From The President's Desk.....A message from the President of the International 505 Class Yacht Racing Association, Pip Pearson From the teenage days of stepping of a tennis court in September 1961 into the trapeze belt of a 505 (with no previous sailing training or experience) to the final race at Mounts Bay in August 1995, I reckon I've observed as many trends and changes as anyone. I was actively involved in our local associations' boat building program when fibre glass construction first became the "trend" and was around when "spruce" masts "exploded" at the gybe mark in a 25 knotter if the gybe wasn't executed as it should. I was there when "bendy booms" were the go and the "big thing" was to have a timber boom that would bend just that bit extra, without breaking, in order to flatten the main upwind. This all gave way to the advent of aluminium masts and booms and for awhile stainless masts were "vogue". Stainless masts were finally given their death knell when Jim Hardy (now Sir James Hardy) decreed that "all stainless masts should be " cut into 1/2 sections and sold off as egg rings"." Of course cotton sails were still around when I started sailing 505's but were rapidly replaced by "dacron". (Probably the most significant change to improve performance.) Throughout the last 34 years there have been continual changes which have helped make dinghies both become easier to sail and improve performance. The change from "galvanized" wire to stainless, "ball bearing" sheave blocks, improved material in rope manufacture, cam cleats (remember the original "tufnol" cam cleats, and the "jamb" cleats before "cam" cleats) Kevlar, carbon fibre and improved resins have all been improvements over the years which have helped out boats go faster last longer and make easier to sail. Where to next..... Technology has now made it very easy to build a boat down to minimum weight (and much below) which has brought about a pressure from some quarters to reduce the overall weight requirement for the class. This could be very easily achieved but may give rise to some undesirable side effects. As I see it the class enjoys a level of competition which is unsurpassed by any other class with the ability in many cases for older boats to remain very competitive. The competitiveness of the class could well obsolete many boats if significant weight reductions were introduced. (This factor could be offset by a long "lead time".) The question that keeps on running around in my head when I consider this proposition is: -
So far, I haven't been able to find a "yes" to any of these questions. Maybe, John Westall did get it right the first time! However, having sail all that, it is difficult to accept that something created in 1953 is still as relevant to the "marketplace" in 1995... or is it? What do you think?... M.A. Pearson |