How NOT to sail a 505 - Winter 505 Practice in Clearwater

After the 2023 Midwinters a few boats remained in Clearwater and decided to do some more sailing in mid February. Well, we chose a heck of day to go sailing. A front came through and the fleet only got a couple hours of good sailing before things started to get out of hand. We didn't even last that long!

[@walowesk7122]

You guys are looking great!! Watching your videos from a year ago compared to now, you can see a huge improvement. Well done lads! If you want my ( probably incorrect ) input, I'd have me crew lower if not at a right angle to the hull ( that should get you more power ) I'm all too used to being underweight in a rig too big for my crew and myself. Glad the mast is intact! And a final note, what camera do you use? Your picture quality always looks far better than mine, I'm SO jealous! Good Sailing!!!

[@Wire2WireSailing]

Lower on the wire would definitely help - if you can stay above the waves. We weren't quite steady and a few waves were sweeping us off the rail, so any lower on the trapeze would have just made that worse. I'm using a GoPro 8 on 1080P60. Action cameras have gotten pretty good in the last few years.

[@walowesk7122]

@@Wire2WireSailing Definitely need to upgrade from the HERO6 then. Thanks!

[@kazkillza]

Moooore cunningam, more foot tension (bordure in french)

[@Wire2WireSailing]

They were broken! I had some maintenance to do that I had put off for too long. I've since then made those fixes so I can actually flatten that mainsail properly.

[@ryanperry7673]

How heavy should the crew be? I want to get into the class as a crew

[@alexthomson3507]

While you can be any weight on a 505, I have found that ideally 90 -110kg range is the where most competitive crew seem to fall. What that is in pounds I have no idea.

[@Wire2WireSailing]

The cool thing about boats like the 505 is they weight range can be pretty wide. You can set up the boat for what the crew is. My boat has a setup that favors a smaller crew. A lot of top teams probably weigh about 350-375 lbs combined, crews are in the neighborhood of 200 on those boats I think. I'm usually well below that, sometimes less than 300 combined. Other teams are bigger than that. The adjustments you can make in the tuning can really allow you to be fast over a wide weight range.