Frostad wins - Nokia Oops Cup update

by Event Media on 8 Jun 2006 Knut Frostad and his Team Nokia Academy took a convincing victory in the first sailing of the Nokia Oops Cup, the international match for 60 feet trimarans.
After three victories in the course races on Lysakerfjorden, he claimed the victory in his home waters in the Oslo City Race in Norway.

The wind was very light in Oslo when the first race in the international match, Nokia Oops Cup started at 12.00 today. That didn’t seem to stop Knut Frostad and his crew.

'Our maneouvers were super, we haven’t made one single mistake. It’s a very good crew,' commented Nokia Academy’s skipper Knut Frostad after his victory, adding 'But I missed the start of the first heat, so that was my mistake.'

Klabbe Nylöf and his HiQ Sailing Team, who took the leading position in both the first and the three following starts in the Speed Races, won the first heat ahead of Team Nokia Academy and Team TietoEnator Audi.

'I was crossing the starting line first every time, but we didn’t succeed in getting enough speed in the boat until the end of the race. I guess we haven’t learned how the new sails works in really light winds,' Klabbe said.

Team Nokia Academy opened up with a second place and then took three convincing victories, leading up to the total victory for Norway in the Oslo City Race, the first competition in the international match Nokia Oops Cup. The other two 60 foot trimarans could not threaten the Norwegian crew.

Thomas Johansson, skipper onboard TietoEnator Audi, finished in third place in three heats and second place in the last of the four sailings.

'Well, it didn’t go too well. We could have been more aggressive in the starts, and we had a situation where we were sentenced to make a 360 degree turnover because we had made a tack too close to Nokia Academy. We might not totally agree with the judge. But Knut sailed very well, so there wasn’t much we could do anyway,' commented Thomas.

At 18.00 the other part of the Oslo City Race began, a very exciting Speed Duel, a format sailed for the first time, boat against boat in nine heats in a 300 metre short course.

But after the Nokia Academy’s victories the final score can not be changed. Thereby it became a victory for Knut Frostad and Team Nokia Academy in the first competition of the Nokia Oops Cup. The next race is the offshore race, Faerder Race, to be sailed on Friday to Skagen and back. The three trimarans will be trying to beat a speed record, that is faster than three hours and 31 minutes to Skagen, which is the record currently held by Team Nokia Academy.


Results in Nokia Oops Cup City Race Oslo. Course Race and Speed Duel

1. Team Nokia Academy, Knut Frostad, 11 points
2. HiQ Sailing Team, Klas Nylöf, 8 points
3. TietoEnator, Thomas Johanson, 5 points

www.nokiaoopscup.com.