013 David Smith/Rick Thompson Southport, CT/Boston, MA 60
11 CAN194 Ian Torrie/Mairus Rzucidlo Ottawa, ON 74
12 USA8624 Dave Stetson/Andrew Fowler Columbus, OH/Kingston, ON 77
13 USA7068 Colin Merrick/Tal Ingram 78 14 USA8015 Latne Montague/Monte Schumpert
Alexandria, VA/Vienna, VA 79 15 USA7148 Peter Mignerey/Bill Hientz
College Park, MD 90 16 USA8311 Chris Yindra/Mark McCarthy
Huntington, VT 91 17 USA6985 Mike Breton/Dylan Breton
Columbia, MD 92 18 USA7771 Chad Atkins/Ed Petit de Mange
Newport, RI 98 19 USA8689 Nick Grey/Jim Hannan/
Gerard Kivney Rochester, MA 11220 USA7876 Steve Lieberman/Josh Lieberman
Bethesda, MD 11221 USA7839 Doug DeCouto/Frank Maldari
Bermuda 12322 USA8737 Peter Durant /Tom Hurwitch
Falmouth, MA 13823 USA7793 Geoff Schaefer/Dave Seiple
Hilliard 14124 USA3977 Hal Jordan/Jeff Wren
Bow, NH/Bangor, ME 150
2000 North American
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FALL 2000 31
Class officers are putting on the bigpush for the bigger spinnaker.They claim that the big spin-
naker —which I’ve dubbed the BS—will draw sailors who’d otherwise buyone of the myriad fad dinghies or skiffs.Embracing the BS is a matter of classevolution, or even mere survival, theyargue. But, in fact, there is strong oppo-sition to the BS among the rank and file.And for good reason. Our symmetrickite, single trapeze and all-around-easily-sailed boats are unlikely ever toattract the skiff crowd, even with the BSon board. So let’s ditch the big spinnakerbefore it’s too late. Here’s why.
STRUCTURE: Many BS users report“alarming” or “frightening” distortionof unsupported upper masts in heavyair. No masts have broken—yet—butbent masts or fatigue failures are likely,especially with older masts. Even extrashrouds are suggested! We don’t allhave spare masts.
SIZE: Many older boats can’t easilyaccommodate longer sails and shouldn’t.With double patches, the fatter stowedsail won’t fit in many older boats’ small-er tubes. Replacing launcher and tube isa major and expensive rebuild.
A lower pole prevents current conven-ient pole stowage and dangerously lim-its visibility. Spinnaker windows areimpractical.
Don’t be fooled, new sheave-boxeslocated higher on the mast will berequired. A simple eye strap and blockwill not do the job, as BS proponentsclaim, since the spinnaker halyard wouldget fouled without a new sheave box.
MONEY: Most BS proponents nowconcede that we will have to buy newkites; modified won’t do. To that $500-$700, add new halliard, pole fitting,
sheave box, modified pole and spinnakerstowage, possible launcher rebuilding,etc. That rings in for perhaps $1000-$2000. All existing spinnakers wouldbecome obsolete if performance claimsprove true. Worse, optimizing newdesigns requires years of expensive trialand error.
The loudest advocates seem to be “top-tier” sailors with newer boats and deeppockets who buy new sails annually (andboats often) and think everyone does.Owners of older boats, and many 505prospects, cannot afford to spend thou-sands of dollars to become or remaincompetitive.
PERFORMANCE: Yes, taller spin-nakers can be faster on deeper reaches.(Duhhh.) Reports (anecdotal, not objec-tive) generally agree that chief benefitsare in heavier air. General benefits seemlimited to dedicated triangles. Reducedclose-reaching ability (and harder boat-and sail-handling) often is acknowl-edged. This means courses must bemodified to make the BS worth using!
Indeed the BS may increase speed onsome courses (so could other, cheaperchanges) but that hardly justifies a majorsail plan revision. Performance is NOTthe issue; forced obsolescence is. Werace other 505s, not other classes.
RECRUITING: Look around! Majorregatta attendance is setting records!Changing our sail plan “to recruit newsailors” seems absurd. One changewon’t help buying patterns and mayhurt them. Since the BS, if it helps per-formance, will make obsolete all existingspinnakers and many older boats, we’lllose valuable young or lower-incomeprospects. The pool of used boats, towhich we point so proudly, would besharply reduced.
DON’T MESS WITH
PERFECTION
The 505’s powerful sail plan rightly hasremained unchanged since its introduc-tion. Rule changes of any type havebeen rare. This is a primary reason forthe 505’s durability. Change shouldrequire powerful, compelling reasons,and the BS offers none. (Advances citedin the “cotton sails, wood masts” clicheall were made UNDER EXISTINGRULES. The only major change, spin-naker launchers, left sail plan and boatspeed unchanged and many sailors stillchoose bag boats 30 years later.) Oncewe abandon rule stability, other boon-doggles are inevitable. Already fromPandora’s box comes the next, carbon-fiber masts—like the BS, large expensefor questionable gain. Can new calls forasymmetrics, double traps and bow-sprits be far behind?
Most winning sailors don’t use maxkites; so we need still bigger ones, inval-idating existing sails and boats, to makeus more like the come-and-go faddinghies and nearly-unsailable skiffs?Since the BS won’t help (and may hurt)on current courses, we must changecourses to give the new sail an advan-tage, making obsolete existing sailsbought in good faith? Everyone DOESNOT buy new sails yearly and hullsevery couple of years! Adopting the BSwould force large outlays, perhapsrepeatedly over several years, and wouldmake 505 sailing more inconvenientand difficult in many ways.
The BS either helps performance,leaves it unchanged, or hurts it. If thefirst, it makes obsolete hundreds ofthousands (or millions) of dollars inexisting sails and/or boats, and shouldbe rejected. If the second, it offers noth-ing and must be rejected. And if thethird, bury it forever. }
o p i n i o n
It’s Time to Ditch the Big Spinnaker B y D a v e E b e r h a r d t
The Magazine of the 5O5 ClassAmerican Section
607 Bennington LaneSilver Spring MD 20910
➤ New EnglandTim Collins(H) 401-254-9668(W) 508-746-5120 ext [email protected]
➤ East CoastMacy Nelson(H) [email protected]
➤ MidwestGraham Alexander(H) 614-861-1491(W) [email protected]
➤ RockiesKem King(H) 303-795-6506(W) [email protected]
➤ West CoastDave Shelton(H) 831-454-0785 (also fax)(W) [email protected]
➤ Pacific NorthWest Paul Von Grey(H) [email protected]
505 REGIONAL CONTACTS
Governor and His Cup, 1973Governor Thomas J. Meskill (left) poses with the winners of both the Connecticut Governors Cup and the Northeastern RegionalChampionship at the Niantic Bay Yacht Club. Next to the governor is winning skipper Macy Nelson of the Black Rock Yacht Club ofBridgeport, and (from left) his crew Steve Benjamin and Neal Fowler, and Martin O’Meara, Commodore of the Niantic Bay Club.
PHOTO: THE DAY, NEW LONDON, CONN., MONDAY, JUNE 25, 1973
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