5.5m class: two new race winners on day four of the world championships

Two new race winners on day four of the 5.5m World Championship, organised by the Yacht Club de l’Odet

Seven boats are now winners of the 2024 World Championships, but only one has taken two victories: Aspire (Przemek Gacek, Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Kilian Weise), which is currently in fourth place.

Today’s victories went to the Australian boat Beta Crucis (Martin Cross, Bob Stoddard and Simon Reffold) and Ali-Baba (Flavio Marazzi, Julie Marazzi and Eline Marazzi).

A shift in the wind to the left for the start of the first race, the seventh of the series, suggested a strong port bias on the starting line and a number of the top crews gathered there. Aspire pulled the trigger first and cleared the front of the fleet in clean air, while The Jean Genie (Peter Morton, Andrew Palfrey, Ruairidh Scott) also looked very good initially in clean air a couple of lengths to windward.

“It was an interesting start today,” Cross said. “We were a bit stuck but we managed to hold on for a couple of hundred metres before we had to drop out and go right. Then we got a really nice, clear path through the middle, with a nice lift, and then we found another lift. We had good boat speed and suddenly realised we were on the right side of the beat and came to the windward mark at more or less the same time and just ahead of Jurg (Marie-Françoise XXII – Jürg Menzi, Jürgen Eiermann and Kim Chabani) and Gavin (John B – Gavin McKinney, Lars Horn Johannessen and Mathias Dahlman).

“I think theoretically we were ahead the whole way, but it was tight and tough the whole way – working really, really hard to stay ahead,” adds Cross, who races with co-owner Bob Stoddard in a 19-year-old used boat. “We were very thankful to be able to breathe a sigh of relief at the end because we just managed to get to the finish line. This is such a competitive fleet that you rarely get a chance to win a race,” says Cross. “We’ve won two in the last few years in this boat, but Bob won another one in 1981 when he was crewing in the Bahamas in one of the few planing 5.5s, so he’s happy to add a third win to his collection.”

Race 8 started with a bit more wind, but still no more than 7-9 knots, which decreased towards the finish. This time the pin end of the line was avoided by almost the entire fleet. Ali Baba started between one of the Bahamian boats and The Jean Genieslightly to the left of the centre line, then tacked to starboard and well to the right, where there was a little more wind, and ended up in the top three at the first windward mark.

“From that moment on it was about finding the best pressure, or at least more pressure than the other boats,” says Flavio Marazzi, who races with his 14- and 16-year-old daughters. “It’s always difficult, but I think we saw that the right side was always a bit stronger, so that’s where we usually went – upwind on the right side, then a jibe at the top mark.” Even though that meant going from Ku-Ring-Gai III (John Bacon, Joost Houweling and Edward Wright), who was the leader of the race, Flavio says: “He was pushing himself to the limit, so it wasn’t like we were gambling… and we felt quite safe.”

How does it feel to win a World Championship race? “It’s amazing. Honestly, after our win last week in the Scandinavian Gold Cup, I felt like nothing could top that, but it’s still absolutely amazing because this is the first race we’ve ever won in a World Championship,” says Julie Marazzi. “I think it still feels pretty good and it feels great to see that we can still maintain this success – we’ve been lucky to have these experiences over the last week.”

With only two races left in the championship, Ku-Ring-Gai III has a convincing nine-point lead over Ali Baba. Artemis (Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne and Trond Solli-Saether) are currently in third place with 33 points, Aspire in fourth place with 38 and New Moon III (Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger and Peter Vlasov) fifth, with 41 points. All these five boats still have a mathematical chance to win the championship.

ChlikaChlikaChlika (Antonin Radue, Pascal Radue and Patrick Huguenin) extended their lead in the Evolution division today, ahead of another Ali Baba (Wolf-Eberhard Richter, Kallkowski Beata and Joerg Gruenwald) and Sinora (Hans Köster, Cedric Menzela and My Köster). Manuela V (Guido Tommasi, Matteo Barison and Andrea Racchelli) retain the lead in the classic fleet, ahead of Twin XLL (Jean-Philippe Gervais, Eric Gaiani and Johnathan Commissaris).

The day ended with another legendary pontoon party in the 5.5 meter class, hosted by Australian, German and British crews. Two more races are scheduled for tomorrow, with windy conditions forecast.

Report by Rupert Holmes

HOW TO FOLLOW THE 2023 SCANDINAVIAN GOLD CUP AND 5.5 METER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

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