Melx III (GRE 5, Stavros PAPAGIANNOPOULOS, Yannis MITAKIS, Pavlos KAGIALIS) has won the 2023 5.5 Metre German Open at Tutzing on Starnberger See, hosted by the Deutscher Touring Yacht-Club. Ali Baba (GER 125, Wolf-Eberhard RICHTER, Beata KALLKOWSKI, Bernd SELIG) took second and became German Champions, while No Stress (SUI 201, Jörg SONNTAG, Olaf SCHULZ, Jacob REK) was third.
Sunday was a bleak day on the lake in contrast to the previous two days, with low cloud, incessant rain and low temperatures. After a brief postponement the fleet of 15 boats was sent out for a 12.00 start. Only one race was sailed to complete the series and it was down to Melx III and Ali Baba to take the overall win.
The wind started at 7-8 knots and dropped to 2-3 knots at the first windward mark, but then filled in again with the course shortened at the second windward mark, luckily closer to the club as the rain had returned.
Ali Baba looked to have the better of the start and covered Melx III all around the course to cross the line first. Melx III crossed second with No Stress crossing third, but then it transpired that Ali Baba was UFD at the start, along with Lady Luv (GER 8 Manfred PÖSCHL Johannes BANDTLOW Peter WACHS), who both crossed early near the pin.
This gave the overall win back to the Greek team.
Yannis Mitakis is one a number of former Finn sailors who are now sailing in the 5.5 Metre fleet.
"After the Finn Olympics in Tokyo it was my last race so then I joined the 5.5 family and it is really interesting to sail these nice boats.
"It was a nice three days racing here in Germany. It was a tight race and finally we won and we are really happy with that. We are racing as a team for the second time and now we are looking forward to the world championship in Sardinia and we hope to see everyone there."
Racing continues in Tutzing for the Enoshima Trophy for boats still conforming to the rules in place at the time the 5.5 Metre was an Olympic class.
The World Championship runs from 24-29 September in Porto Cervo, with 34 entries so far.
Final results after 7 races:
1 Melx III (GRE 5, Stavros PAPAGIANNOPOULOS, Yannis MITAKIS, Pavlos KAGIALIS) 8
2 Ali Baba (GER 125, Wolf-Eberhard RICHTER, Beata KALLKOWSKI, Bernd SELIG) 11
4 No Stress (SUI 201, Jörg SONNTAG, Olaf SCHULZ, Jacob REK) 20
3 Manuela V, (ITA 36, Guido TOMMASI, Marco ANESSI, Edoardo GAMBA) 33
5 Striezi (GER 107, Johannes SCHMEDERER, Florian LAUTENSCHLÄGER, Gunter ERNST) 45
Prizewinners:
International German Champion:
Melx III GRE 5 Stavros PAPAGIANNOPOULOS Yannis MITAKIS Pavlos KAGIALIS
German Champion:
Ali Baba GER 125 Wolf-Eberhard RICHTER Beata KALLKOWSKI Bernd SELIG
Paula preis (best evo):
Striezi GER 107 Johannes SCHMEDERER Florian LAUTENSCHLÄGER Gunter ERNST
Ohlson Prize & Long Keel cup (Best Classic & best long Keel classic):
Manuela V ITA 36 Guido TOMMASI Marco ANESSI Edoardo GAMBA
Concourse d'elegance:
Volpina ITA 33 Fabrizio CAVAZZA Andrea ZAOLI Serguei CHEVTSOV
Oldest classic:
Lady Luv GER 8 Manfred PÖSCHL Johannes BANDTLOW Peter WACHS
Pungin prize (10th Place):
Rush VII GER 64 Luis TARABOCHIA Michael TARABOCHIA Erwin BURTH