RS500 World Championship at Aquavitesse, Holland - Overview
by Peter Curtis 9 Aug 2015 16:21 UTC
2-7 August 2015
The RS500 world championships have been steadily growing, and now in their sixth year they returned to the site of the very first event, at Bruinisse in the Netherlands. This year 64 boats were competing and the fleet was divided into flights and a qualifying series for the first time. Two days of qualifying should have seen six races, but the wind hadn't read the script and mostly stayed away on day one.
Only the one race was possible for both flights, with Peter and James Curtis taking the first race and Pete Barton and Heather Chipperfield (both GBR) the second. Day two saw the wind turn on, and there was some extremely good and tight racing at the front of the fleets in a nice moderate 12 to 15 knots - enough to be heated up nicely downwind, but not too alarming. Barton and Chipperfield continued their excellent early form to finish top of qualifying, with the Curtis's not far behind. Some well fancied teams from previous years hadn't shown the form that was expected of them, notably Malin Broberg and Johann Rook from Sweden back in 8th, while the Brits and Italians filled the top six spaces.
So the fleet was split into gold and silver fleets, and the full race series commenced. One of the two discards had been used in the qualifying series, so there was only one more to play with and eight races to go. Day three started breezy and by the end was decidedly fruity: a day for those carrying a little extra weight around the race course, and who could turn corners without falling over. Barton and Chipperfield carried on where they had left off from qualifying, while Jane Olive and Chris Tuckett (GBR) also started the day well.
The Italians unfortunately had a day to forget, with the two high places qualifiers struggling with the windy conditions. The two Curtis's steadily got better as the wind got stronger, and Broberg and Rook started to make up for their poor qualifying series with a very strong showing in the strong stuff, scoring 5, 1, 1. Gerard Marin and Paul Battle (ESP) had a 3 and 2 from the first two races of the day, but retired from the last race. The series was starting to have a strong wind specialists feel to it, but what would day four bring?
So day four started out quite promising, with a moderate 8-10 knots or so in the early stages, but the wind was easing all the time, and the leaderboard started to look quite different. The Italian teams who had done so poorly on day three came back strongly, while Pim and Lisa van Vugt (NED) had an excellent day with a 1 and 2.
Of course, three races had been scheduled, but after a couple of hours and three aborted attempts to sail the third race, the race officer gave it up as bad job and sent us all in. Barton and Chipperfield used up two of their three Get out of Jail Free cards, as races were abandoned when they were well back. The top of the leaderboard now had a very Nordic look, with Broberg and Rook moving up to second and Peter Bokmark and Martin Person up to fourth, and Martin and Axel Johansson moving into fifth.
And so to the final day of the regatta. Could Barton and Chipperfield hold off the charging Broberg and Rook? The day started with no wind and a postponement of an hour; then another hour. Would we get enough wind to launch, and would it be worth it if we did? Finally the breeze arrived, and exceeded all expectations. Another windy one!
The gold fleet were on the outer loop and all hoisted their kites to go across to the wing mark. Three of the top eight capsized trying, and the rest had to stow kites and two sail the last bit, before an exhilarating ride down the run. Broberg and Rook led the way, with the Curtis's giving chase up the beat. Both had mishaps down the final run and Marin and Battle took the win. Barton and Chipperfield had capsized on the reach to the wing mark so were behind the Swedes at this point.
Race two was dominated by the Swedes, both Bokmark and Person and Broberg and Rook, although the wind wasn't quite as strong. Broberg and Rook looked to have the championship but they were concerned about their start and it was confirmed by the committee boat after the race that they had been OCS. The championship had looked to be theirs, but now was snatched away from them with the third of Barton and Chipperfield's get-out-of-jail cards; but hang on, there was just enough time for the gold fleet to have the final race of the series, that was carried over from day four.
The third race of the day had all the main protagonists at the front, and although Broberg and Rook won the race, Barton and Chipperfield were only just behind and held on for the championship win.
Overall a wonderful week's sailing, with something for everyone, and warm and sunny conditions for those on the beach. The race organisation was excellent and the parties were as good as we have come to expect from this very friendly fleet.