14 • fivepointfive • APRIL 2023
On winning the Gold Cup, “It’s still sinking in really. I’mlearning more every day really about the history of this trophy. Ilove this class, love the sailing, love the tradition and the people,so it’s great to be able to compete at that level within the 5.5s.”Above left: crew of Trial • Above: crew of Jean GenieBelow: Trial • Below left: SkylarkOpposite: Opening reception for the World Championshipat Hankø Yacht ClubCLASS CUPSConcurrent with the Scandinavian Gold Cup the classics weresailing the Royal Kaag Classic Cup over three days. Trial (FIN4, Ville Harkke, Peter Flinkman, Petri Lindström) took the firstwins and was dominant in the windier conditions, while Skylark(FIN 6, Filip Blomquist, Oscar Norström, Elias Huhtala) wonthe last two light wind races to close out the series. Trial wascompletely renovated in 2017 after being originally built in1951 to qualify for the Helsinki Olympics, in 1952, but she onlyplaced second in the qualification races. In the end Trial won bya single point against Skylark.GRUNDIG HANKØ RACE WEEKMany of the other boats already in Hankø also took part in theGrundig Hankø Race Week.Eight 5.5 Metres took part in a series of tune-up races withJohn B (BAH 22, Gavin Mckinney, Mathias Dahlman, Lars HornJohannessen) putting in the best performance, while other raceswins went to Shaolin (SUI 226, Cyrus Golchan, Hans Von Werdt,Andreas Kindlimann), the all-girl crew on Girls on Film (GBR 41,Louise Morton, Annie Lush, Hannah Diamond) and Arunga X11(AUS 70, Mark Tolhurst, Adam Tolhurst, Stephen Mcconaghy).Scandinavian Gold Cup1 Jean Genie (GBR 42, Elliot Hanson, Andrew Palfrey, Sam Haines) 5 1 1 12 Ku-Ring-Gai (AUS 66, John Bacon, James Mayjor, Terry Wetton) 1 4 RET DNC3 New Moon II (BAH 24, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov) 3 2 24 Artemis (NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Trond Solli-Sæther 2 3 RET5 Otto II (NOR 68, Eivind Astrup, Herve Cunningham, Lasse Berthelsen 4 DNF 36 Shaolin (SUI 226, Cyrus Golchanm, Hans Von Werdt, Andreas Kindlimann) DNC 5 4Royal Kaag Classic Cup1 Trial (FIN 4, Ville Harkke, Peter Flinkman, Petri Lindström) dns 1 1 ret 2 2 122 Skylark (FIN 6, Filip Blomquist, Oscar Norström, Elias Huhtala) dns 2 dnf ret 1 1 13APRIL 2023 • fivepointfive • 15