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:: 2009 Season End Dinner - Top 10 crowned :: (189 Reads)
Posted by
warwick
on Friday, June 26, 2009 - 02:33 PM
Our thanks go to the volunteers who help on a regular basis with the running of 505 events at various clubs throughout the country, especially those involved in the sometimes difficult task of providing bridge and rescue for a competitive and not always appreciative fleet of sailors. We also took the opportunity to thank our wives, partners, girlfriends and in some cases parents for their support and involvement in our sporting activities.
The event, which was MC’d by a decidedly croaking Mark Biagio was also aimed at thanking those who had sponsored particular events or prizes for national or provincial events.
In his presidents report Peter Funke pledged the 505 classes support for the various growth initiatives which had been launched this year. These included the local boat building initiative headed by CJ Milln as well as the new and 2nd hand boat importation initiatives, which are all aimed at fostering growth in the local class by providing competitive boats at reasonable prices. Peter also mentioned several events planned for the future which are aimed at building competitive sailing on a national basis with the ultimate goal of getting a South African boat into the top 20 in the 505 World Championships. One such event is the South African Invitational Regatta where selected international teams are invited to participate in a regatta held offshore in South Africa during the European winter. The 505 class is also aiming to bid for a 505 Worlds event to be hosted in South Africa in 2012, with the potential site for this event being Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. A presentation launching this bid would be delivered at this year’s Worlds to be held in San Francisco, USA in August of 2009.
The current national champions Robert von Gruenewaldt and Kyle Klaas put in a supreme team effort and presented the recipe for success in winning a string of regattas during the season and being crowned the 505 National Champions at Midmar in September 2008. Those who missed the final dinner, also missed the secret, but there were several important pointers they highlighted which combined to make this a winning team. Boat preparation, plenty of practice, getting to the start on time, keeping your head out of the boat and having fun were all ingredients which helped get these two youngsters to the sharp end of the fleet. Now that we all know what to do for next season let’s see if Kyle and Robert are able to defend their position and come out on top again in 2009.
Our international 505 class secretary Peter Roos gave us an overview of the growth within the international fleet and welcomed the local initiatives to grow the class within South Africa. Peter highlighted the current debate within the class around reducing the overall cost of boat ownership and international competition and gave some insight into the current direction towards Carbon Booms and Spinnaker poles.
The 505 National ranking system, which was implemented for the first time this season was explained by Warwick Ham and some interesting statistics about the past season were highlighted. It was encouraging to see 66 sailors with ranking points in this first year of the ranking system, of those were no less than 4 ladies, not bad for a boat which is seen as high powered and relatively complex to sail. There were also a large number of youth sailors in the class, which bodes well for the future growth of the class in South Africa.
The top 10 ranked sailors for the 2008-2009 season were:
1st Peter Funke
2nd Kyle Klaas
3rd Rudolph Holm
4th Warwick Ham
5th Mark Biagio
6th CJ Milln
7th Albrecht Holm
8th Robert von Gruenewaldt
9th Thomas Funke
10th Ferdinand Holm
Special prizes were handed out to the Grandson and Grandfather team of Antonio de Freitas and Tony Murray for their sterling effort in the Northvaal Championships and Orange Freestate Championships held recently at Aeolians.
The lucky draw for the Hyde Sails jib was drawn from a hat containing the names of up and coming keen youth sailors who had the potential to develop further in the class. The lucky winner was Nic Pratt from Cape Town, sailing in his first season in a 505 in his boat 7821. Congratulations Nic, now let’s see you leading the Cape fleet in preparation for the Nationals in Mossel Bay from the 24-27th September 2009!
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