Int. 5.5 Metre News - December 2022

Dear all 5.5 Metre sailors,


Kim Chabani
I would like to take this opportunity of thanking Kim for all his hard work in recent years organising the 5.5 Class calendar and negotiating with the regatta organisers on dates and in putting together the NoR and SIs. He has now stepped down and handed over his role to Liz Haines. I have particularly enjoyed working with him and appreciate his continuity since I took over as President. He is planning to get back into racing a 5.5 so we look forward to seeing him on the race course. 
              
 
Liz Haines
We welcome Liz as the new International Secretary to the 5.5 class. Her husband Sam has been racing 5.5s on GBR 42 this summer and previously on GBR 40, so is known to many of you on the International circuit. Sam and Liz are Australian but now living in Cowes, have two children, both keen sailors, and she has worked in the marine industry before. I am confident she will be a good addition to the Class. Her salary is being sponsored by Mark Holowesko, Peter Vlasov and myself for the first year and thereafter the intention is that it should be paid for by the Class. 
 

The 5 Nations Cup
 
The results for the 5-Nations-Cup(s) in 2022 have been counted.
And, the winners are:

Modern 5.5 POL 17 Aspire
Evolution 5.5 GER 84 Ali Baba
Classic 5.5 AUT 5 Belle III
 
Congratulations to all the winners. 

For 2023, the chosen events are: 
 
Alpen Cup (ITA)
French Open (FRA)
Salzkammergutpreis (AUT)
Swiss Open (SUI) 
German Open (GER)
  

Rules and Regulations
 
Liz has already got to work, and the World Championship rules have been updated to reflect the decisions of the last two AGMs and they are posted on the website here. The constitution has also been updated to remove gender specific references as per the previous AGM minutes and is also on the website here.
 
The International Class Rules changes have now been approved by the class measurer and were forwarded to World Sailing last week and we await their review.
Yacht Club Costa Smerelda
2023 5.5 World Championship and Scandinavian Gold Cup
20th – 29th September 2023
 
We are very excited to confirm arrangements for the next World Championship to be held by the Yacht Club Costa Smerelda (YCCS) Porto Cervo, Sardinia. 
 
The opportunity to have our Worlds run by one of the most prestigious yacht clubs in the World is a fabulous opportunity for the Class. They were last held here in 1984. Many of you no doubt have raced here before but for those of you who haven’t, it is a stunning part of the World with a great race course. 
 
Peter Vlasov, the President of the Italian 5.5 fleet, Fabrizio Cavazza, and myself visited the location in October and were able to check out the launching and marina arrangements, the Yacht Club and their facilities and also some local accommodation offerings.
 
We are anticipating that the NoR which is now being worked on will be ready for publishing in the New Year. 
 
Fabrizio who has a Classic 5.5 is confident that many of the Italian 5.5 Classic owners will want to take part, so we are quietly hopeful of a good turnout of Classics and perhaps this may encourage other European Classic owners to join us. 
 
As you can see from the range of events that the YCCS (https://www.yccs.it/en) host every year, that this is a Club with a fully professional race management team. To this end, we know it is going to cost us more than we are used to paying. 
 
However, we also know that keeping entry fees down is an important factor and we are working hard on that too but they will exceed the E800 as set in the WC rules. However, we feel that this is a special occasion and therefore something that we just have to run with. Obviously, the more entrants, the cheaper the entry fee can be. To this end, if you are planning on coming to Porto Cervo, please could you just drop me a quick email by return (louisemorton@me.com) so we can have a rough idea of numbers and this in turn gives us an idea on how to apportion costs against the entry fees. 
 
Peter and I were encouraged however by the range of accommodation available within walking distance covering some very nice rooms at the YCCS, apartments, a couple of reasonably priced hotels and villas to rent all within walking distance of the Club. I do feel that everyone will be able to find something that suits their requirements.
 
As a reminder, please find attached here the proposal from the YCCS giving all the details for this event https://5.5class.org/images/news/2023/YCCS_Introductory_presentation__2021-compressed.pdf
 
Here is the link for the YCCS Worlds venue information. 
 
If anyone has any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch. 
New York Yacht Club 
2024 5.5 World Championship and Scandinavian Gold Cup
 
As you know, it is our intention to take the 5.5 Worlds out of Europe for 2024 to be hosted by the New York Yacht Club in Newport, Rhode Island. Liz and I had a very good Zoom call with their Sailing Director, Lynn Lynch, last week and I am very excited with what they can offer us. 

We are planning an 11-day event with the Scandinavian Gold Cup being run at the same time as their annual regatta/race week over the weekend of the 17-20 July followed by the Worlds from 22-26 July. Lynn is excited to be offered the opportunity to run the 5.5 Worlds and their incoming Commodore is also very interested in the Class, so we are hoping we can tempt him to race. 
 
The NYYC Race Week is held every other year and normally attracts 80-100 boats. It is sponsored by Rolex so has a good level of social events which we can tap into. She is confident that we can race in the harbour which will give us some good flat-water conditions. Obviously, we are in the early stages of organisation but I wanted to give you a flavour of the planned event. Liz is looking into shipping options and is working on an information sheet to give you more details. 
 
Here is the link for the NYYC Worlds venue information. 
      
The International race programme has been published on the website for 2023 and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at all 5.5 organised regattas. A lot of work goes into these, and the race organisers need all the support they can get. 
 
 
An invitation has been sent by Liz for all the Country Presidents to join in on a meeting to discuss the International race circuit and budgets for 2023/2024 and this is taking place on 26th January 2023. If you have any comments or ideas that you would like to see discussed at this meeting, please contact your Country President in advance. 
 
Hot news: I can confirm that a new 5.5 metre has been commissioned to be built in the UK for the 2023 season. 
                                           
 
The Committee and myself very much look forward to seeing you all out on the water again next year and would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and fair winds and good sailing in 2023. 
 
With kind regards
Louise Morton
International President