Martin and Lowry win 505 Worlds

Eighty-nine teams competed in the 10-race 2019 505 World Championship held December 29 to January 7 in Fremantle, Australia. With two races planned for the final day, Mike Martin and Adam Lowry (USA) had already secured the title and did not sail, earning the fourth title for Martin and the second for Lowry.

It was a strong showing for the Americans with Mike Holt/ Carl Smit in second, Parker Shinn/ Eric Anderson in third, and Howard Hamlin/ Jeff Nelson in fifth. Despite the stacked fleet with Olympic Medalists, America’s Cup sailors and 10 previous World Champions, the California “Team Tuesday” formula seems to be working.

Martin/ Lowry and Shinn/ Anderson are training partners out of San Francisco, Hamlin of Long Beach and Nelson of Truckee along with seventh place finisher Reeve Dunne (sailing with skipper Ian Pinnell) are also part of the program. For previous World Champion Hamlin, this event was his 40th Worlds as a competitor.

“Our Team Tuesday training sessions out of the St. Francis Yacht Club really paid off,” shared Martin. “Training on the Cityfront every Tuesday prepared us for Fremantle conditions, particularly in the breeze. Five of our training partners finished in the top seven, so it shows how important our training program was to our mutual success.”

Team Tuesday was founded by Martin and Hamlin in support of the American 505 class. Its goal is to help accelerate the preparation, learning and development of its participants as they prepare for nationals and world titles in the 505, and has included coaching support from Jay and Pease Glaser of Glaser Sails (three of the this year’s top four competitors used Glaser Sails). Since its inception, it’s produced four world champions who have won a combined eight world championships.

The 2019 Worlds started each day at 11:00am with moderate but building breeze, which made certain that the following race or races would be in proper “Fremantle Doctor” conditions. Martin and Lowry started off the event with a 10th place finish in race 1, but then put together an impressive set of scores including a 2,1,1 on day three while other top competitors had finishes up and down the scoreboard.

“Tactically, it was really important to recognize when things were changing and be flexible,” said Lowry. “We didn’t see the normal Fremantle Doctor conditions early, so we need to stay nimble in our decision making. Starting with space was key to our strategy because as the breeze would come up, we could use our wheels to get up and go.”

According to Lowry, another key to their success in an event that saw its share of capsizes and carnage was being breakdown-free, but in race 7 there was a bit of drama when Martin and Lowry’s centerboard broke at its mounting hole.

Somehow, they managed keep the board in place by wedging a paddle in the centerboard case and still managed to pull out a keeper with a 4th place finish. Then in a real show of sportsmanship, Shinn and Anderson (sitting in 3rd overall) offered their spare centerboard, and Holt and Smit (sitting in second overall) sent their coach Rich Mundell in to get the board onshore.

“It’s great to sail in a fleet and be part of a community where the two teams with most to gain would go out of their way to help a fellow competitor,” said Martin. “This is why I sail 505s – great competition and even greater camaraderie.”

Martin and Lowry were able to swap boards on the water in time for race 8, in which they went on to score another 4th place. The finish was enough to lock up the series without having to sail the last two races of the final day.

Event details – Results – Tracking – Photos

Source: Stephanie Martin