In order to present the five boats, which have been Olympic medal winners from 1952 to 1968, the Ohlson family is searching two of these boats, whose whereabouts are not known at present:
5.5 D-10 "Web II" - Silver medal winner in 1960 in Naples www.5.5inventory.org/DEN/010
Last location known was Annapolis in the USA, there sailing as 5.5 US 30 "Web II", owned by Norman Owens.
5.5 K-35 "Yeoman XV" - Bronze medal winner in 1968 in Acapulco www.5.5inventory.org/GBR/035
Last location known was Lake of Zurich, there sailing as 5.5 Z 96 "Galatea", owned by J. Toller.
Any hint to former and/or even actual locations will be much appreciated. kasse(at)5point5.de
The other boat's (S-6 Bronze 1952, S-24 Gold 1956 and S-37 Silver 1964) locations are known.
There is also a video on YouTube about the Ohlson Project.
The Ohlson family and sailors in the Class are compiling the history of the design office of Ohlson Brothers, Einar & Carl-Erik Ohlson, famous in the Class from its beginnings into the 70s. Ohlson designs were the only ones present on the Olympic podium in all five Olympic sailing regattas from 1952 to 1968.
Artemis XIV (NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Anders Pedersen) have won the 2020 5.5 Metre World Championship at the Royal Prince Alfred YC, in Newport, Australia, after a thrilling final day of racing. New Moon II (BAH 24, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov) ends up second on equal points with Ali Baba (BAH 23, Craig Symonette, Flavio Marrazi, Will Alloway).
On a day in which everyone had their chances, and the left side kept on giving, the race wins went to Prettynama (GER 79, Max Müller, Mark Dangel, Wiebe de Witte) and John B (BAH 22, Gavin McKinney, Mathias Dahlman, Lars Horn Johannessen).
While the forecast was not far off, the day promised more than it delivered with clearing skies, rising temperatures and a north-easterly breeze. However in contrast to previous days the nor’eastlerly never rose above 8-10 knots and spent most of the day struggling to build to more than 6-7 knots. However it was a great day on the water, more so after Sunday’s cold and wet conditions and was a great end to a fabulous championship.
After being called on the course side in the first race of the day, Race 6, Ali Baba succeeded in returning and then being fastest to the top mark. Followed by Artemis XIV, they then followed the pressure out to the right, only to have the left come in strong. Leading the left pack were Prettynama, who then held onto the lead downwind to win the race by less than a boatlength from Ali Baba and Zicca (SUI 201, Tobias Isler, Rob Schrivenor, Will MacKenzie). Artemis XIV fared worse and ended up fifth across the line, which meant the championship would go down to the final race.
While most favoured the left again in Race 7, Ali Baba headed right after a bad start. Only Ali Baba could now beat Artemis XIV to the title, so they followed and kept close to the Bahamian team. When the fleet came back together they were both mid fleet. It looked like game over. Ali Baba showed exceptional speed to climb to fifth, but couldn’t get near to the leaders. John B led the race at every mark to score their first win of the championship while the others scrabbled for every point, as the podium places were extremely tight. Girls on Film (GBR 40, Peter Morton, Andrew Palfrey, Andrew Mills) looked to have the initial advantage and were second at the gate. However New Moon II initiated a tacking dual up the final beat and coming into the line there was nothing to separate the two boats. In a photo finish, New Moon II crossed just inches ahead of Girls on Film, enough to take the silver for the second year running, while fifth for Ali Baba was enough for the bronze, on equal points with New Moon II.
Peter Vlasov, from New Moon II said, “Very exciting. There were five boats that could make it onto the podium and so it went. Kristian knew that if he came fourth or less then that would seal the world championship for him. And then the battle really began during the end of race one today leading into Race 2, because it was all down to the wire. Whoever ended up ahead was going to win silver and bronze.”
“For us it was exciting because it was all tacking duals. Our fellow Bahamian, Gavin McKinney decided to declared World War Three which we promptly won, and then we got into this tacking dual at the very end, leading up to the finish with Morty (Girls on Film) and his cool crew and we are talking millimetres. We crossed the finish line ahead of Morty by maybe 10 cm. It was beautiful. We are very excited to have fought for this silver medal."
“I am happy to say that this was an awesome world championship. I don’t know what we are going to have to invent to come back to Sydney, very soon. Something very good.”
Will Alloway, from Ali Baba, said, “We had a good first race. We led round the top mark and then got a bit unfortunate on the second beat and finished second. We had two bad starts today, but good comebacks in both races.”
“On the last race we messed up the start again and hot the right and managed to catch the guys up downwind and had good racing. Our whole strategy was to go left just to get the pressure coming down the course, but we were forced to tack out right and slowly work our way back to the left. The guys did a great job getting the boat going.”
“I got involved with Craig through Flavio [Marazzi]. I sail with Flavio on the GT32, the hydro-foiling cat. Then I did the Alpen Cup on Garda and enjoyed that and decided to do the worlds out here. It’s been a great couple of weeks, training before the worlds as well.”
It is his first year in 5.5s, and the second event. “I am really enjoying sailing them. The boats are super tweaky. The moderns are very similar in boatspeed, so almost a one-design class. But it’s really nice sailing them with a bit of development mixed in, providing very exciting and fun racing.”
For Kristian Nergaard, this win is his tenth world title, but nerves still played a part.
“Of course we were nervous going into the last race. We are not that strong in the light airs and with the lumpy stiff and we had to protect, but fortunately we had a third as our throw out going into today and that was important for us.”
“In the first race we were more concerned about New Moon II, they were closer to us, but we were with them and then we were on the right side, which was wrong. So we got a fifth in that race, and that was OK, so what it came down to in the end before the last if Ali Baba had won the last and we were fifth or worse, he would have won. So we just wanted to be around him at the start and we both got a bad start. We were second row. So we stayed with him and stayed close to him.”
He paid tribute to his crew. “Johan has been sailing for so many years, Solings, Olympics, and very experienced, so just a great crew to have. And Anders, with his experience now, in the Finn and going to the Olympics in a few months, was also great to have on the boat. He had to learn of course as he had not done that much, but he came round nicely and was a good part of the team.”
“It was a good team. Very happy about the boys, very happy about the series and of course wining the words again is great.. Very happy to do that.”
About the organisation over the last two weeks, “I was here in 1991 and sailed with my father and Australia has always been a nice place to come back to. It is beautiful, nice weather and nice challenging conditions. It was windy in the beginning and we liked that and when it was light and lumpy it was more challenging for us, but generally we got all types of conditions that you would need at a world championship. I must say to the organisers with the PRO, that it was a very professional team. I haven’t really seen that in a long time. So they held a really nice regatta and everything has been done and well organised at the yacht club and its just been very nice. I think the Australians really did a good job.”
“I’ve been with the class for some time, but right now I see that there is more guys coming into the class, there are more boats being built and there is quite a bit of interest and I think that there are going to get more than 20 moderns at future world championships, so that is good. It’s definitely at a good place right now and I think we will see a lot of good sailors coming into the class and lot of interest in the class..”
In the whole 76-year history of the 5.5 Metre, only one skipper has ever won back to back titles in both the Scandinavian Gold Cup and the world championship – Kristian Neergard. Now he has repeated that feat and a word of warning for those looking to take over his mantle – next year’s events will be at his home club in Hankø, Norway.
Final results (after 7 races)
1 Artemis XIV (NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Anders Pedersen) 15
2 New Moon II (BAH 24, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov) 19
3 Ali Baba (BAH 23, Craig Symonette, Flavio Marrazi, Will Alloway) 19
4 John B (BAH 22, Gavin McKinney, Mathias Dahlman, Lars Horn Johannessen) 22
5 Girls on Film (GBR 40, Peter Morton, Andrew Palfrey, Andrew Mills) 22
Trophy winners
World Championship Trophy - Artemis XIV(NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Anders Pedersen)
Quail Trophy - Baragoola(AUS 26, Jason Antill, Larry Eastwood, Damian Macey)
Frank Tollhurst Trophy -Ku-Ring-Gai(AUS 62, John Bacon, Terry Wetton, James Mayjor)
Peter Fazer Memorial Trophy - Artemis XIV(NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Anders Pedersen)
Bobby Symonette Trophy - Ali Baba(BAH 23, Craig Symonette, Flavio Marrazi, Will Alloway)
Deb Trophy - Artemis XIV(NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Anders Pedersen)
Roni Pieper Trophy (not awarded) - John B(BAH 22, Gavin McKinney, Mathias Dahlman, Lars Horn Johannessen)
Royal Prince Alfred’s International 5.5 Metre Worlds Handicap Jug (PHS prize) - Prettynama(GER 79, Max Müller, Mark Dangel, Wiebe de Witte)
Corinthian Trophy - Shaolin(SUI 226, Cyrus Golchan, Andreas Kindlimann, Hans von Werdt)
Trofeo Italia (not awarded)
Artemis XIV (NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Anders Pedersen) has extended their lead to nine points with just two races to sail at the 2020 5.5Metre World Championship, at the Royal Prince Alfred YC, in Newport, Australia.
New Moon II (BAH 24, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov) is up to second while Girls on Film (GBR 40, Peter Morton, Andrew Palfrey, Andrew Mills) is up to third. The race wins on the fourth day went to Shaolin (SUI 226, Cyrus Golchan, Andreas Kindlimann, Hans von Werdt) and Ali Baba (BAH 23, Craig Symonette, Flavio Marrazi, Will Alloway).
Despite some forecasts predicting good conditions all day it turned into a largely bumpy, sloppy day with more rain than most Australians have seen in the last three months. The southerly also brought lots of smoke to Pittwater again, one of the worst days of the past few weeks. Combined with the low cloud and rain fronts, it was a gloomy and dark day, with bad visibility for much of the day. The first race got away in 7-8 knots but for most of the race this was down to 3-4 knots with painfully slow progress through the huge waves left over from Saturday’s southerly change and strong winds.
Shaolin got the best pressure out of the start and were never headed, leading round from Girls on Film, which closed right up on the second upwind. Races are often won and lost on a single decision and Shaolin gybing to meet the new breeze was one of those. The wind shifted and strengthened to 9-10 knots soon after the gybe allowing Shaolin to sail away for a comfortable win, while Artemis XIV, who had rounded the first mark in sixth and the gate in third, also took advantage to move into second, after Girls on Film had gone further right and lost distance.
At the finish the wind again died to 3-4 knots and the fleet waited afloat for more than an hour as the wind puffed and sucked. Eventually the race officer’s patience was rewarded with a rain front that brought 14-16 knots of breeze. He hastily got the fleet away hoping it would last.
Most of the fleet tacked onto port after the start and headed right into the increasing cold rain and larger waves brought by the wind. Ali Baba rounded just ahead of New Moon II and Artemis XIV. The wind maintained its strength downwind and most of the second upwind before dropping off to 6-7 knots again. While the leaders stayed right, there was a big left shift, which enabled Girls on Film to recover from 15th at the top to fourth at the finish, while Rhapsody (AUS 35, Thomas Spithill, Chris Links, Heath Walters) dropped from fifth to 13th by staying right.
The positions stayed the same downwind with Ali Baba taking the win from New Moon II and Artemis XIV.
The fleet returned to shore late afternoon cold and exhausted after more than seven hours on the water. Overall Artemis XIV extends their lead to nine points from New Moon II and Girls on Film.
Craig Symonette, helm on board Ali Baba explained the second race. “We hit the pin with good speed and we tacked almost immediately and then we crossed the fleet and continued to get lifted for most of the leg and then got a little righty at the end and easily made the weather mark. We had good upwind speed and managed to keep in front. It was a very fun race.”
His “Last worlds win was the Bobby Symonette Trophy, which we also won today, and that was in Garda in 2010.”
“The first race was very hard. We got on the wrong side of the course and really had no speed in the light air. It’s been a long day on the water.”
Cyrus Golchan was helming Shaolin. “We had a nice start and we were lucky with the light wind. We were maybe the only boat to have pressure at the start and we had a nice gap on fleet. Then GBR 40 came fast on the second upwind and then at the second upwind mark we had a big shift. It was really close and when we put the spinnaker on we had a big right shift and we gybed quickly and it was done with GBR. He went too far to the right.”
“It was a light wind, a Swiss wind. Swiss conditions. We appreciate light winds because we are a light crew. The waves were high and difficult on the first downwind, but the second downwind was easier.”
“There was much more wind in the second race but we missed the start and we were late for the pin and then we had to fight all the race with Baragoola, the classic boat, who did a really nice race.”
“It is our first time here in Australia and the conditions are amazing, especially the organisation from Martin Cross, who does a lot. He is everywhere, sailing and organising, so big thanks to him and all the crew.”
There is just one more day to go in Newport. While Artemis XIV has a good lead, there is only five points between the next four boats, so there is still a lot of racig to be done. Racing concludes on Monday with two more races scheduled to decide the 2020 5.5 Metre World Champion.
Results after 5 races
1 Artemis XIV (NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Anders Pedersen) 10
2 New Moon II (BAH 24, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov) 19
2 Girls on Film (GBR 40, Peter Morton, Andrew Palfrey, Andrew Mills) 20
4 Ali Baba (BAH 23, Craig Symonette, Flavio Marrazi, Will Alloway) 21
5 John B (BAH 22, Gavin McKinney, Mathias Dahlman, Lars Horn Johannessen) 24
High seas, following a very strong overnight southerly change, stopped all racing on Day 3 of the 2020 International 5.5 Metre World Championship, at the Royal Prince Alfred YC, in Newport, Australia.
The overnight change brought a strong southerly wind early morning, much reduced temperatures and rain. At the scheduled race time there were 2-3 metre high breaking waves, and the fleet was held onshore for 2 hours to wait for the sea state to abate. Bravado from some sailors to go sailing did not influence the race officer, who was prepared to wait it out. So the fleet waited around the club all morning in the hope that racing would take place in the afternoon.
Finally, with the wind still whistling through the rigging, though it was only 18-22 knots on the course area, the fleet was released from the club for a 14.00 start time. However before long they were back. As the race committee boat rounded Barrenjoey Head, it became apparent that racing would not be viable due to the heavy and confused seas and everyone was sent back to the club for an earlier than planned German class dock party.
Of the number of new owners buying new and reused boats, one is very familiar to the class. Colin Ryan took the opportunity of the world championship being in Australia to visit to look over the boats with a view to rejoining the class he last sailed in 2005. Sailing from 1978 to 2005, Colin was a key member of the international class as well as commissioning designs, building boats and taking part in the international circuit for many years.
He also organised previous world championships in Australia. In 1986 and 1991 in Newport, and in 2005 in Sydney Harbour. Three of his old boats are taking part this week: Carabella, King’s Cross and Tangalooma (then called Sic Em Rex II).
Though he stopped sailing the class for 15 years, he never lost his enthusiasm and will be back later this year having agreed the deal to buy Otto at the end of the regatta. It will be shipped back to Norway, where he will campaign it on the European circuit.
“Carabella was my first boat in 1978. I had her for a couple of years and then went into the worlds here in 1980 at the Alfreds. I was a newcomer to the class. I took a couple of employees from the factory and went sailing, they had never sailed before.”
“I got hooked and then we started with Warren Muir [who paid a flying visit to the event last week] and so my first two boats were Warren Muir designed boats. In the 1980s, he was having great success. The boats were winning world championships and at that time it was the design to have.”
“I engaged Warren and we got two and I sold one to another sailor and took the other boat to the worlds in 1985 in Newport, California. Warren and Bob Stoddard [sailing this week on Beta Crucis] crewed for me. So I was really hooked and continued to build, buy and sell 5.5s right through to 2005.”
Then “life’s bumps in the road” took him out for 15 years.
“We got into the top 10 at the worlds and would regularly win the Australian Championship. But I was so intent on the building process sometimes that I didn’t have enough time to campaign problem. And it was a big effort in those days to campaign from Australia. It had to be a full on exercise and it was a long time way from your business. The regattas were much longer back then, often over five or six weeks. You would have one race a day instead of two. So you had to allow for all of that.”
What attracts him to the class? “I think the class meter design and the fact that for m, it is a development class, so I could be involved in the design process and the building process. In the early days any design improvement was rather dramatic compared with now, when they are miniscule and questionable whether you really have made an improvement or not, but in those days you could really get a jump and so that for me was very much an attraction.”
“Warren’s designs at that stage monopolised the class, which then became the Warren Muir/Ben Lexcen design, which was the next one. It went from a classical 5.5 Metre to a big skiff, so it had a canoe body with an appendage, and it was a totally different sort of boat. He was also always working to the bottom end of the weight rule, which was from 1740 to 2040 kg, so that’s a big range. The sail area was from 27-29 sq. metres. So he was always pursuing the bottom end of the range, and that maybe worked for five years and then gradually the weight started to go up and the form started to change and there was more success in another design, which was the Melges boats, driven by Frank Tolhurst.”
King’s Cross, sailing this week, was Tolhurst’s first boat, which he campaigned for the 1968 Olympics. “He had many boats and always engaged the best designers of the time and had great success.”
Ryan is quite excited about getting back into the class. "I had been looking to get back in the class. I hadn’t lost any of the interest or passion. I have always been interested in the technical side of the boats, was on the technical committee, and was international vice-president for about 15 years, then a bit of a gap, and now back.”
“The costs are high now, but the nice thing is you can buy an older boat like I have done, which is much more economic – about a fifth of the cost.”
He will base the boat in Norway in Hankø, where he is a member, having long had connections there. It is also the venue for the 2021 Scandinavian Gold Cup and World Championship. “The boat will be well used and campaigned. We just have to work out a programme and priorities for the season.”
He thinks it is important that the class has events in Australia. “There has generally been quite a big gap between events down here. It used to be every six years. Between 1991 and 2005 it was 14 years and between 2015 and now, another 15 years. And it’s only been driven down to the Southern Hemisphere because of the international class status, in that we should be sailing in the southern hemisphere every now and then.”
But he is encouraged by the growth here in the lead up to these championships. “The last 18 months to two years has been very good. I am impressed the way they have got people into the class to buy boats. Martin [Cross] has done an excellent job and it’s good to see someone like John Bacon in the class. It’s also been very nice to see all the Evolution and Classic boats done up and racing. We hope that it will keep going after the event.”
Racing at the world championship continues on Sunday with two more races scheduled and a kinder forecast. The series concludes on Monday 13 January.
Results after 3 races
1 Artemis XIV (NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Anders Pedersen) 5
2 Ali Baba (BAH 23, Craig Symonette, Flavio Marrazi, Will Alloway) 11
3 New Moon II (BAH 24, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov) 13
4 Girls on Film (GBR 40, Peter Morton, Andrew Palfrey, Andrew Mills) 13
5 John B (BAH 22, Gavin McKinney, Mathias Dahlman, Lars Horn Johannessen) 14
Artemis XIV (NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Anders Pedersen) was again the boat of the day at the 2020 International 5.5 Metre World Championship, in Newport, Australia, to lead the fleet after the second day of racing. Artemis XIV opened the day with a huge race win, before 2018 World Champions, New Moon II (BAH 24, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov) took the second race of the day.
With a building north-easterly forecast, the fleet set out on time to clearing skies and rising temperatures. Race 2 started in 8-10 knots and Race two in 10-14 knots with the full northeaster only beginning to fill in on the final upwind to around 16 knots, followed by a great sail downwind into Broken Bay in the increasing breeze. Temperatures also built during the day to around 30 degrees. Pretty much everyone returned to the Royal Prince Albert Yacht Club, happy and satisfied after a great day of sailing.
Artemis XIV picked up where they left off on Thursday with an emphatic win in Race 2, leading at every mark and extending away from the fleet. Behind them, there was a battle between three or four boats in the light wind and long legs. Eventually Ali Baba (BAH 23, Craig Symonette, Flavio Marrazi, Will Alloway) emerged in second with Ku-Ring-Gai II (AUS 60, Matt Crawford, Rob Crawford, Matt Visser) sailing a great last beat to finish third in their first event together as a team.
With the wind increasing the front-runners changed, with New Moon II finding some pace to round the top mark just a boatlength ahead of Artemis XIV. It remained even down the first run, but with the left increasingly paying in the building breeze they moved head and extended on the second downwind and up again to the finish for a win of nearly a minute. Fellow Bahamians John B (BAH 22, Gavin McKinney, Mathias Dahlman, Lars Horn Johannessen) also sailed a great final upwind to cross second while Artemis XIV was third.
Mathias Dalhman, from John B said, “Our day was quite good and a huge improvement from yesterday. We started with a fourth and then got a second. It was good racing. The big change today was that we were on the line at the start and yesterday we weren’t and it much easier when you are sailing with the gang.”
“Sailing here in Pittwater is amazing. It was champagne sailing and we are looking forward to the rest of the regatta.”
Matt Visser, from Ku-Ring-Gai II said, “We had a nice start in Race 2. We came in at the pin and tacked under the fleet and were able to hold a nice lane there and went all the way out the left, being a nor-easter and a bit of tide. We just had good speed and were able to hold our lane. We are also starting to get to know the boat a bit so we had a good day.”
He has not sailed the 5.5s much, “Years ago I sailed on Antares in a Australian Gold Cup in about 1989. That was the last regatta I did.”
But there is some family history in the class. “After the 1964 Games my father designed and built Teal, KA 19, a long keel boat, which I think is up in Queensland now. So there’s a bit of history there.”
His father sailed the Star at the Olympics in 1964 when Bill Northam was in the 5.5 Metre sailing Barranjoey to a gold medal. He ended up going on to be tactician and sailing helmsman on Gretel II in 1970.
“Teal was built in 1966. It was similar to the old Luders at the time. He took some lines from those boats and made some adjustments. It was very fast. He won state titles in it and national titles, and in anything over 15 knots it was very fast. It had a long waterline.”
This week Visser is sailing with Matt and Rob Crawford. “They have been sailing under Victor Kovalenko in the 470. They have been under the shadow of Matt Belcher, Malcolm Page and Will Ryan so they are very good sailors and have been well trained and disciplined and done two campaigns, so they know what they are doing.”
He added with a smile, “I am learning a bit and I can just keep quiet. It’s great.”
Christoph Burger, middle man on New Moon II explained their day. “It was an absolute glamour of a day. Couldn’t have been much better than that. After the first pretty poor start and race for us we got our act together and started clean and with boat speed off the line and then it was positioning and keeping the boat going. We had excellent boat speed today and were able to extend, so that’s was really nice.”
On the conditions for Saturday. “I think we are going to have a bit of a weather change coming through with the strong wind from the south overnight, then it should clear and ease off a bit, but we expect a hard day tomorrow with two races in a southerly.”
The world championship continues Saturday with two more races scheduled. A series of nine races concludes on Monday 13 January.
Results after 3 races
1 Artemis XIV (NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Anders Pedersen) 5
2 Ali Baba (BAH 23, Craig Symonette, Flavio Marrazi, Will Alloway) 11
3 New Moon II (BAH 24, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov) 13
4 Girls on Film (GBR 40, Peter Morton, Andrew Palfrey, Andrew Mills) 13
5 John B (BAH 22, Gavin McKinney, Mathias Dahlman, Lars Horn Johannessen) 14