The Sea and Home

I have this love/hate relationship with the water. I grew up on the Severn River, just above Annapolis, and learned to swim and sail as a child. Still, it always scares me just a bit. When the wind is up and the sailing is good, it still takes that little push to get me off the land and onto the water. There will always be that little voice saying "Do you need to leave the land?"

The sea combines so many of my favorite things: sailing, nature and wood. Wooden boats are no longer the fastest -- cloths of carbon and glass that are preimpregnated with resins and baked under vacuum seem to build the fastest and lightest boats. But hard boats sweat while wooden boats remain warm and dry.

When I was a child my family owned a 420. One day a 505 sailed by me like I was sitting still and I have been amazed by them ever since. To my young eye the two boats looks so similar that I thought they were the same. Now I know how different they are! The design is as old as I am, but the fleet has remained progressive and competative without pricing most sailors out of the market. They are fast, agile and responsive boats that respond well to the sailor. Since the beginning, the 505 fleet has recognized that it takes a team of 2 to compete in this boat and both driver and crew are recognized for their contribution.
[Photo] A 505 on a full plane under a 3-sail reach. This is what 2-man dingy racing can be in a full breeze with a trapeze.

My father continues to own boats and I have sailed many different designs through the years. In the end, I still come back to the 505 -- it is the best sailing machine a lover of sail can experience.

For more information on sailing and boats, you might look to:

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Last modified: September 2, 2003