Scandinavian Gold Cup at Sopot, Poland - Overall
by Robert Deaves 8 Jun 05:20 BST
5-7 June 2025
Marie-Françoise XXII (SUI 233, Jürg Menzi, Jürgen Eiermann, Christof Wilke) has won the 2025 Scandinavian Gold Cup in Sopot, Poland, after the event went the full length to seven races.
Marie-Françoise XXII, Aspire (POL 17, Przemyslaw Gacek, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Kilian Weise) and Artemis (NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne Trond, Solli-Sæther) each took a race win in the finals, before Marie-Françoise XXII led all the way in the final race to reach three race wins and win the Cup for the third time.
In the President's Cup Girls on Film (GBR 41 Louise Morton, Charlie Cumbley, Sam Haines) won both races to win on countback from current world champions Ku-Ring-Gai III (AUS 66, John Bacon, Edward Wright, Joost Houweling).
Variety is the spice of life, so they say, and Saturday in Sopot certainly produced variety. Starting with moderate south-westerly offshore winds, warm air and sunny skies, it then became cloudy with lighter winds, veering 90 degrees, heavy rain and cold squalls, dropping to 1 knot, veering by a further 70 degrees, coming back in at a very cold 25 knots from the north and finally settling down for a final race in brisk northerly 15-16 knots dropping to 7-8 knots by the finish. It was a day of constantly adjusting and adapting for both the teams and the race committee, who did a great job getting all the races away as fast as possible.
Scandinavian Gold Cup
With three highly competitive boats in the final series - the first to three wins takes victory - it was a fairly even bet that the event would go all the way to seven races. And so it turned out. It doesn't happen often, but this was now two years in a row.
Race 4 started in 12-14 knots and sunny skies with Marie-Françoise XXII winning the pin and leading all the way round. Aspire did catch them on the first downwind and took the opposite gate but never had enough leverage to pass them. However, it was a very close race, with Marie-Françoise XXII winning by less than 5 boat lengths.
The skies were getting cloudy with the incoming rain cells for race 5, and this time Aspire won the pin and led all the way round. The second lap was a portent to what was to follow as the gaps between the boats increased to make it a comfortable win for Aspire.
Race 6 was a strange one. Starting in 4-5 knots, Artemis hit the right-hand corner while Aspire went hard right. Artemis rounded the top in around one knot of wind with a 400-metre lead over Marie-Françoise XXII with Aspire still a long way back. New breeze appeared from the north and after a reset top mark, Artemis led up the next beat in 20 knots and took the win, meaning a seventh race was needed as all three boats now had two race wins.
The final race was probably the best of them all, with a stable, but cold, 15-18 knots onshore. While Artemis went right, Marie-Françoise XXII won the pin and headed left and had a 30 second lead at the top, which they never relinquished and crossed the line ahead to win. It was the third Scandinavian Gold Cup for Jürg Menzi after previously winning in 2002 and 2017.
Menzi said, "The racing today was quite difficult, very shifty, with gusts up to 25 knots with lulls and no wind and a lot of course changes. It was bit lake sailing in Switzerland.
"The first race was very nice, with sunshine and the wind was offshore, and shifty but controllable and we managed to have a good start and be first at the top and then it was easy to control the rest.
"The third race was really a hard one, with no wind, deciding left or right and Kristian Nergaard went right and had an advantage of around half a km. Then the wind came back strong.
"The last race was really a fair one with the wind from the north, but it was a very regular wind. We wanted to play the left and it was a little bit better, and we led at the top and managed to control to the finish.
"The Scandinavian Gold Cup is very important, it has a lot of prestige as it is very old, the second oldest sailing trophy in the world after the America's Cup, and it's a very special format starting with a fleet race and ending with a match race.
"We are pleased to win again, but it's the third time, so not the same as winning the first time. But it's always very good achievement and performance. Last year Flavio Marazzi and family won it, so for another year it stays in Switzerland.
Looking ahead to the worlds, "I hope we can end in a good place, but it is all open. You never know. It will be very tricky I think, there may be more sunshine and less wind, but after winning this week there is no more pressure on us next week and we can go for an easy regatta and see where we end up."
President's Cup
Ku-Ring-Gai III (AUS 66, John Bacon, Edward Wright, Joost Houweling) was the overnight leader in the President's Cup but Girls on Film (GBR 41 Louise Morton, Charlie Cumbley, Sam Haines) was just two points back.
The racing at the front was incredibly close with just boat lengths separating the top two boats, but Girls on Film won both races, so ended on equal points with current world champions Ku-Ring-Gai III to win the President's Cup. Manly (AUS 44, Marc Ryan, Dave Edwards, Josh Grace) finished third.
The fleet now has a day off on Sunday. The class AGM will be held in the morning followed by the Scandinavian Gold Cup prize-giving and world championship opening ceremony in the evening. Racing for the worlds starts Monday. Stay tuned...
Results page available here.
Photo gallery from Day 3 available here.