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| Event type

5.5 metres, Open

Date20 – 28 July 1952
StatusOlympic
LocationHarmaja, Helsinki
Participants50 from 16 countries
FormatPoints awarded for placement in each race. Best six of seven scores to count for final placement.

The 5.5-metre class is a three-person keelboat, which was designed to be similar to the 6-metre class, but was much smaller and less expensive. The boat’s design is related to a formula involving its length, displacement, and sail area, requiring that the formula be equal to 5.500 metres or less. The class was designed in 1937 by Charlie Nicholson. The class made its Olympic début in 1952 and remained on the Olympic Program through 1968. The event was raced on a 13.1 nautical mile (24.2 km) course, the same as for all the larger boats in Helsinki.

After six races, Norway’s Encore had a comfortable lead over the American boat Complex II, but helmsman Britton Chance won the final race. Peder Lunde, Sr., helming Encore, needed to finish third in the seventh race for the gold medal, but placed fourth and the gold went to Chance and Complex II. Lunde’s crew included his wife, Vibeke, and his brother-in-law, Børre Falkum-Hansen. Britton Chance was a a professor of biochemistry at Penn, and was chairman of the department of biophysics and physical biochemistry. His crew included the twin brothers, Ed and Sumner White.

PosCompetitor(s)NOCPoints
1Complex IIUSA5,751Gold
Britton ChanceEd WhiteMichael SchoettleSumner White
2EncoreNOR5,325Silver
Vibeke LundeBørre Falkum-HansenPeder Lunde, Sr.
3HojwaSWE4,554Bronze
Carl-Erik OhlsonFolke WassénMagnus Wassén
4SjöhäxaPOR4,450
Duarte Manuel BelloFernando BelloJúlio Gourinho
5GullvingeARG3,982
Ludovico KempterRodolfo VollenweiderTomás Galfrascoli
6UniqueGBR3,727
Desmond DillonNeil Kennedy-Cochran-Patrick Robert Perry
7ShovellerRSA3,338
Eric BeningfieldJoe Ellis-BrownNoel Horsfield
8TeresitaFIN3,292
Aarne CastrénErik StadighHans Dittmar
9Tom KyleGER2,845
Hans LubinusHans-Hermann MagnussenLudwig Bielenberg
10MirtalaITA2,618
Dario SalataEgone JakinGiorgio Audizio
11JillDEN2,469
Henning ChristensenIngemann Bylling JensenPoul Ohff
12Tim-Tam IIISUI1,674
Henri CopponexMark SchürchPierre Chuit
13DeRuyterNED1,582
Flip KeegstraPiet Jan van der GiessenWim de Vries Lentsch
14DamoiselleFRA1,455
Jacques AllardJean Roux-DelimalNoël Calone
15YeomanBAH1,428
Basil KellyBasil McKinneyDon PritchardGodfrey Higgs
16BurevestnikURS971
Konstantin AleksandrovLev AlekseyevPavel Pankrashkin