Jean Genie win the 5.5 Metre World Championship

On a day that delivered far more than was promised, The Jean Genie (GBR 43, Peter Morton, Andrew Palfrey, Ruairadh Scott) has won the 2023 Scandinavian Gold Cup on Sunday at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, Porto Cervo. Later in the evening, the opening ceremony for the world championship was held. Racing starts Monday.

The Jean Genie won both final races in fantastic conditions with sunny skies and winds of 10-14 knots. It was a sweet moment for Morton, as last year, he had been unable to sail in his newly built Dave Hollom designed boat, but this year came back with another new Hollom boat and proved quick in anything over 10-12 knots.

Following Saturday being lost due to a strong mistral, the fleet was sent out early on Sunday for an 09.30 start. The forecast was not promising, but the wind remained in place for both races. While some opted not to sail to save themselves for the upcoming world championship, four boats set out to settle the score and try to win the elusive and rather small trophy.

Both New Moon III and The Jean Genie went into the day with a win apiece in the unique one boat per nation, first to three wins format.

The Jean Genie won the opening race of the day. After winning the pin, they played the left and rounded first and led round the entire race. This meant the finals just went down to just The Jean Genie and New Moon III, in what was to be the final race. Boat boats engaged in the pre-start and started a fascinating tacking duel up the first beat. But The Jean Genie had the early advantage and extended on each leg to win by about 50 seconds. In the end, they led at every mark of both races.

Morton said, "Winning today feels fantastic. You know, it's an extraordinary event with its unique requirement to secure three race victories while seconds and thirds don't count. It's great to have won the last three races, making it a relatively short day as the World Championship begins tomorrow.

"We had between 10 and 15 knots of wind, and when all three of us were sitting on the weather side, we felt quite comfortable. However, when we had to sit in, I think we struggled a bit with the boat due to the smaller sail area. Nevertheless, we were pretty comfortable throughout the day. In the three races we won, we never had a boat in front of us, so our boat performed really well, especially when there was 10-12 knots of breeze."

Bowman on The Jean Genie Ruairidh Scott added: "We had a good start at the pin, which was the favoured end, and most of the fleet went in the same direction. We managed to get the left-hand side of the course and caught a nice shift at the top of the beat, allowing us to lead at mark one. The boat performed well, especially in winds above 12 knots, and we felt comfortable extending our lead. The last beat got tricky with different winds on the left and right, bringing the Bahamas team back into contention, but we stayed composed and secured the win. This meant it was just us and the New Moon team from the Bahamas in the final.

The second race started with a brief match race and an intensive tacking duel up the first beat.

"We had a bit of a match race before the start, with the Bahamas team initially leading us back to the pin. However, we managed to position ourselves to windward and get a good start, giving us a slight lead. There were plenty of tacks during the race, maybe around 20 in the first beat and a similar number in the early part of the second beat. Once we extended our lead on the third beat, we didn't need to tack as much. Our main concern was the wind dropping below 8-9 knots, as the Swiss boat could become more competitive in those conditions. Luckily, we secured the victory early in the day.

On the team performance, "I'm very impressed with our team's performance today. Morty's sailing was incredibly precise, and he remained composed throughout the races. We had discussions on board about how to handle a potential match race scenario, and we were initially prepared to take a passive approach. However, the other team engaged us, possibly trying to gain an advantage off the start line. We managed to turn the situation around and take control of the start in the last two to three minutes. Overall, it was excellent teamwork, and everyone maintained a calm attitude despite the challenging and shifting conditions throughout the day."

In the Hankø Evolution Cup, Joker (FRA 50, Adrien Polaillon, Eric Polaillon, Jean-Baptiste Polaillon) took the overall win, while in the Classic fleet Cibele (ITA 72, Fabrizio Cavazza, Vittorio Zaoli, Duccio Colombi) took the Royal Kaag Classic Cup.

Results

Scandinavian Gold Cup
The Jean Genie (GBR 43, Peter Morton, Andrew Palfrey, Ruairadh Scott) 10, 1, 1, 1
New Moon III (BAH 25, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov) 1,8,2,-
Aspire (POL 17, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Przemysław Gacek Edward Wright) 10,2,3,-
Ku-Ring-Gai III (AUS 66, John Bacon, James Mayjor, Terry Wetton) 2, 4, 4, -
Girls on Film (GBR 41, Louise Morton, Andrew Mills, Sam Haines) 3, 6, -, -
Artemis (NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Trond Solli Seather) 4,3,-,-
Melx III (GRE 5, Stavros Papagiannopoulos, Yannis Mitakis, Pavlos Kagialis) 6,7,-,-
Shaolin (SUI 22,6 Philippe Dürr, Andreas Kindlimann, Hans Von Werdt) 7,5,-,-
5billy5 (ITA 79, Maria Cristina Rapisardi, Marco Bonzanigo, Giovanni Arrivabene) 5,10,-,-

Hankø Evolution Cup
1 Joker (FRA 50, Adrien Polaillon, Eric Polaillon, Jean-Baptiste Polaillon) 4
2 Bagheera VVII (FRA 43, Jean-Bernard Datry, Alexandre Desaubliaux, Florence Piriou) 8

Royal Kaag Classic Cup
1 Cibele (ITA 72, Fabrizio Cavazza, Vittorio Zaoli, Duccio Colombi) 7
2 Manuela V (ITA 36, Guido Tommasi, Andrea Rachelli, Filippo Togni) 10
3 Rabicano (ITA 55, Vittorio Pozzo, Guido Fralciola, Enzo Marolli) 16