5.5 Metre titles head to Poland for the first time ever
by Robert Deaves 4 Jun 01:36 AEST
5-7 & 9-13 June 2025
Sopot Marina © Jacek Bielinski
Over the next 12 days the International 5.5 Metre Class heads to Sopot in Poland for the Scandinavian Gold Cup and World Championship. It is the first time the class has held any of its major events in Poland.
The fleet will be based at Sopot marina, situated at the end of one of Europe's most picturesque piers, providing an ideal setting for water sports enthusiasts. The race course will be located near to the pier - an almost 500-metre-long natural wooden grandstand - where fans and tourists from all over the world will be able to watch the racing. The atmosphere promises to be amazing.
Scandinavian Gold Cup
The Scandinavian Gold Cup runs from Thursday 5 June to Saturday 7 June, through due to its unique format can be over in three races. While the current holder, Flavio Marazzi, is not in Sopot, there are seven teams vying to win the second oldest trophy in sailing, three of whom have won it before.
The Jean Genie (GBR 43, Peter Morton, Andrew Palfrey, Ruairidh Scott) is the most recent winner in the fleet, taking the Cup over 5 races in 2023. Meanwhile Artemis (NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne Trond, Solli-Sæther) has won multiple times and Marie-Françoise XXII (SUI 233, Jürg Menzi, Jürgen Eiermann, Christof Wilke) has won twice before.
Other contenders include past world champions Aspire (POL 17, Przemyslaw Gacek, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Kilian Weise) and New Moon III (BAH 25, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov).
In a competition where only race wins count, it's the first boat to take three race wins that wins the Cup, and after three races only those who have won races remain in the competition. It can become a very interesting when boats start taking risks to secure a race win.
Alongside the Scandinavian Gold Cup, the President's Cup is also being run for boats wanting a tune up regatta and those who exit the Cup early.
World Championship
The 5.5 Metre World Championship follows directly on with a 10-race series from Monday 9 June. There are 20 teams entered from nine countries, including a team from the USA for the first time in a long, long time.
The fleet includes five former world champions, including the defending champions Ku-Ring-Gai III (AUS 66 John Bacon, Edward Wright, Joost Houweling). Since winning last year in France, they have not sailed together much, though they won the final race at the Alpen Cup at Riva in May.
The 2023 champions, The Jean Genie (GBR 43, Peter Morton, Andrew Palfrey, Ruairidh Scott), are one of the favourites, dominating the Alpen Cup again just a few weeks back. While they are getting faster in light winds, they are clearly more dominant when there is more than 12 knots of wind, the conditions for which the boat was designed.
Artemis (NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Trond Solli-Sæther) were runners up last year and remain one of the strongest teams. Nergaard last won the world title in 2020, his tenth as skipper.
After winning the world championship in 2023 in Porto Cervo, Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Przemyslaw Gacek swapped positions in Aspire and finished a very creditable third last year, along with Kilian Weise. They were the drivers behind getting the events to Poland and sailing on home waters is sure to bring an advantage.
Other past champions include New Moon III (BAH 25, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov), Marie-Françoise XXII (SUI 233, Jürg Menzi, Jürgen Eiermann, Christof Wilke) and John B (BAH 26 Gavin McKinney, Larn Horn Johannessen, Mathias Dahlman).
The class is very excited to have a North American boat taking part following a resurgence of interest there. William Turner recently won the first US National Championship in more than 30 years, and he has chartered Red & White for the championship, joined by Philip Davis and Ryan Sheridan.
The event website with much more information, entry lists and documents is at: 5.5worlds.org