FINOT/CONQ ARCHITECTS did it again! The Open 500 is the smallest Open Keelboat designed by FINOT. The Open is only 5 meters (16 feet 5 inches) and has a 250 lbs swing keel. The hull is a planing hull designed for to surf downwind. The hull is 7 foot 4 inches wide and the boat drafts 5 feet 2 inches when the keel is full to the down position. Because of its beam, the Open 500 is very stable, upwind and downwind.

The mast is a non tapered section of anodized Aluminum which is both light and strong. The section is wing shaped and mounted on a ball so that it can be rotated while sailing. With a conventional non-rotating mast, the mast creates turbulence on the mainsail, reducing the effectiveness of the first third of the sail. The deep notch between the mainsail and the mast disturbs the laminar flow of air across the sail and causes the smooth air flow to separate from the sail and disintegrate into a vast field of turbulence. The mast is very easy to step by either one or two people.

The Open 500 is different from the other Open boats with its swing keel. The Open 500 is equipped with an "L shaped" bulb (as opposed to a Torpedo shaped keel). The foil is fiberglass and the bulb is secured to the foil. The goal was to make lowering and lifting the keel an easy process. A more traditional lifting keel may have better upwind performance but it requires the addition of a lifting hoist mechanism or purchase system combined with the main halyard to bring the keel up or down. On the Open 500, the swing mechanism is all built-in. The keel can be lowered or retracted with little effort in no time at all. When the keel is fully retracted it is completely flush with the hull. Open 500 owners often keep their boats on a beach dolly or just on the beach! When the keel is down, an ingenious system closes the gap in the keel box to avoid water turbulence inside the keelbox itself while sailing. Running the boat into shallow water is not a huge issue with the Open 500: a "fuse" mechanism will disconnect the keel if it were to touch the ground in shallow water. This will avoid any structural damage to the keel and the keel box. The keel can be safely put back in full down position while sailing back into deeper waters. This keel mechanism has proven to be really safe, easy to use and is appreciated by all Open 500 owners.

The Open 500 is also the only open boat with one rudder. The rudder is long but can kick up in shallow water. When launching, taking the boat out of the water to storing the boat, the rudder can safely be left in place, locked in the up position.

Main sail and jib are made using the PEN X-PLY® Line from Dimension Polyant: "PEN fiber is used in the warp direction. PEN has a higher modulus than polyester and these fabrics exhibit approximately 30 to 40% lower stretch than their Polyester equivalents." This choice of sail cloth combines excellent performance with good durability. The main has a square top with five full battens. The square top sail provides significant advantages in nearly all sailing conditions with practically no compromises. The most noticeable difference of the square top sail is the additional sail area up high. In light winds the benefit is simple - more sail area means more power. In strong or gusty winds the square top causes the sail to twist, flattening the sail and de-powering it making the boat more stable and more forgiving. The full-length battens also have advantages including better shape holding ability, longer life and easier handling.

The jib is batten-less to ensure that it can be cleanly furled. It is a fairly small jib without a lot of overlap making it very quick and easy for a single crew member to tack and furl.

The Open 500 is equipped with an asymmetrical spinnaker. A socket is installed under the cabin roof where the spinnaker is automatically "snuffed" into. This "snuffer" system is comparable to multihulls set up where it is not convenient to have a spinnaker bag aboard. Some of the advantages of the snuffer system are:

• ease to set and douse the spinnaker.
• storage: under the cabin roof.
• free cockpit space.
• can be set and retrieved singlehanded with one single line.

The Open 500 is always sold as a boat WITH sails. Like the Open 570, it's primary purpose is a One Design boat.

All of the hardware on the boat is provided by the well known company Harken. The quality has proven to be outstanding ensuring that equipment failure is the last thing on your mind while sailing the Open 5.00.

All the lines on the boat are of good quality and are pleasant to handle with or without gloves. All the control lines are different colors in order to minimize confusion. The main sheet, the jib sheets and the spinnaker sheets are all continuous which greatly reduces the number of lines resulting in a clean and simple cockpit.

Like all the other FINOT designs, the Open 500 is unsinkable (certified by Bureau Veritas) and veritually impossible to capsize thanks to its 250 lbs of keel. The boats interior components are also filled with foam and give the Open 500 plenty of positive flotation.

The light aluminum mast, with a deep keel and rather beamy boat gives the Open 500 a very high stability ratio with makes it pretty much impossible to capsize or turtled. If the boat were to undergo a round up, it will quickly self right.

On its trailer, or on a beach dolly, the Open 500 can be pushed by hand making launching as easy as launching a dinghy. The keel can be lowered when there's enough water. There is no need for any other accessories to launch the boat.

The light bar is mounted on the transom of the Open 500 when trailering. When launching, this light bar needs to be removed and will never be immersed in the water, making more reliable over time.

Launching using a hoist only requires one additional accessory - the lifting straps. These straps lift the boat from four different points - the chain plates and the mast. This ensures that the boat remains level both side to side and bow to stern as it is lowered into the water.

Since the total weight of the trailer with the boat, the sails and some gear is only about 900 lbs any car can tow the Open 500.

Taking the Open 5.00 on the road is an adventure not a chore. Preparing the boat for the road or even rigging the boat after traveling can be done by one person if necessary. The "biggest" challenge is putting up or taking down the mast. At about 35 lbs the mast is not heavy but the fact that it is long makes it a little awkward to move around. However, it is still relatively straight forward to safely put up the mast or take it down singlehanded. Of course having more people makes everything even easier. With two experience people it's possible to go from sailing on the bay to driving on the freeway in less than one hour.

The Main sail is on a 4:1 sheeting system which makes trimming the main sail comfortable in heavy air conditions. The jib can be furled in a matter of seconds. The spinnaker is set and retrieved safely from the cockpit area. The Open 500 is simply very easy to sail and have fun. It is perfect boat for 2 adults to enjoy a day sail or 4 younger sailors who seek for the excitement of downwind speed with stability.

The Open 500 is a great boat for junior sailors who need the adrenaline rush of downwind speed. At the same time, it is a piece of mind for the parents, ashore, knowing that the boat will not capsize, even in rough weather conditions. In Europe, the boat is very well accepted in sailing schools and yacht clubs where juniors can be coached safely on a high performance sportboat.

In the two years since the launch of the Open 5.00 more than 150 boats have been built in France. All the boats have aged well with minimal maintenance costs even for the most actively raced boats.

Here are a few factors to consider that keep the cost of ownership low.

• Minimal Crew - since the Open 5.00 only requires 1 or 2 crew to race with the skipper the cost of feeding and clothing your crew is kept low.
• Dry Sailing - by dry sailing the Open 5.00 there are no expensive slip fees to pay and there is no need to have a diver clean the bottom of your boat once a week in order to keep it slick and fast.
• Quality Covers - covering the boat while it is being stored protects the gel coat and all the hardware and lines from the damaging sun and weather.
• New Sails - to be competitive on the race course it helps to have good sails. The Open 5.00 sails have proven themselves to durable over time and if well looked after can be competitive for years. The price of a replacement set of sails is quite reasonable and on a par with other boats in it's class. The one-design rules also prohibit the purchase of more than one set of sails per season.
• Time - the Open 5.00 is easy to launch and easy to rig ensuring you spend more time on the water sailing.
• Traveling - the Open 5.00 is easy to trailer opening the door to new sailing opportunities without the headache of figuring out how to get your boat to a venue. Since the boat only takes a couple of hours to unrig it's almost always faster to drive than to try and sail or deliver using an outboard.