505 Dinghy and Annapolis 2017

I wandered over to my old sailing club, Severn Sailing Association, on Sunday and ran into Ali Meller, just in from Laser frostbiting. Ali is a long time 505 racer and I was interested in finding out how preparations are going for Annapolis to host the 505 Worlds in September, 2017. The 505 fleet at SSA is relatively small, ten boats or so, and to take on such a high-profile regatta as the 505 Worlds must be a daunting task for such a small group. To pull this one off, the 505 fleet has gone out to the Annapolis sailing community. Two yacht clubs are sharing the responsibility in running the event, SSA and Eastport Yacht Club and the RC is being recruited from the best of Annapolis. Given the strength of the dollar Ali expects the Worlds fleet to be around one-hundred, which, for North America, is huge numbers for a two man high performance dinghy.

Below is a great 505 promotional video shot by Chris Love, who does all of the Intercollegiate sailing reporting in the U.S. Although the 505 aficionados interviewed in this video downplay the intensity of the class, make no mistake; to race at the top level in the 505 is just below the commitment of an Olympic campaign. A true fanatics performance class.




International 505 Promotional Video from Chris Love on Vimeo.

Two photos of the 505 from the Earwigoagin archives; these taken at a SSA's Tuesday night series a couple of years ago.

Photo John Zseleczky

Photo John Zseleczky

For those who have dug back in Earwigoagin, you may have come across the fact that the blogmeister raced Internatonal 14's back in the 1970's and early 1980's. The International 14 of those years was very similar to the 505, single trapeze, big symmetrical kite. The modern International 14 has developed into a skiff but I occasionally wonder what the International 14 would look like today if it stuck with the rig of the 1980's - probably very similar to the current 505. A photo of the Canadian Harvey brothers ripping it, I think in 1980 (just had to sneak this in).

Photo Ellie Martin