New Moon III (BAH 25, Holger KOEHNE, Christoph BURGER, Peter VLASOV) has won the 2025 5.5 Metre French Open, in Cannes, held as part of the Régates Royales week. Otto (NOR 68, Bent Christian WILHELMSEN, Herve CUNNINGHAM, Lasse BERTHELSEN), took second while Enez C’las II (FRA 63, Nicolas ABIVEN, Yann DELABRIERE, Sylvie DELABRIERE) were third.
On the final day, Friday, the day began with forecast of good wind, but on arrival at the start area the wind died under the hot Mediterranean sun. However, the wait was temporary as when it returned less than an hour later it quickly built to 15-18 knots making for some great racing in big waves.
New Moon made the best of the first start, gaining on the left before crossing back to build a huge lead on the downwind and second upwind. Otto crossed second with Artemis XIV (FRA 65, Jean-Jacques LOHEAC, Jerome PICARD, Claude-Alain le GALL) having their best race of the week in third.
With only two races scheduled New Moon were now unbeatable. The wind increased further for the final race which they also won with Enez C’las II in second and Ali Baba (GER 125, Wolf-Eberhard RICHTER, Beata KALKOWSKI, Bernd SELIG) in third.
The Evolution prize went to Unicorn (GER 39, Emelie Hess, Damien Bloch, Jorg Sonntag).
The final international event of the season is the Herbspreis on Thunersee in just two weeks time, with nine entries already in from four nations.
Final results after six races
1 New Moon III (BAH 25, Holger KOEHNE, Christoph BURGER, Peter VLASOV) 5
2 Otto (NOR 68, Bent Christian WILHELMSEN, Herve CUNNINGHAM, Lasse BERTHELSEN) 9
3 Enez C’las II (FRA 63, Nicolas ABIVEN, Yann DELABRIERE, Sylvie DELABRIERE) 14
4 Ali Baba (GER 125, Wolf-Eberhard RICHTER, Beata KALKOWSKI, Bernd SELIG) 23
5 Artemis XIV (FRA 65, Jean-Jacques LOHEAC, Jerome PICARD, Claude-Alain le GALL) 23
6 Feng Shui (NED 26, Arend Jan PASMAN, Arend-Jan PASMAN, Brent PASMAN) 25
Full gallery here: https://robertdeaves.smugmug.com/Other/2025/2025-Regates-Royales-de-Cannes/55-Metre-Class-Free-downloads
Results here: https://www.manage2sail.com/en-US/event/46RR2025#!/results?classId=68f9f178-5f1c-4923-af8f-704c466a7a58
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