5.5 Meter Class: Aspire and Girls on Film ll Win First Two World Championship Races

On an intensive opening day of the race, mainly sailed in full walking conditions, To strive (Przemek Gacek, Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Kilian Weise) and Girls on Film ll (Louise Morton, Sam Haines and Andrew Mills) both won the race.

However, The Jean Genie (Peter Morton, Andrew Palfrey and Ruairidh Scott) had an impressively consistent day, with two second places, and currently sit at the top of the leaderboard, two points ahead of To strive. Artemis (Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne and Trond Solli-Saether) are third in the overall standings, with a third and a fourth place.

After a general recall at the first start, the fleet got away well at the second attempt. To strive started in clean air towards the pin end of the line, well clear of a tightly packed group of slower boats close to the committee boat. She then worked the left side of the course, along with Enez C’Las I (Nicolas Paris, Jean-Jacques Loheac and Mathias Biger) and Ku Ring Gai III (John Bacon, Joost Houweling and Edward Wright).

Anyway, Ali Baba (Flavio Marazzi, Julie Marazzi and Eline Marazzi), The Jean Genie And Shaolin (Patrick Zaugg, Andreas Kindlimann and Hans von Werdt) led a tight group of six boats to the first windward mark on the starboard side. Fortunately for To strivethey had figured it out, which gave the Polish team room to weave under the penalty spot and avoid the penalty spot with a small lead of just six meters.

“I think it was a good decision to go left after the start – we had good speed and, more importantly, there were not many other boats around,” Gacek said. “Then at the top mark Mateusz and Killian made a good decision.”

They then dropped a few places on the first “really tricky” downwind section, before rounding the second windward mark in second place behind The Jean Genie. Gacek says they “played quite well on the last run – we are normally quite strong downwind – and finished a boat length ahead of Morty. It was a great race and my first ever win in the 5.5m as a helmsman – I’m very happy and will have a beer tonight.”

Girls on Film ll big lead at the end of the second race after making a good start on the committee boat’s side of the center line. “It was a great day for Girls on film“, says Mills, “with a good course: quite changeable, but fluctuating and not continuous.

“We made our way to the right side of the course, then got a nice right shift to come back and consolidate the fleet and then rounded the first windward mark in second, just behind The Jean Genie.”

They then negotiated what Mills described as a difficult downwind stretch with “quite a few boats in the mix” before rounding the leeward gate in a favoured position just inside The Jean Genie. “Then we managed to get the shifts on the second beat,” he added, “and luckily we rounded the second windward mark with a really nice lead, so we could relax a bit on the last run. It was a good second race for us.”

Criol (Andreas Christiansen, Felix Christiansen and Julius Plass) lead the nine-strong Evolution fleet of older boats, just two points ahead of ChlikaChlikaChlika (Antonin Radue, Pascal Radue and Patrick Huguenin), while Manuela V (Guido Tommasi, Matteo Barison and Andrea Rachelli) lead the classic division.

Racing will be taking place all week at the Yacht Club de l’Odet in southern Brittany, where 10 races are scheduled.

There are ten races on the program, spread over five days. The results can be found here: https://www.yco-voile.fr/documents-onb/

Report by Rupert Holmes

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