dburchfiel

The 505 is ultra tuneable. There’s nothing out there comparable. There’s an active 505 team of college Sophmore women, out of Hampton Va. who I doubt weigh 220# combined and they finished mid fleet at the Worlds and the smaller of the 2 crews! For the record I sail 505 8822. However the boat rigging is usually quite complex but I have seen some simplified. 420 is ultra slow except in a blow. Laser 2 Portsmouth rating is slower than a laser. 470 if you can find one would work as well as a Coranado 15 or a 29er.

I don't even know what other clubs have Portsmouth racing. I've wanted to attend the HPDO for years but it's always been at our busiest time of year at work and haven't been able to.

Whoops forgot those.

Surprising huh! Our club's largest one design fleet and we seldom get them out in the winter even though we can keep our boats mast up for FREE for our winter series. If you're ever in town you should come out and sail with us. We miss you since you set off to New Bern.

I travel all over the country to sail in 505 regattas but sail Portsmouth with our club.

Another 14 boats on the water yesterday. Thistles, Flying Scots, Lasers, Sunfish a 420 and a 505.

We send all of our scores into the black hole of US Sailing. There is no committee to keep things updated and the sad thing is they don't care. Lets face it the money is in big boats and like most things in this country US sailing has gotten to the point where that's all that counts. We use the published portsmouth numbers when available and sign them when they are not often using the RYC numbers as a benchmark. Regardless no handicap system is perfect but it has had the intended affect of getting more boats on the water, increasing competition and sailing skill. During our winter series we wave Rule 41 so that experienced or skilled sailors can help out those less so. We'r even discussing waving it for our Championship series. I have talked to many sailors in the area trying to get them to come out and race with us. A big deterrent to their participation is intimidation. Many are self taught, don't know the rules etc. We have been able to convince several new sailors to join us by waving the rule. I tried for several years to get a local Laser sailor to join without luck. I would see him on the lake whenever the whitecaps showed up but he had never raced. He finally joined a few years ago where he was at the back of the fleet. He's now at the front and one of our biggest recruiters. At the club level I think whatever it takes to get more boats on the water and increase everyones skill is what needs to be done. The majority of our sailors travel to OD regatta's and our club hosts some as well.

Another successful turnout for the Portsmouth fleet Sunday. 13 boats, 4 races. I'm sure we would have had more if the wind hadn't been forecast 2-4! 2 Sunfish, 5 Lasers, 3 Flying Scots, 2 Thistles and a 420. The 505 Boys were doing RC.

We had 19 boats competing in 4 Portsmouth races Sunday. 1 505, 1 Contender, 1 Musto Skiff, 1 Laser 2, 1 Windmill, 3 Thistles, 2 Flying Scotts and 9 Lasers. Lots of fun and the usual Chili social afterwards. Next race day Sunday the 3rd. Competitors meeting at noon and first gun at 1. We use 3 minute signal starts in our winter series. If you're in Central NC you should come out and join us.

It dried for a week before being used. A buddy who has it on his soling recommended it. It's nice on the keelboat but couldn't take the abuse it gets on the 505.

I believe double poles are a must. I've had people out who have never been on a sailboat and used the spinnaker in 15+kts. "Here pull that red line till you can't pull anymore" Pole is set. It's great racing but also when I'm just messing around single handed. On my old boat (8351) I just took the aluminum pole from my new boat (8822) to make a double pole system. Works just as well as the carbon poles on 8822 but not as sexy. I was 7.5 Kilo's over at the Worlds but I'm carrying 15k in corrector weights. Since the boat hadn't been dry for 2 weeks I couldn't take the lead out and get a new cert. That's coming. I have lots of G10 backing hardware that wasn't there when I got the boat.

You may have to get on the wire to be able to steer down. Once you start rounding up with heel it's pretty much over. My hat's off to you guys who are teaching yourself to sail on HP monohulls.

What kind of boat? I found Kiwi Grip lasted about a day before wearing off on the rails of my 505.

505 hands down. It's so tunable it can be handled by crews of varying weights. Just had the worlds in Annapolis. There were several crews your size or smaller. 420 sailors Kaila Phrang and Anna Patterson, a college Freshman and Sophmore, I'm guessing come inwell under 230# started sailing 50's a couple of years ago. They finished every race and kept the stick in the air which lots of heavier teams didn't. Get in touch with them and see what they think.

Actually this one:https://www.spinlock.co.uk/en/categories/wing-and-foil-pfds/product_groups/pfds