Open de France – régates royales de Cannes: le polonais Aspire défend son titre de champion de France!

Aspire defends French Open title at Regates Royales in Cannes

Aspire (POL 17, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Przemysław Gacek, Flavio Marazzi) has retained 5.5 Metre French Open title they won in 2021 after the final two races were sailed on Friday at the Regates Royales in Cannes.

New Moon III (BAH 25, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov) finished second while Otto (NOR 68, Bent Christian Wilhelmsen, Herve Cunningham, Lasse Berthelsen) finished third. Both are also former winners here, but the Polish team was unmatched this year, with great speed, manoeuvres, and almost flawless tactics.

After a delay on shore to wait for wind, the fleet was sent out around midday in a slowly building breeze, but it was one of those hot, light wind days in Cannes and it never really developed to anything substantial. Pressure from the left and the right mixed the fleet but Aspire still led round and extended for a big win in Race 6 to wrap up the series with a race to spare. New Moon and Otto battled hard for second with New Moon crossing just ahead.

All teams sailed the final race, even though the series was settled, with the weather mark set under the lee of the island after a 40-degree shift as the thermal wind started to build. New Moon started well and led all the way, though several times she let Aspire strike out alone and only stayed ahead because they crossed at the top, New Moon had right of way. But it was enough and they had legs downwind to build a gap. On the last downwind they extended to about 6-7 boatlengths to win the final race, and close the series. Aspire was second and Otto again third.

Jörg Sonntag’s daughter, Sandra Sonntag, also joined him for some racing this week and sums up why so many love sailing the 5.5 Metre in Cannes

She said, “The speed, the competition and the camaraderie. It’s a lot of fun. You definitely have to be very alert. We have good chemistry on the boat and good peers on the other boats, so it’s also the culture. I love sailing 5.5 Metres because they are fast. They are wonderful boats.”

“My dad starting sailing 5.5s in 2004. He sails a modern as well as the Classic Alzira. I join him once in a while. I was last here in Cannes in 2018. Cannes is beautiful. Everyone should come and visit in September, wonderful sailing and beautiful boats.”

The 5.5 Metre Class hopes to return to Cannes again in 2024. Unfortunately in 2023, the Regates Royales clashes with the 5.5 Metre Scandinavian Gold Cup and World Championship in Porto Cervo, Sardinia.

Meanwhile, the 2022 5.5 Metre international circuit concludes in two weeks’ time at the Herbstpreis on the Thunersee in Switzerland.

Final results
1 Aspire (POL 17, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Przemysław Gacek, Flavio Marazzi) 7
2 New Moon III (BAH 25, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov) 10
3 Otto (NOR 68, Bent Christian Wilhelmsen, Herve Cunningham, Lasse Berthelsen) 16
4 Pungin (SUI 213, Hans-Peter Schmid, Gilbert Dürr, Walter Dürr) 25
5 Ali Baba (GER 84, Wolf-Eberhard, Richter Beata Kallkowski, Oliver Weiss) 32

Full results here: https://www.manage2sail.com/en-US/event/RR2022#!/results?classId=95153101-9b4c-492d-870d-b0438cc4f35d

Photo gallery here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fivepointfivemetre/albums/72177720302335029