The 5o5
Archive
THE GOOD OLD DAYS
My first wild trapeze boat was the great 505 while I was at the
Univ. of Wisconsin in 1958. I and a French student friend of mine
got a hold of a beat up one, fixed it all up, total new varnish
job, added some funny crude ball bearing homemade blocks I hacked
together for our iceboats and ripped off for the 505.
Classes? What classes? Maybe attend morning classes, just enough
to be a student, barely, but then the afternoons were spent
tearing all over Lake Mendota in front of the campus yelling our
heads off! Foul weather gear? Dry suits? Nah, plastic garbage bags
over sweat shirts and Levis was all the fashion we could muster.
The 505 grabbed lots of attention because it was the only boat
allowed on the lake by the Univ. Life Guard Station when it was
hootin' the tops off the waves. Showing off to the girls was an
added bonus until we stepped ashore. Looking at a couple of mad,
grinning, soaked to the bone, shivering guys wearing shredded
garbage bags didn't seem to impress them. So, we slopped beer
without them and saved money to boot!
The 505, what a super boat, I was hooked!
– Peter Harken, Founder - Vanguard Sailboats and Harken Yacht Equipment
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Interview with Peter Harken on a visit to
Sweden, October 2023 (Facebook)
