505 North American Championship
Published on June 18th, 2017
The 2017 505 North American Championship was contested June 15-18 on Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts. Twenty-five teams made historic Fort Taber their home base for the long weekend, which meant a short 15 minute sail to the starting line.
Racing was spectacular with four very different days. Day 1 was champagne sailing with 12-15 knots and sunny skies. Day 2 brought 20-25 knots and enormous waves launching many 505s into the air exposing both blades as they skipped over the waves upwind. Day 3 was a light 5-7 knots, and day 4 saw 10-15 with heavy fog. The race management lead by Sam Vineyard handled the changing conditions perfectly.
Howie Hamlin and Andy Zinn dominated the nine race series, posting all top five scores to win by 25 points over Chris Behm and Jesse Falsone.