Editorial

The opening day of he 2020 Scandinavian Gold Cup on he Palm Beach Circle wa one of he mo memora le day he 5.5 flee ha had in many year ...and produced ome of he e image of he even .

It has been a great pleasure to put this magazine together during the winter months in the northern hemisphere, reliving all the great moments of the past year of racing in the class, at some great venues around Europe and in Australia.

Following last year’s 70th Anniversary Yearbook, this magazine is the first of what will hopefully be a regular annual publication for the class. To be successful it needs the support of both advertisers and contributors, so we hope that this format proves useful to everyone and a great tool to promote the class at your club and across your country.

We have tried to balance the content with looking back at the 2019 season, with some technical articles, some interviews and some previews of what to expect in 2020. Most of the national reports mention growing interest and growing boat numbers. This is also the message in many of the interviews and articles in this issue, which repeat the fact that the class is on an upward spiral at present with more interest currently than for many years.

The principle content focuses on the recent two Scandinavian Gold Cup and World Championships in Helsinki and Newport, both dominated by Kristian Nergaard and his team on Artemis XIV.

There are many ways into the 5.5 Metre class and the Helsinki events proved that the joy of owning a Classic 5.5 Metre is still very much alive, racing alongside an equal number of Moderns, and even showing a few transoms in the right conditions. In Newport the focus was on the emerging fleet of Evolutions, as the Australian class continues to reinvigorate itself.

There are three diverse, yet connected, interviews in this issue: Petter Fjeld, who is selling up for a while, Colin Ryan, who is coming back into the class, and Warren Muir who designed boats sailed by both of them. All three converged on Newport in January.

Coming off the back of an extremely successful and fruitful world championship in Australia at the start of the year, the International 5.5 Class has planned a fantastic range of events through 2020 including several traditional haunts, as well as new locations on lake and open sea. We continue to hope that as much of the schedule as possible can go ahead uninterrupted.

Finally, thanks to everyone who contributed to this issue, especially the advertisers who collectively made it possible.