The 2011 505 WA state championships were held at RFBYC on the 25th of September with a fleet of 10 competing. 6 races were held using gate starts and windward return courses. Winds were light to moderate and the racing was very tight particularly among the top 8 boats with margins between first and 8th less than a minute in nearly every race. Murray Smith,a veteran of the class, launched his new XSP 505 with a celebrity crew to help him along. Murray and Darren Nicholson finished 2nd in the first race to give everyone a scare and raced consistently to finish a creditable 6th overall. Newcomer Dave Tucker ( a top 15 finisher in the recent flying fifteen worlds in the UK) sailed well to finish 8th in his first 505 regatta.

After 6 races the series was tied between Peter Chapple/Matt Smith and Nick Davis/Mike Duffield but the title went to Pete on a countback. Brett Sharp/Anthony gaunt finished a close third followed by Mark Stowell/Ian Pinder who edged out Peter Nicholas/Fang for fourth and fifth respectively. Andrew Cawley won the under 21 award in his first 505 regatta.

The WA fleet has a busy season coming up culminating in the nationals next Easter in Mandurah. We will hold the 2012 WA States at Mandurah on the weekend before Easter and this will be open to any early arrivals for the nationals. Several WA boats will be going to next years worlds in La Rochelle with the container leaving Fremantle not long after the Nationals. There may be some room in this container for other boats as well plus others may choose to send their own containers direct from Fremantle without the need to return to the eastern states after the Nationals.

Matt Hansen

Skipper		Heat 1	     heat 2	     heat 3 	      heat 4 	      heat 5	     heat 6	       total	    discard	  final total
P Chapple	6		1		3		1		1		2		14		6		8
N Davis		1		2		1		4		5		1		14		5		9
B Sharpe	4		3		4		2		3		3		19		4		15
M Stowell	3		6		2		6		2		6		25		6		19
P Nicholas	5		4		5		3		6		4		27		6		21
M Smith		2		8		6		8		4		7		35		8		27
M Hansen	8		5		7		5		7		5		37		8		29
D Tucker	7		7		8		7		8		8		45		8		37
A Crawley	ocs		9		10		9		9		10		58		11		47
G Abbott	9		10		9		10		10		9		57		10		47