The Twelve Days of FiveO Christmas - Vote for your favourite
by Dougal Henshall 8 Jan 2022 01:00 NZDT
Which photo should become the cover of the book which tells the 505's history? © Christophe Favreau /
www.christophefavreau.com
There were exciting times to be enjoyed over the festive season as the 5o5 class grabbed the media spotlight with the '12 days of 5o5 Christmas'. The premise was simple, for instead of calling birds, pipers a piping and French hens, there were twelve superb Christophe Favreau photographs, one per day, with each one showing the 5o5 off at its best.
The photo publicity also had a wider purpose, as the object of the exercise was also to help select a front cover for the book telling the 68 year story of the 5o5, which will be published in August at the World Championship in Cork.
Vote for your favourite photo to be used on the cover
It is the true international aspect of the 5o5 Class that has been one of two major sticking points with the production of the book, as this is not about the story of the book in the UK (though there was surely enough material for a tome focused on events here), nor of the boat in France, nor Australia, but instead how the boat has evolved and been sailed in all nations.
Few would know that the class was strong in both South America and across the various nations of the South African continent, but their story had to be told, just as the tales from Tangiers to Santa Cruz, Adelaide to Mounts Bay need to be recounted.
The other difficulty came with the book being dedicated to 5o5 crews everywhere, from all nations, across all the years and from every part of the fleet. A great idea, except for the fact that way into the 1980s reports seemed to indicate that the helms sailed the boat single-handedly, with there being nothing in the way of any mention of the crew.
It has doubled the time the book has taken, but there are very few instances where a helm's name is mentioned but with the crew ignored. In the 1950s and 60s, FiveO crews helped define the role of the performance dinghy crew, so their names must be a part of any history of the class.
It was mentioned earlier that there was enough material for a UK-specific book, ditto from all of the main sailing nations. The final problem is that when all these are brought together, the book will weigh in at something over 3kg, for as well as being a fantastic story, the 5o5 is extremely photogenic, so photos will be glossy and (where possible) in full colour.
See the larger photos -
Day 1,
Day 2,
Day 3,
Day 4,
Day 5,
Day 6,
Day 7,
Day 8,
Day 9,
Day 10,
Day 11,
Day 12
- and then vote for your choice.