5.5 Metre French Open at Yacht Club de Cannes - Day 2
by Robert Deaves 24 Sep 2025 19:58 PDT
23-27 September 2025
New Moon III (BAH 25, Holger KOEHNE, Christoph BURGER, Peter VLASOV) won both races on the second day of the 5.5 Metre French Open in Cannes, held within the Regates Royales. Otto (NOR 68, Bent Christian WILHELMSEN, Herve CUNNINGHAM, Lasse BERTHELSEN) is in second with Enez C'las II (FRA 63, Nicolas ABIVEN, Yann DELABRIERE, Sylvie DELABRIERE) third.
The conditions for the day were similar to Tuesday but with a forecast of strong southerly winds arriving mid-afternoon, so expectations were for one or two races.
After a timing error from New Moon, Otto made the best of the start of Race 3 and led uop the first neat and down the run. However, they picked the inshore gate mark while New Moon rounded the offshore gate into the slowly shifting breeze. New Moon took advantage and took the lead to win from Otto with Enez C'las II a solid third.
Race 4 started with a general recall with the fleet bunching at the pin. The restart was not much better with a cluster of boats getting onto trouble, which allowed New Moon to get a clear start and lead all the way. Otto, however, piled on the pressure upwind and downwind t leave the final result in doubt. With the new wind arriving they took the offshore gate and nearly passed New Moon, but rounded a few boatlengths behind and then gained on the final run to finish overlapped for a very close finish. Enez C'las II again sailed well to pick up a fourth third place finish.
Behind them the fleet grappled with the 12 Metre and classic fleets crossing the course. Unicorn (GER 39, Emelie Hess, Jorg Sonntag) were up the fourth at one point but the returning Feng Shui (NED 26, Arend Jan PASMAN, Arend-Jan PASMAN, Brent PASMAN) pipped them at the end and ends the day in fourth overall.
It's great to see three French boats taking part, including Artemis XIV (FRA 65, Jean-Jacques LOHEAC, Jerome PICARD, Claude-Alain le GALL) in sixth, which is a former world championship winning boat,
A third race was attempted but was postponed after a wind shift and then abandoned as the forecast strong wind came through. By the time the fleet was safely in the harbour Cannes Bay was a mass of whitecaps.
Racing continues on Thursday with three more races scheduled and lighter winds forecast. Racing continues until Friday.
Results after Day 2: (top six, 4 races, 1 discard)
1 New Moon III (BAH 25, Holger KOEHNE, Christoph BURGER, Peter VLASOV) 3pts
2 Otto (NOR 68, Bent Christian WILHELMSEN, Herve CUNNINGHAM, Lasse BERTHELSEN) 5pts
3 Enez C'las II (FRA 63, Nicolas ABIVEN, Yann DELABRIERE, Sylvie DELABRIERE) 9pts
4 Feng Shui (NED 26, Arend Jan PASMAN, Arend-Jan PASMAN, Brent PASMAN) 14pts
5 Ali Baba (GER 125, Wolf-Eberhard RICHTER, Beata KALKOWSKI, Bernd SELIG) 15pts
6 Artemis XIV (FRA 65, Jean-Jacques LOHEAC, Jerome PICARD, Claude-Alain le GALL) 16pts
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