Sailing Magazine
pic by Richard Crockett
by Richard Crockett
This event got off to an ignominious start with the pre-worlds being something of a catastrophe as reported by Andrew Heathcote.
“The MSC Worlds 2000 got off to a windy start on 13 November when a 50-knot westerly buster during race one of the pre-worlds regatta, wreaked havoc with the fleets of 22 Flying Dutchmen and 61 505s.
“The FDs, sailing on the inshore course came off the better of the two fleets with no damage more serious than a few broken masts. In the 505 fleet, however, the rate of attrition was far higher. Three boats were lost, two of them washing up on beaches on the north coast a few days later. Sadly these boats were retrieved in far more than one piece and will never sail again. Racing on the 505 course started with the wind up at around the 30-knot mark and building rapidly. Most of the fleet made it to the first mark without incident though some decided wisely during the course of this leg to sail straight past the mark and head for home. For the rest it was a wild ride downwind under spinnaker with several swimmers along the way, especially around the gybe mark.”
A bonus bread today is an interview with Les Nathanson who was out from Australia for the event.
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE: Pages from 2001 01 – SAILING Magazine – OCR
