fivepointfive - April 2023

Annie Lush: “We are pretty new to the class. We’ve done
a few days training in the UK and then a few days here, so
we didn’t really know what to expect. We are proud of our
results today for sure and it was nice to get that third and
keep it. We’ve been nervous as the breeze comes up. We
are a lighter team and the impact that might have. We were
on our light sails, so really happy that we managed to gear
change and stay fast to stay ahead.
“To be honest it’s amazing sailing a 5.5. We are loving
it. Personally, I sailed the Yngling for many years for the
Olympics, a tricky 3-man keelboat, but the 5.5 is so much
nicer, points higher, so much power and it’s quite technical.
It’s really fun to be back in a class like this. We are all sailing
foiling boats and fast boats now and it’s just so good to get
back in a proper keelboat and do some real racing, so we
had massive grins on our faces today. On the last beat when
we were in third and realised we were going to hold it, we all
just had the thought, ‘this is super cool isn’t it, this is really
cool’. Really enjoying it.”
STRONG WIND PAUSES RACING
All racing on the second day was cancelled as the forecasted
strong winds arrived and buffeted the island all day. The sailors
took the opportunity for maintenance, sightseeing and relaxing
ahead of what looked like three quite challenging days ahead.
It was still a beautifully warm day though with glorious sunshine
and high temperatures when out of the wind.
NEW MOON EXTENDS
The third day was definitely a day of two halves separated by a
wet intermission.
Race 3 was started in a solid 15-18 knots and huge waves,
which eased through the race.
After a mediocre opening day, Jean Genie (GBR 42, Elliot
John B
Hanson, Andrew Palfrey, Sam Haines) came into their own in the
breezy conditions. The boat had legs out of the start and led all
the way until the closing stages when Artemis sailed through
downwind as the wind dropped to 5-7 knots. New Moon II took a
very close third.
Then a huge storm cloud passed over, bringing unstable
conditions and a few showers, as well as a two hour wait. Finally,
the breeze returned from the west and quickly built to 17-20
knots and huge waves. The same three boats were close at
the top mark while Jean Genie and New Moon II broke away
downwind. Jean Genie favoured the right on the second upwind
to make a gain and lead down to the finish for her first race win of
the week. New Moon II took a very close second to extend their
lead at the top from Artemis and Jean Genie.
JEAN GENIE MAKES IT TWO IN A ROW
Just one race was sailed on the fourth day. Race 5 was moved
earlier in the day as the forecast was for a building wind and
it did just that. The conditions tested the entire fleet, but Jean
Genie started well and was ahead at the first cross and never
looked back, leading all the way and extending upwind and
downwind for a massive win. Artemis rounded the first mark in
fifth but was soon up to second and held that to the finish, with
New Moon II in third.
By the finish the wind had increased to the point where the
race committee considered it prudent to send the fleet back to
the safety of the harbour.
With just two races remaining, New Moon II still led overall
from Artemis and Jean Genie. New Moon II had barely put a
foot wrong all week, with top three places in all races. Defending
champion Artemis, had also been sailing well, and while Jean
Genie had a tough first day, they had dominated since the
Kristian Nergaard: “The first race was interesting with a big
left shift, starting at the pin and tacking right out,. We did
that with the English covering each other all the way to the top
mark. They had good boat speed in that big breeze and then
New Moon was about 200 metres behind. On the second beat
New Moon had good boatspeed and picked up on both of us.
“When the wind then died to about 4 metres, the English
boat started to have speed problems and we got up to
them, but they rounded the top mark first and then it was
just playing some shifts downwind and finding where the
pressure was, and we managed to get past them. That was
very close, so we were happy with that
“The shower the just delayed everything but that second
race was typical Hankø weather. But at least we got in two
races today and looking forward to tomorrow.”
18 • fivepointfive • APRIL 2023