Newsroom
Last update: Thursday, November 6, 2008
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...
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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.
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Münchner Woche 2008 - Races on the Lake of Starnberg
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.
David J. Elliott, BISMA and Sec. for Racing Classes, British Classic Yacht Club
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.
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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
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A new Captain at the helm of the Italian fleet
Last November, the AGM of the 5.5 Italian fleet designated Alberto Dollinar as their new leader. Alberto has been sailing the famous Grifone ITA-42 for a number of years and he is a Classic yacht lover.
There will be two major events hosted in Italy in 2008:
- Classic Cup 23-25 May in Sanremo
- Italian Championship 5-7 September in Pescallo di Bellagio on lake Como.
The italian fleet will also welcome Whisper (ex-SUI-143) bought by Richard Leupold, she will be berthed near Verbania on lake Maggiore.
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New Challenge Trophy for the 5.5m class on Lake Constance
After several years of absence on the race scene of Lake Constance, the 5.5's have returned to racing in 2007, with one regatta organized by the YCRo in Romanshorn in early June and the other by the SGÜ in Überlingen in early September. Both clubs will arrange these regattas again in 2008, the YCRo on 31st May and 1st June 2008 and the SGÜ on 30th and 31st August 2008.
For the boats with most points from both races a new Challenge Trophy will be given for Classic, Evolution and Modern 5.5's, annually.
The prize is named after the first German 5.5 sailing on Lake Constance, the "Ambition" 5.5 G 5, a Tom Thornycroft Construction, built in 1951 by the Clare Lallow yard on the Isle of Wight, arriving here in the mid 50's and at home here ever since.
The German boats from Lake Constance, are looking forward to welcome 5.5's from the neighbouring countries and is hoping for further international participation in these races.
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Victory by Design (Time Magazine - 1963)
They came from all over: a mill hand from Leningrad, a crown prince from Oslo, an oilman from Houston—some of the best small-boat sailors in the world. Two were former world champions, four were Olympic gold medalists, five had won the Scandinavian Gold Cup. For seven days, on the wind-lashed waters of Long Island Sound, they battled for the world's 5.5-meter sailing championship. And when the contest ended last week, they sadly packed their sail bags and left the championship to C. Raymond Hunt, 55, a bespectacled grandfather from Tilton, N.H., who had never before sailed a 5.5-meter in international competition.
Though he was once regarded as a topflight Marblehead helmsman, Hunt now does most of his sailing on a designer's drawing board. He helped pioneer the popular International 110 and 210 classes, developed the ultra-highspeed (50 m.p.h.) "Moppie" powerboat hull, designed the 5.5-meter Minotaur that Massachusetts Yachtsman George O'Day sailed to victory in the 1960 Olympics. Hunt showed up at the world championship to try out his latest 5.5, Chaje II, built by Finnish Shipbuilder Jussi Nemes. The two planned to race her together. But Nemes had to rush home at the last minute?his shipyard had burned to the ground?and he asked Hunt to take over.
(Picture left: C. Raymond Hunt -1908-78)
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$20,000 for Speed.
Like a Grand Prix car, a 5.5-meter sailboat is a specialized piece of handiwork, designed for speed, not for family fun. The 5.5s range from 28 ft. to 35 ft. in length, must conform to a complicated formula that requires each "plus" (larger sail area) to be balanced by a "minus" (heavier weight).
Built in the U.S., a 5.5-meter hull costs about $15,000; designer's fees, tank tests and sails boost the bill another $5,000 or more. Running before the wind, under an 800-sq.-ft. spinnaker, a 5.5-meter can skim along at 8 knots. But a sailor is well advised to take along a reliable Mae West and a strong Australian crawl. "You've got to be rugged," says one skipper.
Unpredictable weather conditions helped make last week's championship a sailor's nightmare. One early race had to be postponed for lack of wind, but by the end of the seven-race series, swells were running 10 ft. high, and a 30-m.p.h. easterly buffeted the 34-boat fleet. "Are you sure we're in the right place?" asked one skipper. "This looks like the North Atlantic."
Computers & Jumpers.
Contestants raced around a six-leg, 10 3⁄4-mile course, won points according to the Olympics scoring system, so involved that Texas' Albert Fay complained, "You need a dadgum computer to find out where you stand. " Olympic Champion O'Day won one race, was disqualified in the next when he failed to hear the recall horn after a false start, wound up a woeful twelfth in the competition. Norway's Crown Prince Harald was so eager that he beat the gun in the last race, thus costing himself a chance for second place overall instead of eighth.
It took Hunt only one afternoon to get the feel of Chaje II. He finished eighth in the first race and then, reading the heavy weather like an oldtime clipper captain, proceeded to sail away from the rest of the fleet. He won two of the next four races, placed third twice, was so far ahead after five races that he sat out the sixth. "Why take a chance," he explained. "It was really nasty out there." On the last day, playing it cozy, Hunt finished a casual eleventh, and still coasted back to his berth with a huge 900-point lead over Runner-Up Lars Thorn of Sweden.
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