505 Worlds Winners Mike Martin and Jeff Nelson (USA)

by Lynn Fitzpatrick on 30 Aug 2009 'I didn’t tell Mike this, but I didn’t sleep at all last night. It felt like Christmas,' said Stephanie Martin. Needless to say, the feeling of anticipation permeated the Martin family.

Mike Martin (USA) became the first 505 sailor ever to win the 505 World Championship as a crew (1999) and as a skipper (2009).

As Mike, Stephanie and Jeff Nelson celebrated on the beach a Crissy Field with champagne and chocolate chip cookies; all he could say was, 'I’m excited.'

He then described the crucial part of the starting sequence, when as Carl Smit, who was on the bow of the only other 505 who could take Martin/Nelson down, said, 'In breeze like this, they are hard to touch.'

Martin/Nelson left nothing to change during the starting sequence of the final race of the 2009 SAP 505 World Championship. They did not run from Mike Holt and Carl Smit (USA). Instead, they led their prey beyond the left side of the starting gate tacked ahead of them and set their trap. Holt/Smit were snared. Before they knew it, both boats were on port tack with Martin/Nelson in the catbird seat to leeward.

They throttled up and down above the starting line and ahead of the Pathfinder (rabbit). All the while both teams were searching for a hole to leeward.

Midway down the line they ducked into a thicket of boats and tacked onto starboard.

Martin/Nelson had enough distance and control of the situation that they scooped below Holt/Smit again.

Martin/Nelson had clearer air. Within no time, Nelson was out on the wire and the soon to be World Champions were ahead and to leeward of Holt/Smit in their favorite conditions – breeze on and a frothy San Francisco Bay. Said Martin, 'We had a perfect gate start and good speed. We were able to pull away from them.'

Martin/Nelson sprinted ahead and climbed to windward. The team rounded the first weather mark in second place to Jens Findel and Johannes Tellen (GER).

Holt/Smit were in the next group of boats and rounded in sixth place.

Martin/Nelson copped the lead by the bottom of the first run and extended while positions changed among those who were trying to keep up with them.

Martin/Nelson completed the series with nearly a perfect score. Each team’s seven best scores were counted. In a 98-boat fleet, they had a grand total of 8 points, meaning that their scoreline included six first place finishes and a solitary second place finish.

Stephanie Martin, who was part of the team when Mike and Howie Hamlin won the World Championship in 1999, said, 'They did a ton of boat work and thought about everything. They went at it with heart and soul and have a passion for the sport and the class.'

When the spectator boat returned to shore, Mike and Stephanie Martin and Jeff Nelson celebrated with Mike’s mother and sister, who flew in to watch the 2009 SAP 505 World Championship too.

The entire 505 World Championship fleet congratulated the winning team for their phenomenal display of skill in conditions that tested boats, equipment, strength, stamina and tactics throughout the week.