5.5 Metre Multi Nations at Malcesine, Lake Garda, Italy - Overall
by Robert Deaves 12 Sep 22:17 PDT
10-12 September 2026
Otto (NOR 68, Bent Christian Wilhelmsen, Lasse Berthelsen, Herve Cunningham) have won their first ever major 5.5 Metre event following a dominant performance at the Multi Nations event at Malcesine on Lake Garda this week.
On the final day, Saturday, they won two more races to put the title beyond doubt. Aspire (POL 17, Przemek Gacek, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Kilian Weise) moved up to second, while three third places left Caracole (SUI 214, Bernard Haissley, Nicolas Berthoud, Daniel Shampfli) third overall.
Bent Christian Wilhelmsen has been in the class for nine years and while he has won a few minor events over the years, this is his first major victory, and without a doubt everyone present was celebrating with him and his team. It's been a long time coming, but very deserved with the time and effort they have put into their campaign. Their consistency over the six races was incredible. But for a few errors they would have won five races but had to settle to three and two very close seconds. Several world-championship winning crews behind them were no match for the Norwegian team this week.
It was an early start with the first warning at 0900 leaving some without breakfast. Otto led all the way in Race 4 in a quite strong Peler wind with very lumpy waves, to extend their lead at the top. Several chasing boats had letter scores already, so the pressure was on them to minimise mistakes. Aspire took second to keep the pressure on.
Into the fifth race and again Otto jumped out at the start and at one point seemed to have an unassailable lead only for Aspire to close the gap on the second upwind and then pass at the downwind after some close covering on the run. Then the wind dropped and the fleet were sent ashore to wait for the final deciding race in a moderate Ora at 12-15 knots.
In the sixth and final race and once again, it was Otto leading the way at the top and extending for yet another win. Aspire was back in fifth but managed to move up to second on the final downwind. Meanwhile, the experienced team on Caracole was quietly collecting third places and with their third race in a row in third place, moved up to third overall for the first time.
He said, "We did very well. The boat went very well. We've been developing this boat for several years. We have made progress with North Sails, and Wilke and they've been very helpful.
"And after the first day with storms, we had nice weather. It was typical Garda weather. The first day was a little bit light, but that's fine. We managed well and we won the first race. And we had a second and a third, and then today we had two firsts and a second. And that just always is nice, the typical Garda sailing here, bang the corner and then go down.
"It's actually my first win, here in Garda. I've been working on this since I started at class nine years ago and now finally I managed to win this; this is a very big thing for me and my team.
"Of course, it also provides some confidence to the world [in three weeks in Greece], and that's very important for us. But it's proof that things work and you know, we've been testing various systems have gone, and the boat is doing well, so we are really happy.
"One nice thing about this event, is we have many of the big players here, so we had a very tough competition. The Polish, they are very competitive and very good sailors, you have Jürg Menzi, Caracole, New Moon.
"We have a multinational team, two Norwegians, myself and my friend, Lasse Berthelsen. And then we have Herve Cunningham, who's handling the spinnaker and the jib, and we have also Luka from Slovenia in the coach boat. We are an active team and we've been working together for many years now.
"My family has been involved in this 5.5 sailing a long time ago. My grandfather was a 5.5 sailor and sailed for Norway and was in international competitions in the early 1960s. And then my uncle sailed 5.5 Metres in the 1980s and got third in Sydney in 1983. So, 5.5 Metre sailing is in the family."
The fleet now has a few weeks off before heading to the ferry for the first 5.5 Metre World Championship in Greece. Ten crews from here will travel to be joined by at least 10 more in Lavrion, just south of Athens. Anticipation is rife.
Overall Results: (top five, 6 races)
1 Otto (NOR 68, Bent Christian Wilhelmsen, Lasse Berthelsen, Herve Cunningham) 7pts
2 Aspire (POL 17, Przemek Gacek, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Kilian Weise) 10pts
3 Caracole (SUI 214, Bernard Haissley, Nicolas Berthoud, Daniel Shampfli) 16pts
4 Marie-Françoise XXII (SUI 233, Jürg Menzi, Jürgen Eiermann, Christof Wilke) 18pts
5 New Moon 3 (BAH 25, Jürg Ryffel, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov) 20pts