Bermuda could be potentially represented by as many as four teams at the International 505 Class World Championship, which the island will host this year.

“There are three boats at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club that they are trying to fill and get people sailing them,” Brett Wright, the Bermuda 505 Class president, told The Royal Gazette. “There’s a possibility for four local boats.”

The ten-race series showcasing the high-performance dinghy will be held from October 27 to November 5.

The championship, expected to involve as many as 80 boats, is being organised by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and will be preceded by a Pre-Worlds Regatta consisting of six races.

Bermuda will be hosting the 505 World Championship for the first time since 1975 and second time overall.

“I think having the 505 Worlds here for the first time in decades is just going to be absolutely great and it will be really good to have a great spectator fleet out there watching,” Wright added.

The International 505 Class is a one-design double-handed planning sailing dinghy, with spinnaker, utilising a trapeze for the crew.

The high-performance boat will plane upwind at speeds of ten knots or more.

“They are super-fast, high-performance and the best two-man dinghies around, really,” Wright said.

Les Crane, the event chairman and former RBYC commodore, added: “It’s just a great class and the interesting thing with the 505 is the age range of the competitors. There will be people in their twenties and people almost 70 competing.”

The championship will be contested in the Great Sound, venue of the 35th America’s Cup.

“The conditions here are ideal, the boats like a lot of wind,” Wright said. “They do really well when it’s blowing 20 to 30, so if it’s windy that time of year, it doesn’t matter at all.”

The 2020 event, due to be held last August in Torekov, Sweden, was cancelled because of the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Mike Martin and Adam Lowry, of the United States, won the 2019 championship in Freemantle, Australia.