All fingers crossed as 2026 5.5 Metre World Championship opened in Athens
The 63rd 5.5 Metre World Championship was opened Sunday night at the Yacht Club of Greece in Piraeus, Athens. It is the first time ever that the class has hosted any of its major events in Greece, with the events being held from Olympic Marine at Lavrion, at the south-eastern end of Attica.
Unfortunately, last week’s Scandinavian Gold Cup was cancelled as the high winds that have dominated the last seven days continued unabated. It was the first time in 107 years and 98 editions the Scandinavian Gold Cup has been abandoned with no racing possible. The high winds affecting south-eastern Greece have battered Olympic Marine and Lavrion with 30-40 knots and significant rain, though much less than some areas in the region. Many of the crews have been finding ways to occupy themselves during the forced abstinence from sailing, visiting some historical sites and the outstanding natural beauty.
On Sunday evening, the fleet made the expedition north to Piraeus for a fabulous opening ceremony at the impressive clubhouse of the Yacht Club of Greece overlooking the Saronic Gulf with views over the city of Athens. During the evening, the outgoing President, Louise Morton was honoured by the incoming President Simon Pfändler with a presentation from the class.
On Sunday morning the class had held its AGM and among other topics discussed were future venues for future Scandinavian Gold Cups and World Championships as well as changing the format of the Scandinavian Gold Cup.
The forecast for the coming week looks good, if still windy on some days to come, but the strong winds are expected to decrease Sunday night and into Monday morning and this has remained the outlook for several days, so the hope is that the World Championship can begin on schedule. However, Monday still looks windy, so racing is still in the balance.
The World Championship will feature 20 5.5 Metres from nine countries. There have been a few changes to the earlier announced lineup. The main change is that ten times winner, Kristian Nergaard is unable to attend so has handed the helm of Artemis to Kristoffer Spone. Spone won the Scandinavian Gold Cup, also standing in as helm for Nergaard, in 2013, and again in 2018 as crew to Neergaard.
One of three Greek helms, Nick Lykiardopulo, has upgraded an Evolution 5.5 Metre to take the helm of the modern Caracole. He is joined by the boat’s co-owner Nicolas Berthoud along with Jez Fanstone, who last sailed a 5.5 Metre over two decades ago.
The main contenders for the title will include 2023 champions Aspire (POL 17, Przemyslaw Gacek, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Kilian Weise), fourth last year, Girls on Film (GBR 41, Louise Morton, Charlie Cumbley, Sam Haines), last year’s Scandinavian Gold Cup winners Marie-Françoise XXII (SUI 233, Jürg Menzi, Jürgen Eiermann, Christof Wilke) while several others boats could post a serious challenge including 2024 Scandinavian Gold Cup winners Ali-Baba (SUI 224, Flavio Marazzi, Julie Marazzi, Eline Marazzi) and Multi-Nations winners Otto (NOR 68, Bent Christian Wilhelmsen, Herve Cunningham, Lasse Berthelsen).
With no racing, or even training, in Lavrion to date, the form of the boats is a complete mystery, so pretty much anything could happen over the next five days.
Racing is scheduled to start at 12.00 Monday. The fleet are keeping their fingers crossed that Aeolus got the message.
