A Continuum of Innovation in the 505 Class

by Lynn Fitzpatrick - www.worldregattas.com on 27 Aug 2009 505 sailors have been experimenting and going fast since 1960 and Malcolm 'Pip' Pearson, International President of the 505 Class, has been sailing them since 1966.

As Pearson completes his third, three-year term as Class President, his interest and pride in the Class are evident. The wooden hulls and wooden spars of yesteryear were dynamic for their time and have come a long way in over a half a century. '

As building technology has changed to carbon fiber, Kevlar and vacuumed bagged honeycomb, 'no one boat has proven to be necessarily better than the others, although most recent results indicate that the Rondars and Waterats have quite a performance record,' commented Pearson. After years of debate, the Class finally gave the green light to large spinnakers in 2002. Pearson rejoiced, 'The large spinnakers transformed the boat. It is the best thing that the Class did in 54 years.'

In an effort to keep costs from spiraling out of control has continued to use aluminum masts. Carbon fiber booms and spinnaker poles were approved and the issue of carbon fiber masts is up for review again next year.

Spinnaker poles on launcher lines, a brilliant pole fitting on the mast and adjustable shroud tracks are some of the obvious technology breakthroughs that enable the 505 teams to stay powered up for so long and execute high-speed gybes with precision.

Some may think that equipment and crews are suffering a lot of fatigue in between races on those two-race days at the World Championships in San Francisco, but there are two rules that the 505 Class employs that speed up the day. One is the rule that you are scored DNF if you finish over 30 minutes behind the first place boat. The winners may have 30 minutes to prepare for the next race, but the last boat across the finish line had better be prepared for the sequence to start in short order. The second breakthrough, which the Class has been employing for over 25 years, is the rabbit start.

The boat that is designated by the Race Committee or was 10th in the preceding race is the Pathfinder, or the rabbit, and sails past the Port Limit Mark of the starting line approximately 10 seconds before the start. The entire fleet must cross between the Port Limit Mark and the launch, which follows the close-hauled Pathfinder on port tack. Sailors who want to play the left hand side of the course position themselves for a start near the Port Limit Mark and others will time their start so they cross the Pathfinder’s stern closer to the starboard end of the Gate.

'With a record 175 starters at the six-race pre-worlds and the nine-race 2005 World Championship, we hand no black flags and only one general recall, because we had a massive shift during a light air start. The Pathfinder got headed and the fleet piled up trying to get down to the Pathfinder,' explained Pearson.

Ethan Bixby, who was the Pathfinder for the fifth race of the 2009 World Championship, said, 'It’s fantastic. It takes a little bit to get used to it at first. As the Pathfinder you have a commitment for a period of time and then you have to make a tactical decision to continue on port or tack onto starboard with the rest of the fleet.' The Pathfinder has the advantage of being in clear air throughout the start and two to three boat length ahead, because all of the other boats must clear the Pathfinder and the launch’s stern.

The time and equipment savings is incalculable. The rabbit start eliminates the vagaries of starting lines that are not square, general recalls, black flags and what can amount to hours of waiting while the race committee adjusts the starting line.

Hats off to the 505 Class and the St. Francis Race Committee for running such a fast paced, fair and safe world championship series in challenging conditions.

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