One point in it

The Brits and the Americans are having a close battle at the 505 World Championship in Hayling

With the strong winds that had caused racing to be postponed the previous day abating, the fourth race of the series was able to start on time.  The beat into the force four westerly was against the tide, and the received wisdom was that the right hand, inshore side of the track should pay.  However, not for the first time, Hayling Bay sprung a surprise with the early starters who went left being the first to show at the windward mark.  First round were the winners of race two, Ebbe Rosen and Olle Wenrup of Sweden, sailing with a new mast to replace the one broken in race three. Australian pair, Michael Babbage and James Mcallister, were newcomers to the leader board when they slipped round in second place.  Then came the American challenge with Howard Hamlin and Jeff Nelson being chased for the bronze medal position by Doug Hagan and Robert Woelfel.
 
The 505 Class changed its traditional course configuration a few years ago so that championship races now have two windward leeward laps and only one triangular lap around the gybe mark.  The fact this configuration keeps the race open for longer was proved on the next downwind leg when the puffs down the course created distinct overtaking lanes for those aware enough to exploit them.  There was much shuffling of the leading pack on this leg.  By the bottom mark, Hamlin and Nelson had taken the lead from Rosen and Wenrup, and both the American pair of Tyler Moore and Jesse Falsone and series leader, Mark Upton-Brown and Ian Mitchell had made purposeful gains.
 
On the next beat the race began to settle down.  Hamlin and Nelson were showing good speed and by the start of the next lap had stretched their advantage over the Swedes.  A closer tussle was going on between the next four boats, with Hagan and Woelfel, Moore and Falsone and Upton-Brown and Mitchell being joined by heavy air specialists, Stefan Boehm and Gerald Roos of Germany.
 
In view of the loss of racing the previous day, the Race Committee was keen to make sure two races were sailed today and therefore had set the upwind leg at only one nautical mile.  In the freshening breeze this meant that Hamlin and Nelson took the chequered flag barely an hour after the start.
 
By the start of race five the fleet of over a hundred 505’s was being tested by a breeze that was gusting between 18 and 24 knots.  In similar conditions to those during their victory in the epic race three, Australians Mike Quirk and Geoff Lange played pathfinder.  This should have been in their favour as the right hand side of the beat was now clearly paying most of the time.  However, this race was to be dominated by two British crews, Ian Barker and Mark Darling and the ever present Mark Upton-Brown and Ian Mitchell.  These two rounded the first mark in that order.  To emphasise that this was a good day for the host nation, they were closely followed by Debbie Darling and Paul Young.  As for the Americans that had shown so strongly in the previous race, none were in the top ten.
 
On the first downwind leg, Upton-Brown and Mitchell found more pressure by gybing inside Barker and Darling and by the bottom mark had nudged into the lead.  These two crews were giving a master class in heavy air sailing and by the end of the next beat they were still within a few boat lengths of each other, with a gap of over a minute back to the third placed boat of Ebbe Rosen and Olle Wenrup who have been consistent faces near the front during this series.
 
The two British boats stormed away down the two reaching legs and although the gusting wind was proving a test too far for some less experienced crews, they both executed the spinnaker hoist, gybe and drop immaculately  so that Barker and Darling were still looming large in Upton Brown’s mirrors as they rounded the bottom mark.  The decisive moment came when Upton-Brown’s tiller extension got caught when tacking near the start of the next beat.  This momentary delay to their progress was all that was needed to give Barker and Darling the chance they needed to sweep into the lead.  From then on they used what appeared to be a marginally better upwind speed to stretch away from their rivals.  In the meantime the Danish team of Jan Saugmann and Morten Ramsbaek had muscled their way past Rosen and Wenrup to the front of the rest of the fleet.  
 
Baring mistakes or gear failure the first two positions were secure by the start of the final lap. Barker and Darling eventually had a two minute advantage over Upton-Brown and Mitchell, who had a similar cushion between them and the third place boat.  However, further back the race was still very much alive.  Indeed the final long upwind leg of this race could prove one of the key moments of the whole championships.  After having spent most of the race out of the top ten, Howard Hamlin and Jeff Nelson played a blinding last lap, first moving into seventh place on the run and then picking the shifts correctly to pull up to fourth place by the finish.
 
This late charge by Hamlin and Nelson means that they can discard their tenth place from race one, which puts them only one point behind Upton-Brown and Mitchell in the overall standings, and five points clear of Quirk and Lange.  With three races still scheduled much excitement is anticipated over the next couple of days.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Tot
1st	Mark Upton Brown	Ian Mitchell	GBR	2	4	3	-6	2	11
2nd	Howie Hamlin	Jeff Nelson	USA	-10	5	2	1	4	12
3rd	Michael Quirk	Geoff Lange	AUS	4	7	1	-10	5	17
4th	Ebbe Rosen	Olle Wenrup	SWE	12	1	(114.0 DNF)	2	7	22
5th	Jan Saugman	Morten Ramsbaek	DEN	7	3	12	-16	3	25
6th	Tyler Moore	Jesse Falsone	USA	1	(114.0 DNF)	16	3	6	26
7th	Jens Findel	Johannes Tellen	GER	5	6	8	8	-11	27
8th	Boris Herrmann	Julien Kleiner	GER	8	2	7	-15	12	29
9th	Ian Pinnell	Steve Hunt	GBR	6	9	-11	7	10	32
10th	Ian Barker	Mark Darling	GBR	14	13	5	-20	1	33
11th	Douglas Hagan	Robert Woelfel	USA	25	8	6	4	(114.0 DNF)	43
12th	Stefan Bohm	Gerald Roos	GER	-45	29	4	5	9	47
13th	Mike Holt	Carl Smit	USA	-27	19	9	9	15	52
14th	Christian Kellner	Heini Rix	GER	9	14	(114.0 DNF)	14	16	53
15th	Philippe Boite	Fabrice Toupet	FRA	19	-30	10	12	19	60
16th	Hasso Plattner	Peter Alarie	GER	13	17	-25	18	13	61
17th	Robin Brown	Neil Fulcher	GBR	-58	18	17	11	21	67
18th	Debbie Darling	Paul Young	GBR	20	23	-35	23	8	74
19th	Charlie Walters	Dougal Cram	GBR	-26	22	21	26	17	86
20th	Cedric Bart	Ueli Marti	SUI	18	15	(114.0 DNF)	30	30	93
21st	Ben Moon	Nick Nelson	USA	17	25	27	24	(114.0 DNF)	93
22nd	Jens Hufnagel	Lars Dehne	GER	38	-40	13	27	20	98
23rd	Nigel Lott	Bob Franks	AUS	30	12	19	-39	38	99
24th	Hodgson		GBR	47	-63	14	21	18	100
25th	Nicki Daisenberg	Andreas Achterberg	GER	24	21	22	37	(114.0 DNF)	104
26th	Macy Nelson	Dustin Romey	USA	33	16	-39	22	37	108
27th	Rene Betschen	Patrick Ducommun	SUI	35	11	32	34	-51	112
28th	Michael Babbage	James McAllister	AUS	-68	58	20	13	22	113
29th	Pierre Jeangirard	Paul Von Grey	USA	32	20	29	32	-48	113
30th	Sophie Soellner	Wolfgang Stuckl	GER	16	-66	28	41	31	116
31st	Toby Dale	James Cole	GBR	-63	45	18	45	14	122
32nd	Pentti Matti	Otto Toivanen	FIN	40	28	15	-47	40	123
33rd	Ali Meller	Mike Coe	USA	28	35	(114.0 DNF)	36	24	123
34th	Magnus Nilsson	Andreas Carlsson	SWE	15	50	-53	28	32	125
35th	Christian Niefert	Thomas Weber	GER	-53	46	30	25	27	128
36th	Parker Shinn	Garreth Williams	USA	11	43	47	31	(114.0 DNF)	132
37th	Meike Schomaeker	Robert Rothe	GER	23	52	(114.0 DNF)	29	28	132
38th	Andrew Smith	Norman Byrd	GBR	31	-39	33	33	36	133
39th	Niediek Volker	Stefan Heising	GER	43	26	26	40	(114.0 DNF)	135
40th	Russell Short	Andrew Short	GBR	21	27	(114.0 DSQ)	60	29	137
41st	Earle Alexander	Ian Gregg	AUS	56	-78	36	19	33	144
42nd	Tom Bojland	Helge Rasmussen	DEN	42	24	37	-44	43	146
43rd	Rob Napier	Matt Bristow	GBR	36	51	41	-55	25	153
44th	Florian Stauffer	Phillipe Jacot	SUI	-65	42	24	51	39	156
45th	Martin Goult	Gordon Russell	GBR	49	49	40	-98	23	161
46th	Pierre-Jean Gallo	Regis Viateur	FRA	44	38	38	49	-52	169
47th	Richard Sims	Simon Wood	GBR	-61	37	34	53	46	170
48th	Henrik Buhl	Johnny Redholm	DEN	-59	53	31	46	41	171
49th	Helen Fisher	Angela Stenger	GER	3	54	70	48	-77	175
50th	Stuart Turnbull	Jason Lunn	GBR	22	56	42	-66	55	175
51st	Jan Forster	Daniel Wehden	GER	51	47	(114.0 DNF)	42	35	175
52nd	Richard Williams	Paul Davies	GBR	57	44	(114.0 DNF)	38	44	183
53rd	Dietrich Scheder	Rainer Goerge	GER	(114.0 DSQ)	10	114.0 DNF	35	26	185
54th	Ben Illiffe	Simon Lake	GBR	73	-80	23	56	34	186
55th	Christopher Dando	Donald Sloan	GBR	48	32	(114.0 DNF)	63	45	188
56th	Jim Blyth	Donald Aitkin	GBR	-62	33	43	57	56	189
57th	Jan Sell	Stefan Schmidt	GER	41	60	44	-68	50	195
58th	Charlie Stewart	Torsten Bastiansen	GBR	46	55	50	-69	54	205
59th	Terry Scutcher	Christian Diebitsch	GBR	52	31	(114.0 DNF)	17	114.0 DNF	214
60th	Kevin Cameron	Jeremy Manders	AUS	37	81	48	50	(114.0 DNF)	216
61st	Michael Ennis	Fenton Parsons	IRL	29	48	(114.0 DNF)	86	58	221
62nd	Terry Selfe	Alan Montague	GBR	-87	76	46	61	49	232
63rd	Jack Hayhurst	Adrian Coates	GBR	60	-67	56	59	57	232
64th	Ross Kenney	Adam Kenney	GBR	74	61	(114.0 DNF)	43	60	238
65th	Jean-Louis Guibbal	Matthieu Guibbal	FRA	-98	71	45	62	66	244
66th	Pierre Guibbal	Simon Chartier	FRA	-81	59	61	67	59	246
67th	Lars Bjerke	Tore Reinhold	SWE	-71	65	57	58	67	247
68th	Ben Farren-Price	Pete Brooke Houghton	GBR	76	68	52	52	(114.0 DNF)	248
69th	Ewen Barry	Charles Dwyer	IRL	54	34	(114.0 DNF)	54	114.0 DNF	256
70th	John Webster	Robert Burdekin	GBR	34	64	49	(DNC)	DNC	261
71st	Gilles Carvallo	Samuel Carvallo	FRA	95	-102	51	70	47	263
72nd	Ian McKeige	Douglas McKeige	USA	50	36	(114.0 DSQ)	DNC	68	268
73rd	Brian Newlyn	David Williams	GBR	67	57	(114.0 DNF)	85	61	270
74th	Raimo Raita	Juha Nurmela	FIN	75	-86	54	72	74	275
75th	Andrew Thorp	Nick Thorp	GBR	88	85	(114.0 DNF)	65	42	280
76th	Breele		FRA	64	88	(114.0 DNF)	64	64	280
77th	Bill Oliver	Dennis Cartwright	GBR	-85	77	65	76	63	281
78th	Alain Champeau	Phillipe leNorment	FRA	92	-94	55	73	62	282
79th	Jan Stoelken	Matthias Bruehl	GER	39	73	60	(114.0 DNF)	DNC	286
80th	Matthieu Devaux	Philippe Dubuc	FRA	-80	70	74	77	70	291
81st	Pierre Kieffer	Jean pol tousch	LUX	66	89	66	(114.0 DNF)	71	292
82nd	Antje Paulsen	Bjorn Schaar	GER	-103	96	59	81	72	308
83rd	Greg Brown	Mary Brown	GBR	-96	87	62	91	69	309
84th	Jean Philippe Chartier	Alain Chartier	FRA	83	75	71	-87	80	309
85th	Alastair Milton	Laurence Milton	GBR	89	90	(114.0 DNF)	79	53	311
86th	Ian Pavey	Neil Manning	GBR	-93	83	63	92	73	311
87th	Jari Makela	Teemu Vastamaki	FIN	55	72	(DNC)	75	114.0 DNF	316
88th	Jim Berry	Richard Berry	GBR	82	95	58	82	(114.0 DNF)	317
89th	Martin Stainsby	Martin Grady	GBR	70	62	(114.0 DNF)	74	114.0 DNF	320
90th	Tony Power	Stuart Howells	GBR	78	84	64	95	(114.0 DNF)	321
91st	Michel Boiry	Chartier Thomas	FRA	-100	79	73	93	76	321
92nd	Peter Halliwell	David Miller	GBR	94	-99	68	89	75	326
93rd	Ben Jones	David Thorpe	GBR	84	82	(114.0 DNF)	96	65	327
94th	Martin Wedge	Scott Allen	GBR	77	69	(114.0 DNF)	71	114.0 DNF	331
95th	Jacques Armengaud	Louis Armengaud	FRA	-105	104	69	88	79	340
96th	Benoit Raucent	Philippe Chevalier	BEL	-104	101	75	90	81	347
97th	John Wyles	Sol Marini	USA	79	41	(114.0 DNF)	114.0 DNF	DNC	348
98th	Patrick McGale	Alex Cull	GBR	102	98	67	84	(114.0 DNF)	351
99th	Brett Townsend	Andy Denniss	GBR	86	74	(114.0 DNF)	80	114.0 DNF	354
100th	Herve de Kergariou	Jaques Gillet	FRA	(114.0 DNS)	DNC	72	78	114.0 DNF	378