The History of the Santana 525...

I stumbled across PRESTO #169 in Nashville quite by accident while on a business trip. She was typical, almost as manufactured, but had the cracked, peeling, flaking inside paint that most of Schock boats had from that time period. After 3 months of sanding and a couple days of painting, a new boat appeared. The local club also changed, lowered, my handicap by 2 points for weight reduction!:-( 
 Presto has performed so well that the handicap committee has continuously  dropped the handicap to 176 because we whooped a little too much transom. The 525's main advantage is her ability to point higher than the other boats in the fleet.  Our local sailing club, CLSC, here in East Tennessee is an assortment of boats and the intent is to have fun while getting out the aggressions of the week. CLSC Long distance Wyss Race  The club has an open headsail rule which allows for using used sails that fit but may not have been designed for, like the J24. If you are fast, the Handicap Committee will get you! 
Cherokee lake is large enough to do a little cruising on. Lots of coves to overnight. I've included a report of an over-nighter to German Creek about a16 mile one way trip. It has it's challenges when it comes to avoiding shallow spots, especially during our annual low tide season ( 60 ft tide). 

I would like to complete the data base on all 525's built. Tom Schock did not keep records so we will have to find them ourselves. The "owners list" were found thanks to word of mouth, knowing someone with a boat and the Internet. The intent is to form a support team for those needing repairs, or new owners needing to know what to look for, or just share go fast ideas and go out and kick some transom!!!

What could be better than sailing with a fleet of 525's.The largest fleet of 525's is in BC Canada , at the Kelowna Yacht Club . Even though Schock coordinates races, the best 525 races are in BC.
Stay in contact with them for news of the up-comming 525 Nationals. Contact Adrian Weaden through the Yacht club link above.The last photos that I received were for the 98 Nationals sent in by Ed Katz and Rudy. Please remember to send in photos of your boats for the web site.

This site includes photos from the original Sales Brochure that the dealers used to lure us in. The list price was $13,950 without sails, Racing Package an additional $2,185. Remember that you still need sails. If the hair cuts seem a little like the Brady Bunch, remember that it was the 70's. Front cover, back cover.

I received an Email from Scott Truesdell with a little trivia from the past. Scott illustrated the owners manual. The mom and dad in the picture are Tom Schocks's younger brother, Steve, and his girlfriend. The children are Tom's kids, David and Anne. Scott also mentioned that he built many a mast and in very heavy air, over 30 knots there could be mast failure due to compression at the lower edges of the spreader bases. Newer boats than PRESTO #169 had modified spreader bases that were larger to spread the compression loads over a larger area. The retrofit solution is to find a section of the mast or a piece of aluminum and rivet it under the spreader base to distribute the compression forces over a larger area. A special thanks to Scott for his contributions.
Had a nice E-mail from Jim Jackson #47 Sea Squirt, he needed a little spreader repair and had new spreaders made by Ballenger Spars in Santa Cruz, Ca. 
My last conversation with the folks at Schock indicated that the economy has changed their position on manufacturing more 525's. Their analysis of production costs and the fact that they would have to make new molds limits their focus to their current offerings. Anticipated selling price would have been well over $30,000. For those of us that are fortunate to own the 525's they are a limited commodity. At times I wish that she was a little bigger but after the fantastic sail today, she's just right.

If you have one or know of one Email me at roline@charter.net