Aspire wins 5.5 Metre World Championship in Lavrion after challenging week

For the first time all week, the racing went ahead on schedule. By midday a nice 8-10 knot southerly was in place for two final races to conclude the championship. Ku-Ring-Gai III led at the top in Race 7 from Otto (NOR 68, Bent Christian Wilhelmsen, Herve Cunningham, Lasse Berthelsen) and pulled away to win, with Aspire recovering from an average first beat to cross third. Points leader, Artemis, struggled mid fleet to cross in eighth.

Into the last race and Aspire and Artemis were separated by one point, so it went down to the wire. In the end, Aspire found second gear, led at the top and were never threatened. Artemis rounded in fourth and finally pulled up to second, but it was not enough.

The fight for third was also dramatic with Ku-Ring-Gai III moving up to fourth after the race win, and just one point behind Ali-Baba (SUI 224, Flavio Marazzi, Julie Marazzi, Eline Marazzi) going into the final race. With MELX IV (GRE 6, Stavros Papagiannopoulos, Christoph Burger, Panagiotis Kampouridis) comfortably in third in the race, fourth place was enough for Ku-Ring-Gai III to snatch the bronze at the last moment.

Kusznierwicz, “It's a great feeling to be world champions. We put our heart and a lot of effort into it. It's a fantastic feeling, we have a lot of respect for our rivals, great sailors, great friends also. And it was not easy, we ended up only one or two points ahead of a great team from Norway, Artemis. And we are very happy for a team from Australia to finish third. It was tough sailing, actually we put a lot of effort to every race, from the beginning till the finishing of the last race.

Gacek, “As you know, we waited for quite a long week before we started sailing. But the last three days have been very rewarding, with the first one with very strong winds, yesterday with a light one. Today probably quite similar, maybe a little bit stronger than yesterday. So there were lots of boats that could go for that, different strategies as well, we really enjoyed it.

“Also, I want to say a big thank you and appreciation to Mateusz, who introduced me to competitive sailing a couple of years ago. He is an amazing strategist and coach. And obviously to Kilian Wiese in the bow, from Munich in Germany, who is a great companion to our team. We have been sailing already in this team for three years and we look forward to sailing more in the future.

Weise, “So it was very intense, probably our boat is the loudest, a lot of people could hear from far that it was not easy all the time. I don't repeat all the words that happened on there. But in the end, you know, it came down to teamwork and the teamwork makes the dream work.

“And we had a chat after the horrible day yesterday because it was not about the results, it was just how we delivered and we didn't feel pleased with the performance. So in moments like that when a team is not performing on the high level, we got ourselves together and we just went into the day on the back foot and said, hey, forget what happened yesterday. Let's be positive mindset and push all in for today. There was not much to lose and all to gain. So that was the mindset and in the end we came good.

“There's a lot of things coming together, I think, you know. I mean, first of all, the routine, as Mateusz mentioned, the competition is very tight, so everything matters. We realised every detail today, a few degrees here and there, a lot of metres to gain. Racing was close, so probably all together, a lot of things have to come together well that you end up with a result like that.”

Three years ago Aspire won the world title with Kusnierewicz on the helm and Gacek in the middle.

Kusnierewicz, “I almost forget about it. We are sailing like this, Przemek steering, me in the middle and Kilian in the front for three years now. But I remember when in 2023 we won the Worlds and, at the prizegiving I said I will hand over the helm to Przemek. We thought it's gonna be a long way and it was a long way, but we shortened this way. Two years ago we finished with the bronze medal, last year silver in Sopot, Poland and today in Greece we deliver gold.

“Unbelievable feeling. And it's not coming like this, you know, we put a lot of effort into it. For me, because I'm sailing many years and many boats, different boats, I learned from the great sailors that it's important, even when it's tough, like it was tough in a moment, but to be able to have a challenge to win on the last race.

“The last race was a lot of pressure, but we like the pressure and we deliver. So I'm so happy, I'm so proud. You know, the routine, all the good starts, good trimming, good sail selection, good communication. Coming back, even when we were behind, we didn't give up. We always want to beat one person, one place, two, three, because at the end, as you can see on the results, it was one or two points.”

It has been a tough two weeks in Lavrion, with six days out of nine lost through strong winds, but in the end eight good races were sailed to determine the world title. Thanks to Stavros Papagiannopoulos, and the Yacht Club of Greece and Olympic Marine for the hospitality and welcome, and for laying on a very enjoyable and memorable event on and off the water.

Next year the class heads north to Glucksburg in northern Germany for the Scandinavian Gold Cup and World Championship.

Final results after 8 races
1 Aspire (POL 17, Przemek Gacek, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Kilian Weise) 16
2 Artemis (NOR 57, Kristoffer Spone, Trond Solli Sæther, Anders Pedersen) 18
3 Ku-Ring-Gai III (AUS 66/ USA, Jay Cross, Rob Scrivenor, Andrew Palfrey) 27
4 Ali-Baba (SUI 224, Flavio Marazzi, Julie Marazzi, Eline Marazzi) 28
5 Girls on Film (GBR 41, Louise Morton, Charlie Cumbley, Sam Haines) 32