6mR World Championship: "Momo" crew miss out on title defence, US victory ahead of Cowes

The final spurt came too late. Dieter Schön, tactician Markus Wieser and the "Momo" crew missed out on defending their title at the 6mR World Championships off Cowes. Jamie Hilton's US team on "Scoundrel" secured victory ahead of the team led by Violeta Alvarez, who competed for the host club Royal Yacht Squadron. One point behind silver, "Momo" owner Dieter Schön and his team sailed to bronze under the Swiss flag in the Solent.

We travelled to Cowes with the feeling that we were ready for the title defence" (Markus Wieser)

18 teams from seven countries competed in eight exciting races at the 6mR World Championship. A further 15 boats were in action in the classic classification, where the Spanish "Bribon" won the battle for world championship gold against the French "Dix Août" and the British "Silvervingen". Thomas Kuhmann's "Hanko III" from the Bavarian Yacht Club sailed to twelfth place in the classic field.

Markus Wieser gave an honest assessment after the 6mR World Championship, which was characterised by light winds: "There was a mega high-pressure situation with light winds and a strong current. We had travelled to Cowes with the feeling that we were ready for the title defence mission. As local experts, we had Jules Salter from 'Platoon' and a total of four current world champions from the 52 Super Series on board. But none of that helped."

Starting with two knots of current from behind makes timing and laylines very complex" (Markus Wieser)

The light breeze combined with the typical strong current in the tidal area made life difficult for the pros. "The Americans were simply better," said Markus Wieser, paying tribute to the winners. He continued: "They spent the whole summer training off Cowes. We, on the other hand, trained with eight other teams off Palma. It has to be said that sailing in the current brings an additional, very complex component into play that makes everything extremely difficult. Starting with two knots of current from behind makes timing and laylines very complex."

Although the "Momo" crew was able to improve over the course of the world title fights and even achieved one-day victories in races five and six, "our final spurt came too late," Markus Wieser realised. With the series in the historic British waters, the International 6-Metre Class Association also celebrated half a century of world championships. The first world championship was held in 1973 in the US waters off Seattle. The trophy donated by the Puget Sound 6 Metre Association at the time, the Six Metre World Cup, is still awarded today.

Evergreen "Hanko III": already there 50 years ago

Thomas Kuhmann's GER96 "Hanko III" was now the only boat in the British world championship area that was also present at the premiere 50 years ago. Back then, she was known as the US96 "Eclipse". She was sailed by C. William "Bill" Brasier from Tacoma and came twelfth out of the 20 participants. The premiere was won by Tom Blackaller from the St. Francis Yacht Club on the US100 "St. Francis V" after a thrilling duel with the Australian Olympic gold medallist David Forbes on KA6 "Pacemaker".

Click here for the results of the 6-metre World Championships in Cowes.