March 29, 1996

International 505 Class

to the members;

On Olympic Status

The main points against Olympic status reflect the pressure that the dedicated types with circles in their eyes apply to the development of hardware and sailing technique. I believe that the class is well enough established to handle this problem.

• There is a well established set of rules, national and international officers, and procedures for resolving issues. The rules are good and enforceable. The areas available for exploiting do not result in significant advantage.

• There has not been a significant shortage of athletic types and aggressive behavior in the class. While this may increase with Olympic contenders in the mix, but it hardly seems to be an important issue at this point. The class has withstood the effects of flailers and whiners without serious effect.

  It is worth remembering that the class has always had a rather casual attitude about class jumpers and guests. Many excellent sailors from other classes have decided that the 505 looked like a good set of trophies to add to the collection, only to have their socks blown off by 10 people that they have never heard of, plus possibly a few that they have. Some stay with it and win a few races. It is also important to note that there have been many Olympic level sailors in the class for many years.

  The class attitude has always been: we don’t care who you are, get on a boat, let’s go racing.

• The sailors who do serious training will be very good at sailing the boats. With Olympic status, there may be a few more of these teams. There may be new things for others to learn, and if nothing else, we may get to watch as a few very good teams refine the sailing a bit. In the 6 months prior to the games, it will be difficult for anyone who spends less time in practice and training to beat them, but this will only happen in that time period.

  The main pressure on the hardware side is essentially the worry that someone will spend unlimited money on better gear and therefore win. There are several reasons that this would be unlikely.

  Olympic campaign expenses are mainly travel and support. The gear is probably 20% of the budget. It is quite hard to raise the cash for a good campaign, so one must be careful about where the money goes. However, there will be exceptions to this, and someone will surely try.

  The current gear is refined, and is as good or better than any other current or former Olympic class.

• Sails & Rigs - This is most likely area for refinement. I would expect there would be a lot more ‘development’ effort, but it would be interesting to see the results. This would probably benefit the class in general, as the sailmakers and rig builders would have more reason to work on the class, and there may b more sails an rigs sold, which makes it easier for all to participate. It is unlikely that this would result in a change to the cost.

• Hulls - All current hulls are structurally sound and functional in layout, so that the area left for significant improvement is weight distribution. IT seems that a point of diminishing returns was reached several years ago, and further reduction in pitching moment does not produce exceptional results. This assumption may be proven wrong, but it is not a new topic. The new weight rule is a bit cumbersome, and could result on some pressure on the ITC and national measurers. It should be simplified.

  The case that could be raised to counter this is the Flying Dutchman class. I believe that the decline in this class was based on several factors, of which Olympic status was only a part. The boats went from wood to modern composite construction at the same time that new sailors entered the class, with many changes in the rigs and sailing techniques. The 505 has already made this transition in both areas. This also happened at a time of general decline in participation in dinghy sailing in general. The Olympic status accelerated the change and the difference in the new and old fleets.

• Foils - This is another area where there could be some improvement. The same issues and points apply to this as to the sails and rigs. It is hard to see a disadvantage for the existing class.

In summary , things have changed since the class voted to decline Olympic status in the 1970’s. There is less participation in dinghy sailing in general, and in the 505 also. There is more competition from new designs to attract sailors. Just in the last year a few new boats have been introduced that may in time be considered better than the 505. Much of this comes from builder-supported boats that are possibly better at promotion than a sailor supported class. The trend is fairly clear, although these may still not become better racing classes.

A serious bid for Olympic status provides publicity the class needs. This time, if the bid succeeds, the class will benefit from all aspects of the experience.

For the future

• Locate the position for the girth measurements from the top of the sail

• Remove the batten length restriction, allowing the option of full length battens in the current standard positions

• Increase the upper 1/4 girth dimension, allowing more roach.

• Change the dimensions of the spinnaker while retaining the maximum total area, to allow longer luff lengths with shorter girths.

• Increase the pole length, as a longer kite luff allows a lower pole.

Good Sailing

Larry Tuttle
Waterat Sailing Equipment