AGM report

This morning before the racing the International 505 Class had it’s Annual Group Meeting, colloquially known as the AGM.

Officers LtoR Sven Hertim (treasurer), Mike Holt (VP), Mike Quirk (President), and Johannes Tellem (sec’y), review the state of the class.

Boats registrations have been down since Covid and are only slowly recovering. Currently 780 worldwide, down from a recent high of 1232 in 2011.

Most boats by far are in Germany (310), followed by Sweden (78), UK (63), France (52), US (51), Australia (50). These are active boats, in the sense of paying dues and registering with the class, there are way more 505s being sailed casually at the club or fleet level, who are not members of the international association.

For discussion, two big agenda items: Future Regattas, and Funding for the Class.

The 2024 Worlds are locked and loaded for Farberg, Sweden. There was some discussion about this location, sounds awesome. For 2025 there was a nice presentation about Hayling Island, UK, and that seems like the front-runner location. Also discussed was the possibility of having a regatta in Barcelona or Rosas, Spain, maybe after the 2024 Worlds and before the America’s Cup which is also in Barcelona (!)

There’s a lot of 505 racing in Europe – some Americans actually keep a second 505 there, and fly back and forth to race it. How great would that be? 🙄⛵️😊

Final discussion point was some new boats which came to the regatta “light”. There’s a builder in Germany who apparently does this deliberately, and lots of ideas about what to do. Seemed like the main point was to write him a letter, and maybe start fining the measurers who certify boats which then come to the Worlds illegally light.

Well the meeting is over, the wind is coming up … time to sail!