Peter Morton’s GBR42 won the Int. 5.5 Metre Alpen Cup at Circolo Vela Torbole on Lake Garda.
The new 5.5 Metre, a David Hollom design owned by Peter Morton, was skippered for the event by James Howells with Andrew Palfrey and Ruairidh Scott.
SUI 229 Helly Hansen of Kristian Neergard, Trond Soli Sather and Espen Styokkeland, took second with POL 17 Aspire of Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Przemyslaw Gacek and Simon Fry in third.
The final two races on Saturday were won by BAH 24 New Moon of Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger and Peter Vlasov and Helly Hanson.
With GBR42 winning, it also marks the third time in a row that the Alpen Cup has been won by a British boat, having being won by Peter Morton in 2019 in GBR 40, and in 2021 in GBR 41.
This raises the prospect of an potential unprecedented three British boats taking part in this summer’s world championship in Hankø, Norway.
Background Note – GBR 41 Girls On Film was the first of the new Morton boats. Before that was a 2003 Wilke from Switzerland, which was described as reasonably competitive. Morton described GBR 42 Jean Genie, as something quite different again.
5.5 Metre Alpen Cup – Final Leaders after 8 races (11 entries)
1st GBR 42 Jean Genie (James Howells, Andrew Palfrey, Ruairidh Scott) – – 13 pts
2nd SUI 229 Helly Hansen (Kristian Neergard, Trond Soli Sather, Espen Styokkeland) – – 15 pts
3rd POL 17 Aspire (Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Przemyslaw Gacek, Simon Fry) – – 24 pts
4th BAH 24 New Moon (Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov) – – 31 pts
5th BAH 23 Ali Baba (Craig Symonette, Flavio Marazzi, Will Alloway) – – 6 pts