Klabbe wins, Knut into fog, Nokia Oops Cup

by Event media on 11 Jun 2006 Nokia Oops Cup, second round, Faerder Race.

It was a hard fight, and HiQ only won by two minutes. A tactical trick as the fog rolled in at night gave Klas Nylöf and his crew on the 60 ft trimaran HiQ the victory in the second round of Nokia Oops Cup 2006, Faerder Race. 'It is extra great to beat Knut Frostad on his home turf,' Klabbe Nylöf said directly after finish.

The three trimarans in the international competition Nokia Oops Cup, is fighting a hard match between Sweden, Norway and Finland. Nokia Academy took the lead in the first of eleven competitions. The Swedish boat HiQ equalized the results after 210 nautical miles between Oslo, Skagen and Horten, in the second competition.

The Norwegian Nokia Academy made a good start, but HiQ never let Knut Frostad out of sight. Soon before the dark, Klabbe’s crew began to challenge Nokia Academy in a tacking duel.

'We wanted to see if they were going to follow us or choose their own way, said Klabbe Nylöf, who then got it all clear; the two boats were inseparable.
In the shelter of the fog and the dark of the night,' Klabbe tricked the Norwegian with a tactical move. With a gybe he disappeared towards the coast, away from Knut Frostad and Nokia Academy, who wasn’t able see it happening.

'When we came out of the fog we were leading with almost two nautical miles,' says a very happy Klabbe Nylöf.

He and his crew then kept the lead all the way to the finish line in Horten, which they crossed Saturday at 14.20.50 after 26 hours of sailing, and just two minutes ahead of Knut Frostad. 'It has been a really good fight with Klabbe, and we really thought we were going to take the victory. But in the fog we lost contact with them and they made something tricky out there, so when we came out again they were in front of us. Anyway, two minutes after 26 hours of sailing is pretty tight,' commented Knut Frostad, who didn’t achieve a new speed record to Skagen in the light wind.

'Certainly it’s a bit sad to loose here on my home turf, but I’m happy with the sailing. We noticed that we could sail equal with HiQ in light winds and we were 3-4 nautical miles ahead of them nearby Skagen. Tomorrow it’s our turn to win,' says Knut.

The night has been exciting and nervous for everyone, with changing and light winds and sometimes just dead calm. By Faerder Lighthouse the boats were bobbing without wind in 1 knot. Behind the boats in the lead, TietoEnator Audi has fought all the time to get up in the lead. They crossed the finish line at 15.30.

'We chose another way last night to try to catch up with the other boats, so we sailed towards the Norwegian coast. It turned out that it wasn’t the right way, since we didn’t find any wind there,' Thomas Johanson, skipper onboard TietoEnator Audi, says.

'But we will rebound, we have got a great crew and a boat that sails very good in hard winds.'

The third competition in Nokia Oops Cup is an offshore race from Horten in Norway to Gothenburg. It starts on Sunday at 19.00, and is estimated to arrive to Älvsborg fortress in Gothenburg towards lunch on Monday.

On Wednesday the fourth competition will take place; a City Race in the centre of Gothenburg harbour.

Results:
1. Klas Nylöf, HiQ Sailing Team, Sweden
2. Knut Frostad, Team Nokia Academy, Norway
3. Thomas Johanson, TietoEnator Audi, Finland

Preliminary scores in Nokia Oops Cup, after two competitions
1. HiQ, 5 points
2. Nokia Academy, 5 points
3. TietoEnator Audi, 2 points

(The earlier scores were wrong. We are sorry.)

For more info and latest results visit www.nokiaoopscup.com