6 metres, Open

The 6-metre class had first been held at the 1908 Olympics, and was on every Olympic yachting program from 1908-52, but it was discontinued after the Helsinki Olympics, as the trend was to smaller Olympic boats. The event was raced on a 13.1 nautical mile (24.2 km) course, the same as for all the larger boats in Helsinki.

American Herman Whiton and Llanoria had won this event in 1948, and he returned to defend his gold medal, although with a different crew, this one including his wife, Emelyn. After six races, Llanoria was far behind the Norwegian boat Elisabeth X, but the Americans won the final race and Norway finished only fifth, to bring Whiton the title. The third-placed Finnish boat, Ralia, had also placed third in 1948, but was then raced by Sweden and was called Ali Baba.