505 Nationals at South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club - Preview
by Pete Mallaband 25 Aug 2012 17:11 BST
6-9 September 2012
SAP 505 World Championship at La Rochelle day 3 © Christophe Favreau / SAP 505 World Championship
Still trying to knock the mighty Ian Pinnell off his perch
The International 505 class will be holding their National Championships at Abersoch from 6th to 9th of September. With an expected turnout of around 40 boats there will be massive competition at the front of the fleet.
With many top crews coming into the class, Ian Pinnell will have to be at his best to retain his crown. Among the contenders will be Andy Smith and Tim Needham, Mike Holt from the USA and also 19 year old Harry Briddon. Harry was 5th at last year's Nationals and this year has started his Finn campaign. After a year of sailing alongside the likes of Mr Ainslie, I'm sure he will have improved his game even more and maybe learnt a few tricks from the maestro!
Other names to look out for are Christien Diebitsch who has teamed up this year with top helm Vince Horay. They've already had a couple of successful Open meetings and will certainly be challenging for one of the top spots.
There will also be plenty of competition from the USA, France and Ireland. The 2013 Worlds will be held in Barbados and this seems to have triggered a massive influx of sailors into the class, all keen to sail in one of the best locations on the planet.
Over 100 new boats have been registered over the last 3 years with the latest registrations hitting over 9100. The take up on new 505's is so massive that former class manufacturers – Parkers – have re-entered the market place with a new take on a classic design. They will be exhibiting their new boat at Abersoch. Rondar Boats have pretty much dominated the class for the last 20 years – so it will be very interesting to see how this competition develops.
The mere mortals won't be forgotten, with prizes for Silver Fleet sailors and also the Classic 20 prize for boats of 20 years old or more. There are already 5 Classic 20 boats signed up including a number of 7000 series boats.
For more information on the 505 Class and on coming to the Nationals, please check out the class website.