This is excerpted from an e-mail discussion on the 505world-list listserver. Dave is responding to Marco Giraldi; Marco's text is in italics.
Getting people out in the boat always has been our greatest weapon; even in our relatively light-wind area, the performance of a 505 is awesome when coupled with its relative ease of sailing, especially when compared with other classes. For the same reason we make it a point to speed (deadpan) past as many other classes as we can, to allow others to see us singlehanding the boats, to write up solo ocean trips, to encourage and publicize husband/wife and father/son teams, and so on.
...I sail 505 in Italy, well the 505 is totally unknown here, but whoever has sailed with me has had only praising words for it. Now, to try to build a class from 1-2 boats present on my lake is a useless task...
Useless? No way! In 1997 we had two boats; at the beginning of 1998, three. I bought a wreck for US$225 and restored it; four. Our fleet captain sold his Rondar and bought a good used Lindsay; five. A young naval officer was transferred here, bringing his Lindsay (Dave Cahn's former boat); six. The guy who had no space to fix my boat and sold it to me, after crewing for me for a few months traded an old unknown daysailer for another; seven. Wanting to sail immediately while the other was being fixed up, he bought another less-damaged boat for US$300 and I overhauled it for him; eight. We wrote newsletter articles; we hosted regattas; we worked for the club on race committees and work parties; we raced in the handicap class and people saw the 505's effortless speed and maneuverability. Another guy who'd been crewing picked up an old abused Kyrwood and restored it beautifully; nine. A young couple moved to San Diego with their boat; ten. The owner of our fleet's first boat, a now-badly-rotted wood hull 40 years old, donated it back to her original fleet; eleven. (We'll restore it!) Through the Internet we located a derelict fiberglass hull in a storage lot behind a Newport bar and bought it for US$75; twelve. (We'll all pool our spares and rig it as a fleet demo boat.) An owner of an 8000-series boat was just transferred here; thirteen. Three more people who have raced borrowed boats, and also crewed in them, now are looking for their own boats and we're hoping for fourteen through sixteen soon. Spirit, enthusiasm, zest and the incomparable 505 itself (and of course the incomparable people one meets on the Web) built our fleet from virtually nothing into one of the largest in the western USA and it's still growing. So can yours. Italy's location makes it a natural to draw teams (and used boats) from the known 505 hotbeds to the north.
...Somebody said [in an earlier e-mail on this thread] that the market is shrinking, he is right, the dinghy market is dying, the small keel boats are instead growing. More people start sailing in a keel-boat than before and this is killing uncomfortable wet dinghy sailing.
But that's where the 505 shines vs. the fad dinghies; you CAN go out with a novice, you CAN stay relatively dry, you can sail it (not necessarily race it to its utmost, but get around the course) with even limited skill, and the boat teaches you very rapidly because of its magnificent responsiveness. Compared to many keelboats and to the fad dinghies (and legitimate small sailboats such as S---, T--- and L---), it's NOT uncomfortable. Versus the keelboats, you can pull the 505 around with a VW Bug or a Fiat and launch it alone, store it in a garage, spend far less on it at the beginning and in maintenance, and have a LOT more fun while sailing it. I have no problem with drinking my sixpack on land after a euphoric day on the water; I carry a water bottle in the boat.
Cost is part of the equation, why buy a dinghy when with just few dollars more you can get a keel-boat where you can take the kids the wife and few friends together with a 12 pack of beer?
A good small keelboat isn't just a few dollars more; it's a whole lot more, especially if you buy a used 505 and fix it up. It takes a larger car or truck to pull it (or vastly more expensive wet storage, haulouts, bottom painting etc.) and everything from sails to sheets to cabin sole costs far more.
...Because the feeling of high wire on the plane is magic...
The boat is a constant delight. Everything else is a step down (even the fad dinghies, which lack the overall balance and comfort of the 505 and are a survival contest every minute.)
Yes but you have to try it first.......few capsize later....you might decide a six pack is still a six pack...
At age 60 I'm not ready yet to become a waterborne couch potato. I get wet every time I take a shower, and it hasn't killed me yet; and I've capsized a 505 (unintentionally) only four times since 1961 anyway. If an old greybeard like me can feel that way, why should we give up and let guys and gals in their late teens and twenties lapse into leadmine sailors? We just need to get them out of keelboats, off Jetskis, out of water-ski jetboats, off skateboards and snowboards, and into 505's. Most of the other sports cost much more to pursue than sailing 505's, and the thrills are greater for us...
--Dave Eberhardt, USA 6570 (ex-861, 2514; restorer of #6571; custodian/restorer of #463; also will restore #XXXX Guacamole)