5.5 metres, Open
| Date | 26 November – 5 December 1956 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Port Phillip Bay (5.5 metres and Dragon Course) | |
| Participants | 33 from 10 countries | |
| Format | Points awarded for placement in each race. Best six of seven scores to count for final placement. | |
Racing over a 14 nautical mile (26 km) course, this was a dominating victory for Sweden’s Lars Thörn aboard Rush V. They won three races, finished second in two, and could have skipped the last race and won the gold medal. They could have actually skipped the final two races and still won silver. Thörn later won a silver medal in this class at the 1964 Olympics.
The British boat, Vision, came from behind by placing third in the final race and moved up to second place ahead of Australia’s Buraddoo. The Buraddoo’s helmsman Jock Sturrock, later made Australia’s first America’s Cup challenge, in 1962 aboard Gretel, losing 4-1 to the American yacht, Weatherly, although Sturrock’s victory in the second race was the first by a challenger since 1934.
| Pos | Competitors | NOC | Points | Race #1 | Race #2 | Race #3 | Race #4 | Race #5 | Race #6 | Race #7 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rush V |  SWE | 5,527 | 402 (5) | 1,101 (1) | 1,101 (1) | 624 (3) | 800 (2) | 1,101 (1) | 800 (2) | Gold | |||||
| Lars Thörn • Hjalmar Karlsson • Sture Stork | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Vision |  GBR | 4,050 | 624 (3) | 800 (2) | 256 (7) | 1,101 (1) | 499 (4) | 402 (5) | 624 (3) | Silver | |||||
| Robert Perry • David Bowker • Desmond Dillon • Neil Kennedy-Cochran-Patrick | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Buraddoo |  AUS | 4,022 | 499 (4) | 499 (4) | 800 (2) | 499 (4) | 1,101 (1) | 624 (3) | 499 (4) | Bronze | |||||
| Jock Sturrock • Devereaux Mytton • Doug Buxton | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Rush IV |  USA | 3,971 | 800 (2) | 624 (3) | 624 (3) | 800 (2) | 323 (6) | 800 (2) | 198 (8) | ||||||
| Andy Schoettle • John Bryant • Robert Stinson • Victor Sheronas | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Viking |  NOR | 3,807 | 1,101 (1) | 256 (7) | 323 (6) | 402 (5) | 624 (3) | 198 (8) | 1,101 (1) | ||||||
| Peder Lunde, Sr. • Halfdan Ditlev-Simonsen • Odd Harsheim | ||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Gilliatt V |  FRA | 1,779 | 101 (10) | 323 (6) | – ( | 198 (8) | 256 (7) | 499 (4) | 402 (5) | ||||||
| Albert Cadot • Dominique Perroud • Jean-Jacques Herbulot | ||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Twins VIII |  ITA | 1,677 | 147 (9) | 402 (5) | 402 (5) | 323 (6) | 147 (9) | 256 (7) | – ( | ||||||
| Massimo Oberti • Antonio Carattino • Antonio Cosentino • Carlo Spirito | ||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Druzhba |  URS | 1,598 | 256 (7) | 147 (9) | 147 (9) | – ( | 402 (5) | 323 (6) | 323 (6) | ||||||
| Konstantin Aleksandrov • Konstantin Melgunov • Lev Alekseyev | ||||||||||||||||
| 9 | Yeoman V |  RSA | 1,575 | 323 (6) | 198 (8) | 499 (4) | – ( | 198 (8) | 101 (10) | 256 (7) | ||||||
| Noel Horsfield • Denis Hegarty • Geoff Myburgh | ||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Tilly |  GER | 1,047 | 198 (8) | 101 (10) | 198 (8) | 256 (7) | 101 (10) | 147 (9) | 147 (9) | ||||||
| Hans Lubinus • Adolf Stein • Ludwig Bielenberg | ||||||||||||||||