fivepointfive - April 2023

On board Peter Morton’s Jean Genie it was Elliot Hanson’s
first day of 5.5 Metre racing after standing in as helm at the last
moment, as Morton was unable to make it to Hankø.
“We had a difficult start in the second race but didn’t make
many mistakes from there on. It’s no secret that 42 is going well
when we have some wind, which is a testament to the work the
guys behind the scenes have done.”
THE FORECAST FOR the second day was a building 10-20 knots
from the south-west and wall to wall sunshine. It was a great day
to be on the water. For the second race, the wind brought some
fantastic rolling waves for some epic sailing conditions.
In a first to three wins format, Ku-Ring-Gai 3 and Jean Genie
already had a win each, and after three races everyone but the
race winners are eliminated.
Race 3 was incredibly close with four boats pacing each
other round the three laps, though New Moon II (BAH 24, Mark
Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov) led at every mark,
sometimes by just a few boat lengths. Jean Genie closed up on
the final lap and sailed deeper to the left-hand finish mark and
took the final wave into the finish to win the race by two boat
lengths. It was a very exciting finish to an exciting race.
After this third race, all boats but Jean Genie and Ku-Ring-
Gai 3 were eliminated. However, Ku-Ring-Gai 3 broke their
jib halyard and had to retire, leaving Jean Genie to complete
the final race unchallenged to take a third race win and the
Scandinavian Gold Cup. By then the conditions were sublime,
big waves, strong wind, sparkling sunshine, and the team really
seemed to just enjoy seeing what the new boat could do and
pushing it hard around the course.
After just four days sailing the boat, Elliot Hanson, became
the first ever British winning helm in the 103-year history of the
event to win this highly prestigious trophy.
“It was great to be out there in some awesome conditions. We
had some great waves rolling in from the south which was great to
get the boat up and going and I think we hit a new top speed.
“It’s awesome to win here for two reasons. Firstly, to do it for
Morty, who is sat back at home. We had a great evening last night
hearing some of the stories of the class and it really hits home
about the heritage and the history and how much it means. It’s
also one of the most welcoming and friendly classes I have ever
been involved in.”
Looking ahead to the world championship, “I think we are
still learning the boat and the potential of this team. Even going
round that last race on our own was still hugely valuable to us as
a team, and as well as the upwind it felt today that we had great
wheels downwind and that comes from crew work and sailing the
boat in these conditions. For sure we have work to do and trying to
Andrew Palfrey: “To actually arrive in Norway and have
a boat that appears to be very competitive is immensely
satisfying. Both David Hollom and Steve Quigley – we have
two boats here – have designed two amazing boats and
they are both different and both have their strengths and
weaknesses, but the boat we sailed today, the Hollom boat,
has just got better and better. And we feel like we have an
edge as it gets windier and credit to Dave as that’s exactly
what he was asked to design and what he has given to us.
“But on top of that there’s a huge amount of complexity
and components and so on in these boats, so there has
been a lot of people involved. Sam [Haines] has codesigned
our sails and has been a big part of all that and
the philosophy of what we are doing with no runners and
simplifying things.
“It’s very satisfying and feels great to win the
Scandinavian Gold Cup but feels like we are about 30 per
cent of the way through this trip and we still have a lot to do
and are very focused on that.”
maximise our time between now and the worlds is certainly the aim.”
Bowman, Sam Haines also paid tribute to Peter Morton. “Big
thanks to Morty, and the trust he has put into a bunch of us to
take on this project has been amazing. I couldn’t really mention
all the names as it’s too many, but the trust that Morty has given
us has been amazing, and at the end letting us take the boat
away without him.”
Middleman, Andrew Palfrey said, “New Moon sailed a great race
and held the lead, but we just closed them down on the last lap and
had a really good run, with different boats on different waves taking
the lead and we got a nice wave at the finish and took it.”
APRIL 2023 • fivepointfive • 13