X-Yachts Gold Cup – An extraordinary regatta draws to an end + Video

by Mathilde Ive on 19 Jul 2015 2015 X-Yachts Gold Cup – 12 nations. 60 boats. Sun, wind and flat waters. Those were the ingredients of four perfect days of racing at the 16th X-Yachts Gold Cup in Copenhagen from the 15th - 18th of July.

The dockside at the Royal Danish Yachtclub in Tuborg Harbour came alive with sailors, spectators and children for four days of unforgettable X-factor as the 16th edition of the X-Yachts Gold Cup took on Copenhagen.

The Fins crowned X-35 World Champions

Clear blue skies, shifty winds from the west and flat waters kicked off the regatta on Wednesday where the X-35 World Championship got off to an exciting start with the two Finnish sister boats, Audi e-tron and Audi Ultra, claiming the first and second spot. That ultimately became the final score, despite some close racing with the Swedish boat, Nautiska, who claimed the third place as the regatta concluded on Saturday.

“We had a great first race that secured us the title, with one race to spare – so it was a perfect day with good, steady conditions,” said the skipper of Audi e-tron, Teemu Kekkonen, as he was putting on dry clothes after a celebrational dip in the Copenhagen waters. The Danish tactician of the winning boat, Sten Mohr, who has claimed his share of world championship titles through the years, was content with the team’s – and the racing committee’s performance. “I was quite happy the committee decided to postpone the first race to allow for the westerly winds to kick in. It made my job as a tactician easier, in terms of protecting our spot,” said the Danish sailor. Together with the crew of Audi e-tron and Audi Ultra, the Dane has an evening of celebration ahead. “We will celebrate the proper Finnish way,” laughs Kekkonen, followed by Mohr: “Which means we never ‘finish’!”

Tricky conditions

But not only the sailors racing for the world championship had a golden regatta. The sport classes A and B enjoyed eight races on the northern course in similarly challenging conditions with shifty winds ranging from one to ten m/s, but with consistent sunshine.

“What more can you ask for than conditions like these as a competitive sailor,” notes the owner and founder of X-Yachts, Niels Jeppesen following Saturday’s final racing. “We couldn’t have wished for a better scene to crown the best X-Yachts sailors in the world,” said Jeppesen, who has no doubt that the X-Yachts Gold Cup is here to stay.

In sport class A the Danish X-99, Mille, dominated the fleet, securing gold with four wins in eight races. In sport class B, Swedish Gertrud, sailed by Martin Persson claimed gold in the IMX-40 that he called, “one of the best-designed X-Yachts ever built.”

Xtra family time

In the family classes some of the newer X-Yachts shun on the water including the brand new Xp 55, St. Pavel, from Russia, and the Xp 38, Xpresso, from Sweden raced by the entire family Jenemark, including 10-year-old, Felix. “It’s been a fun race. We had some decent starts but it was hard to keep up with the big boats,” says the young sailor, who sailed one Gold Cup previously, when he was three. His bigger sister, Nina, is just as strategic about the racing: “I want to win. Of course I do,” laughs the 13-year-old, who finished on an overall third place in the family class B fleet.

Like many of the other X-Yachts, the Swedish boat will commence their family holidays, heading on from the Gold Cup to the waters of Øresund.

Final results