Funke Brothers win 505 Nationals in Mosselbay
The 2009 505 National Sailing Championships were held in Mosselbay from the 25th to the 27th of September. A total of 12 boats made it to the event with the fleet being made up of top sailors, amongst others the 2009 Lipton Cup Champion Helmsman David Rae and the 2008 505 National Champions Kyle Klaas and Robert von Gruenewaldt.
Several youth members sailed in the event and enjoyed themselves in the fantastic conditions sailing a great boat. Ryan Pentolfe, Alex Ham, Henko Holtzhausen and Eddie Forster showed that they could adapt equally to light or stormy conditions. We need more of this youthful enthusiasm in the 505 class.
On the registration and measurement the wind was howling offshore making conditions very tricky near the slipway. Conditions during the regatta ranged from light wind and sunny skies on the first day to rain and squalls of over 20 knots on the last day. This venue boasts a rich sea life including whales, dolphins, seals and of course sharks in a beautiful bay with ideal sailing conditions.
Mac Points Regatta
Perfect Regatta
On the weekend of the 21-22 February was the MAC Dingy Points Series held at False Bay Yacht Club down in Simons Town. With close to a hundred boats in all entered it was going to be a great event. Unfortunately only three 5s made it as injuries and broken boats stopped the other guys.
2008 Nationals report - Warwick Ham
505 Nationals - Henley Midmar Yacht Club
There were 4 father/son teams taking part in this year’s 505 nationals, (The Milln’s, Ham’s, Hogg’s, and Arthur’s) and a couple of potential family teams which we want to see on the water more often. (Holzhausen’s, Rogotzki’s, what about the Quarmby’s, the Holm’s and of course the Funke’s, just waiting for Thomas to return) There are also several youth teams and of course there is the Klaas family which suddenly seems to be quite dominant in the 505 class. What is their secret? Is it in the coffee or is it in the Jaffels?
Read more of my impressions of the racing near the middle of the fleet in the rest of the article below.
2008 505 Nationals report - Peter Funke
In his report on the 505 Nationals at HMYC Peter Funke concludes with one of the fundamental secrets of top performance.
"Nationals 2008 saw some great sailing and extreme competition with good close quarter racing at times. In a fleet of this nature it is very important to optimise boat handling skills. From my side the biggest challenge was to get my head outside the boat and to concentrate on the sailing and tactics at hand, especially with the conditions that we saw at Midmar this year."
Read the rest of Peter's report about racing near the sharp end of the fleet below.
2008 505 Nationals Report - Robert von Gruenewaldt
"Both Kyle and I would say that the biggest factor that contributed to our performance at the nationals was the fact that we didn’t sail with our “heads in the boat”."
This is the view of Robert von Gruenewaldt, the National Champion Crew aboard BRT.
Read more in his article below.
505 Northvaal championships – Vaal Cruising Association, April 2008
The 2008 Northvaal Championships were held at VCA over the weekend 26-28 April 2008. Here is Thomas' race report.
The results have been put up on the results page. There are also some cool photos courtesy of Rene', even the photo finish picture is there, have a look in the gallery!
2008 Northvaals Results & Action Photos
The results of the 2008 Northvaal Provincials are available in the results section.
There are also some excellent photographs courtesy of Rene. Click on the Gallery tab to see the photos.
We look forward to Thomas's race report later this week.
Western Cape Champs Results
Hudson and Rae win 505 Western Cape Champs by a single point! Team Funke was in close second with R Holm and D Rother coming in third!
ROUND THE ISLAND IN GOOD COMPANY - Albrecht Holm
Good company is, well you should know, a lot of 505’s well sailed! Seven 505's in the top 14 is well sailed!
I enjoyed Thomas’ report on this years’ RTI and would like to add my impressions and interpretations of the event as well as the lessons learnt from it.
RTIR Report - From Thomas Funke
This year’s Round the Island Race was a remarkable one. Sunday, the 3rd of February, dawned with not a breath of wind in the air. Amongst the 505 sailors there was some nervousness as to what the day would bring. Would it be a long day with an average speed of 2 knots…. or a day with record breaking conditions as experienced in 2007?
