Newsroom

Last update: Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Championships 2010

The image is showing the Evolution 5.5 GER 30 "Criollo", Classic 5.5 GER 35 "Struten" and Modern 5.5 GER 55 "Oro Nero", celebrating the 60th anniversary, during the hanseboot boatshow in Hamburg. Quite a number of contacts could be made, for further class growth.

News from Finland
Once again, far too soon, a sailing season is slowly but surely coming to an end, at least for wooden boats in Finland. Three, from a weather point of view, relatively nice summer months are behind us and the time has come to summarize.  
Despite several attempts to engage the 5.5 yacht owners to increase the racing activity of the class, the number of attendants has been low in 2009. Some yachts are still under restoration, others did not participate as the owners' temporary had other engagements and some owners apparently lack interest to take part in races and events, which of course is sad. The potential, maximum number of Finnish 5.5 yachts on the starting grid is about 15 and it is still one of the targets for the Finnish Association, to engage them all. Especially, as it has been decided that the World championships in 2011 will be held in Finland. We will do our best to bring up as many yachts as possible for these races.

The most popular regatta in 2009 was ''Viaporin Tuoppi'', a traditional race for wooden boats, since 25 years. The Regatta attracted almost 200 yachts, including 6 classic 5.5 boats. Musto Cup, at the end of August, had 3 participants in the 5.5 class and as many took part in one of the 'Wednesday races' of Helsingfors Segel Sälskap. These Wednesday, summerevening races have been arranged for an unbroken period of 90 years - despite world war ll - and many classic yachts, including 8 Mr, 6 Mr, int 5.5 and 5 Mr boats honoured the yacht club by attending at least one of the 4 races.

Internationally, in Norway, Finland was again this year, successfully represented by Johan Gullichsen and Addam4.

Despite the temporary weak racing interest, there are a number of positive signs for the 5.5 class in Finland. A number of restoration projects are being completed, either during this year or during next spring.  Kisen, FIN-15 a Kyntzell designed yacht, has undergone a substantial restoration process and is supposed to be ready for the next season. It has been very interesting to follow the progress of this ambitious project on the website.

Aava, former SWE- 4, a Laurin designed yacht, took part in probably its' first races in Finland and the owner Topi Lintukangas became so hooked, that he immediately after the races 'declared' , that he will remove the cap during winter and restore the yacht into original shape. The boat speed of Aava will certainly improve a lot next year.

Other active boats this season were Figaro , My Shout, Rush Vl, Ariane, Norna Xl and Remi.

The intention is, to give our international readers an update of the Finnish 5.5. activities in English, at least twice a year.

Anders Nordman

German Open 2009, Boltenhagen: News from the German Fleet:

Demanding windy conditions on the Wohlenberger Wiek in front of Boltenhagen have been present on all days of the 5.5m "German Open", which was held from the 3rd to the 6th of September, excellently organized by the NRV.  20 boats had registered for the races.

5.5 SUI 213  "Pungin" with Hans-Peter Schmid & Crew has won the International German Championship, followed by SUI 210 "Shaolin" and BAH 20 "Silver Fox". 5.5 GER 55 "Oro Nero" was the fastest German boat, GER 25 "Knock Out" the best Evolution boat and GER 33 "Blueprint" the best Classic.

The "Long Keel Cup" was presented to GER 47 "Choc", the trophy for the longest travel over sea to GER 26 "Willy Lehmann" and the "Concours d'Elegance" has been won by GER 12 "Subbnboana".

The organizing club NRV and the German 5.5m Association have been very pleased to see good International participation and do thank all those having travelled far to participate in the races.

Info & results: click here

NED 35, Erik Wesselman, Frans van Schellen and Frank Koppers win the Dutch Championship - see the results

Pressrelease by the German Fleet - 60 years 5.5 IMC - read more

Scandinavian Gold Cup to Norway (again..)
Kristian Nergaard and his crew Petrus and Børre made an impressive 3 races and three victories at Hankø and again win the Scandinavian Gold Cup. It is Kristians fourth victory for the Scandinavian Gold Cup.

The famous race area of Hankø again showed its best side with 3-6 m/s of wind. Together with an unusual "Indian summer" in the southern Norway these days have been marvelous. All sailors enjoy sailing in shorts and T-shirt without freezing.

The Artemis XIV crew made a good start Wednesday and won the start and held the lead all trough race 1. Race 2, today was a battle between Jürg Menzi from Switzerland and Artemis. Artemis was just a few meters before Marie Francoise XVIII at the first windward mark but the Swiss crew over helmed Artemis on the run and kept the lead until the last windward mark rounding. Aretemis won by 20 sec.

The last race was dominated by Artemis being ahead from start to finish.

see the final results

Final results of The Royal Kaag Classic Cup Races: 1.R., 2.R., 3.R., 4.R.
T-Rank SAIL NO. YACHTNAME HELMSMAN CREW CLUBNO. Pl.(1.R.) Pl.(2.R.) Pl.(3.R.) Pl.(4.R.) T-Pts

1 ITA 73 CARABELLA Alfredo Delli Gianluca Marolli Claudio Mazzanti Circoli Velico Medio Verbano 1 1 1 1 4,00

2 SWE 50 APRIORI Jan Gustafsson Håkan Kellner Rickard Kellner Tulka Segelseallskap 2 2 2 2 8,00

3 FRA 19 KORRIGAN Gurvan Jaouen Club de Voile Ailée - Ecole navale 3 4 4 3 14,00

4 NOR 15 SUBLIMARE Emil Engebrigtsen Øyvind Torp Tobias Lahn Kongelig Norsk Seilforening 4 3 3 4 14,00

Dr.Britton Chance will be present at this event as will at least one of the original  crew from 1952, Michael Schoettle.  It will be a very special weekend as Dr. Chance will celebrate his 96th birthday on July 24th, the day before the re-christening.

Watch the YouTube Video of the 5.5m Swiss Championships Lake Thun

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Results for the 2009 5.5m Swiss Championships Lake Thun

Christoph Burger/Christoph Wilke/Marcel Simon (NOR 65/TYC/16 points) won the international 5.5 m IC Swiss Championship 2009 on lake Thun. They won races 6 and 7 at saturday and sunday morning and keep their top-position after race 5.

Silver medal goes to the neederlands team NED 26 with skipper Jan Arend Pasman (33 points), 3th place to the TYC-fleetcaptain Hanspeter Schmid/Gilbert Dürr/Jürg Baumgartner on SUI 213/36 points.

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NEWS from GERMANY:

4 new boats have joined the German fleet, 2 new challenge prizes have been donated in order to serve the growing number of 5.5m races in Germany with annual trophies and a new website has been launched:

New boats

5.5 GER 55 "Oro Nero", the former SUI 206, will participate in the World Championship in Hankö: www.5.5inventory.org/ger/055 http://www.5.5inventory.org/ger/055
5.5 GER 66 "Meltemi", a Bjarne Aas from 1963, the former SUI 59, is based on Kiel Fjord:  www.5.5inventory.org/ger/066 http://www.5.5inventory.org/ger/066
5.5 GER 67 "Leda III", a 1967 Wirz built Britton Chance, the former 5.5 SUI 84, will be based on Kiel Fjord:  www.5.5inventory.org/ger/067 http://www.5.5inventory.org/ger/067
5.5 GER 68 "Rock'n Roll", a Bjarne Aas, built 1960, the former SWE 55, is now based on Flensburg Fjord:  www.5.5inventory.org/ger/068 http://www.5.5inventory.org/ger/068

New challenge prizes

In addition to the "Evolution Preis" launched in 2008, all local and International participants will be accounted for in a low point system, after having participated in one or more of these races: "Willi Lehmann Preis", "Bronia Preis", "German Open", "Ambition Preis" [I-IV] and "Sünnschien Preis".

The Modern Cup, donated by Alfonso W. Steuer, will be given to the best Modern boat of the year.  

The Vintage Classic Cup will be given to the best Vintage Classic boat, built and kept according to the last rating rules in Olympic times.

New 5.5m website

The German 5.5m Class Association is presenting a new website, in which some of the news (Aktuell) and the race part (Regatten) will be shown bilingual, in order to keep our International guests informed about our racing plans: http://www.5point5.de/

Results for the the 2009 5.5m Australian Championships

Australian 5.5m Championships held on the 12th & 13th March 2009 in Sydney> Harbour.

Summary of the winners:
2009 Australian 5.5m Championships: Winner: Sic-Em-Rex skippered byMarc Ryan
2009 Australian 5.5 Gold Cup: Winner: Sic-Em-Rex skippered by Marc Ryan
2009 Australian 5.5 Silver (Classic) Cup: Winner: Baragoola skippered> by David De Coster

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The International 5.5m Class in Sweden - by Björn Kieman

Over the past years research was done to find todays owners of 5.5m boats in Sweden and a total of 15 boats is now know of.

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New Skipper of the German Fleet

After 2 years of heaving had the pleasure to be heading the German 5.5m association, we had elections for a new president during last weekend's annual assembly of the German Class association. The new skipper at the helm is Gerd Kruse, co-owner of 5.5 GER 25 "Knock Out", who is looking forward to be welcoming many international participants in our 2009 regattas, many of whom he knows for years from the 5.5m races. At the assembly the further growth of the class in Modern and Evolution boats has been key, as well as the visit of regattas in neighbouring countries, the World's in Hankoe, the Dutch and Swiss Open being the most prominent ones.

During the meeting we have also named regional race officers, who will be organizing regattas, covering the regions of: Lake of Constance, Bavarian Lakes, Berlin, Brandenburg & Mecklenburg, West, North.

I will be supporting the board in PR matters, in the function of webmaster and will continue my work with Seb and Francois for the 5.5m inventory database. For the beginning of 2009 we can announce to be having the following structure of the German fleet: 49 boats, thereof: 39 Classic, 7 Evolution, 3 Modern. 28 boats associated to the German Class association, thereof: 24 boats of ordinary members, 4 boats of supporting members. Out of the total of 48 boats, 19 boats have during 2008 been participating in regattas from Flensburg in the North to the Lake of Constance in the South. We do look forward to have some 22 boats racing by springtime.

News from the German Fleet - Activities in the winter season 2008 - 2009

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European Championship - Kristian Nergaard wins the Europeanchampionship

Kristian Nergaard, Petrus Eide and Johan Barne in the norweigian boat NOR-57, Artemis XIV are the winners of the International 5.5 class European Championship. Silver goes to the Swiss/Finish crew Christoph Burger, Christoph Wilke och Mathias Dahlman that sailed NOR-65, ODLO. Christoph B and Christoph W are both from Swizerland while Mathias is from the organizing club ÅSS. The bronze medal goes to another swiss crew, Jürg Menzi, Daniel Stampfli och Léonard Gaume in SUI-217, who won the last race. The Finish boat FIN-49, Addam4, Johan Gullichsen, Timo Telkola and Henrik Lundberg ended up on 5:th place, 4 points behind BAH-19, JohnB, with Gavin McKinney, Peter Hauff and Frode Ranhoff. Final Results Pictures

Swiss Championship Lake Geneva - Jürg Menzi makes it 11 in a row

The Swiss championship was held at the Societe Nautique Geneva from July 17-20. The first two days the fleet of 28 boats was waiting for wind and no race could be sailed. Day 3 was a fantastic sailing day with blue sky and perfect wind conditions (4-5 Bft.) and 4 races could be sailed. Jürg Menzi, who won the last 10 Swiss Championships was again in the lead closely followed by the new norwegian boat ODLO helmed by Christoph Burger and the two dutch boats Feng Shui and Maitresse. The last day's two races in agian strong winds. Final Results

Events on Lake Constace in August

Liebe 5.5er Segler vom Bodensee und Umgebung,
anliegend aktuelle Informationen zu den beiden Regattaereignissen vor Bottighofen und Überlingen im August.
Die veranstaltenden Vereine freuen sich über frühzeitige Meldungen und zahlreiche Teilnahme, die Ausschreibungen anbei. Beide Regatten zählen auch für die Wertung des neuen "Ambition" Wanderpreises, der den besten 5.5m Booten jeder Kategorie dann in Überlingen überreicht werden soll.
Für die Regatta vor Überlingen suchen fünf Segler aus Hamburg (Clemens von Storch, Andreas Edye, Dr. Frank Renken, Jens Merkel, Kaspar Stubenrauch) Crewplätze. Eigner, die noch Crewbedarf haben, wenden sich bitte an die Klassenvereinigung.

GERMAN OPEN 2008 - Niendorf / Baltic Sea
The German Open 2008 were held during 3 mostly sunny days with changing and thus challenging wave & wind conditions. Close finishes, 17 highly motivated Crews, a professional race committee, international participation from Austria and Switzerland and a beautiful & cosy athmosphere of Niendorf harbour have been part of the environment for this 5.5m race event in Northern Germany. The International German Champion of 2008 is "Shaolin" SUI 210 with Rolf Kellenberg & Crew - Congratulations! Closely followed by another Swiss boat, 5.5 SUI 213 "Pungin". Third place for the Evolution 5.5 GER 32 "Windliese" with Henning Ueck & Crew, winner of the German Champion Trophy. The fastest Classic: 5.5 GER 56 "Fram II" with Rouven Rademacher & Crew, also winning the "Long Keel Cup" for the best vintage Classic. A big Thank You to the Travelling Yachtsmen and to the organizing Clubs (SVNO - harbour + club house and LYC - Race committee + security).

The Results

Hankö Race Week:
Gavin McKinney, Peter Hauff and Frode K. Ranhoff take the victory in Hankö - Final results

Münchner Woche 2008 - Races on the Lake of Starnberg. Read more

 "Bronia Preis", sailed on the Alster in Hamburg. Final Results

Norway Claims World 5.5 Metre Championship 2008
Artemis XlV, skippered by Kristian Nergaard came away with the big world championship title. The World 5.5 Metre Championships came to a close on Friday with the Artemis XlV out of Norway captained by Kristian Nergaard being declared the new champion. Defending champion Switzerland was second and the Bahamas settled for the bronze medal. After six races on Thursday, Nergaard had already collected a total of 15 points with his closes challenger, Switzerland with 21 points and Bahamas with 23 points. The eventual winner had no need to race in the seventh race as his challengers' best on Friday could not overtake. Final Results Pictures

Norway wins the fourth and fifth race and wins the Scandinavian Gold Cup 2008 (Mar-6) Read more

Information from the German Fleet. News 2007-2008

NEW BOATS IN GERMANY
Two boats are enlarging the German Fleet and will actively participate in 5.5m races. read more...

NEW BOATS IN GERMANY Two boats are enlarging the German Fleet and will actively participate in 5.5m races: 5.5 GER 65 "Eternity", the former 5.5 SUI 132 "Crocodile Affair", now owned by Beate and Uwe Kraft, is an important addition for the local Evolution class, which is intended to be grown further in Germany during 2008. She will be based at the LYC in Travemünde. 5.5 GER 12 "Subbnboana", the German 1964 Olympic boat, will return to Germany after having spent many years in Switzerland (Z-74) and in France (FRA 12). This fast Luders design is now owned by Dr. Wolfgang Oehler and the boat will be based on the Biggesee near Siegen.

Classic 5.5's have been participating during this years "Münchner Woche" on the Lake of Starnberg, rejoining Olympic boats from 1964: "Subbnboana" 5.5 GER 12 (5th) and "Rush VII" 5.5 GER 64, the former S-37 (Silver medal), then Z-75, which has just been added to the German fleet. "Subbnboana" has won in its category, taking home a number of Prizes. At the helm: Dr. Herbert "Biwi" Reich, Skipper on this boat in Tokyo in 1964 and already winning "Münchner Woche" in 2003 as well.

I trust everybody is now ready (or nearly ready) for this year's activities.  Good progress is being made with the organisation of the Metre & Classic Keelboat Regatta - most notably with the publication of the Notice of Race and Entry Forms which are available on the web site, but there is plenty more information on the web site as well.

It would be appreciated if you could submit your entry as soon as possible since, as this is the first year the event is being run this way, we need an early indication of how many boats and crew we need to budget for.  Also, some of the problems of last year were caused by too many late entries which we want to avoid.  The closing date is 31st May, after which a late fee will apply.

Entries may be submitted online or an entry form downloaded from the web site:www.classickeelboats.org and an on-line payment facility is available.

It would be appreciated if you could forward this to others who may be interested and encourage them to visit the web site, again to obtain an early indication of participation levels by each class. And would like to keep people in the loop as organisational details unfold  - we are concious that some of these boats are not part of an organised class and would welcome the opportunity to sail with like-minded owners and crew.

Thanks very much for your help and we look forward to seeing you all in Cowes.
David J. Elliott, BISMA and Sec. for Racing Classes, British Classic Yacht Club
On behalf of the Organising Committee

http://www.classickeelboats.org
http://www.themetreregatta.org>    

PS: if you still need a copy of the book by Tim Street & Pekka Barck on 100 Years of the 6 Metres - goto The Yachting Studio and follow the links Classes, Keelboats, Metre Boats.  There are also copies of Tom Nitche's DVD on the history of the Metre Classes. Goto http://www.theyachtingstudio.org  and by all means have a look around as well.

The boat have arrived in the Bahamas All the boats are lined up for the 2008 World championship in the Bahamas. A very nice sight an the club is really moving forward with its preparations. The Bahamians are spending their time well with training in home waters. Watch out!!! Visit the Bahamas