5.5 Metre World Championship Lavrion Greece starts day off due strong winds

For the sixth day in a row, strong winds stopped all racing in Lavrion, Greece, as the 5.5 Metre class suffered another blow. After losing all racing last week at the Scandinavian Gold Cup, the first day of the world championship was also lost. All racing was cancelled by 10.00, and the sailors had to find other worthwhile pursuits for yet another day. They are running out of ideas.

However, by the end of the day as the fleet were enjoying a Greek dock party at Olympic Marine, it was clear the wind had started to drop. Though it is expected to increase again during Tuesday, there is enough hope for some early races, with the first warning set for 09.55.

For the second year running there is a team from the US sailing at the world championship. Representing the New York YC, Jay Cross is helming John Bacon’s 2024 World Championship winning Ku-Ring-Gai III along with Rob Scrivenor and last’s winning crew, Andrew Palfrey.

Jay explained, “I grew up watching the 5.5 Metre fleet in the 1960s when it was an Olympic class. In Toronto we built a lot of boats there and I've always been intrigued by the class. Then when we thought maybe the worlds were coming to Newport a few years ago, I got particularly excited about the possibility of getting a boat for those worlds. But that event didn't happen and I kept it in the back of my mind that I still wanted to try the 5.5 in Europe. I was probably like 17 years old the last time I sailed a 5.5. And I'm 73 now, so it was a while ago.

“I sail Etchells most of the time and so Dog [Palfrey] and Rob talked me into it at the Etchells Worlds last May. It was all kind of a come together last-minute thing.

“In Toronto in the 1960s and 1970s we had a pretty active 5.5 fleet because Ontario Yachts was building most of the Britton Chance boats, which was run by Dirk Kneulman Sr.” Dirk Kneulman Jr. is driving the coach boat for the team this week.

“Dirk grew up boat building, sort of apprenticing his father. One of his first jobs was working on the 5.5s for the 1968 Olympics after school. And then he went on to take over Ontario Yachts from his father and build all the Etchells. So, we grew up together. Kind of naturally, we kept talking about trying to get back in 5.5s. We weren't quite sure whether we were going to do an Evolution or a Classic or a Modern, but they always seemed to be really cool things. There's a small growing fleet in North America.

“The old boats are appealing but we felt like we wanted to come to see the best the class had to offer. That means coming over here.”

Jay did three 470 Olympic campaigns including the boycott in 1980. And then retired from sailing for a while, built a career and a family, and then got into Etchells, where he met Palfrey. He was also commodore at New York Yacht Club until 2025. “I also did a lot of 14s sailing as well, so I grew up with 14s, designed them, built them. But that's really my background, plus some offshore.”

Aspirations for the week? “You know, top half of the fleet, hopefully. And hopefully come away from it with enthusiasm to do more. That's the idea and then start looking around and see what might be available going forward. We'll have to figure out how we're going to do it by then. We'll know when we get to the end of the week.”

Palfrey added, “Another part of Jay, too, is that he's actually a naval architect. He studied naval architecture and was heavily into that world. And so, relative to, say, the Etchells, with this class there's more to play with. It's interesting and it's been nice watching Jay walking up and down the dock and just seeing the evolution of the class, even through the Wilkie boats.”

The third man in the team, Rob Scrivenor, comes from Sydney, sailed the 2020 World Championship in Newport, was coached by Palfrey when he was young, and is involved with the Etchells and Stars in Miami and that's the link between the three of them.

“It’s a pretty good group, all things considered. I would say this probably started earlier than you think. We knew each other through the Etchells. Jay was keeping in touch with regard to the potential for the worlds in Newport. But also, through the building of Peter Morton’s boats.”

Jay concluded, “I'm looking forward to sailing the wind here. It's unbelievable, like we were just saying this morning, I've never been to a venue like this. You may lose a couple of days, but five days in a row, it's incredible.”

“I've been thinking of coming over here for the last two or three years. Figuring out if there's an event where I can get a boat and get a crew. This one just came together quickly. It was kind of a perfect confluence of boat availability, crew availability and a good regatta, at a good time of year. I like coming here at this time of year. That's the way it all fell into place.”

Everyone is hoping everything falls into place Tuesday morning, so the fleet can finally take to Greek waters for the first time.