ORC European Sportboat Championship - Levante leads

by ORC Press on 10 Jul 2010 ORC European Sportboat Championship, Day three update: In a series strong on enthusiasm but light in wind, the Lithuanian entry Levante has taken an early lead in the ORC European Sportboat Championship with two days left for racing.

In total, 25 entries have gathered in St.Petersburg for the first-ever ORC championship event to be held in Russia. Several of the entries had to travel long distances, coming to the venue from as far away as Germany, Lithuania, and the Black Sea.

The first part of the series has been plagued by lack of wind, so the opening day saw all racing cancelled, and the second day a coastal course was held but on a shortened course after a delayed start.

The third day, two windward/leeward races could be held after a long wait, and on Thursday, starting at 17:00 and finishing shortly before midnight, another coastal race was held, when a thunderstorm with squalls at 40 knots suddenly arrived on the race course. All sailors were skilful enough to reduce sail in time, and no major damage was suffered.

The series enters the final two days with Tauras Rymonis's RS 280 Levante strongly in the lead. This boat is a one-design and rather heavy compared to the competition, and with a good rating and non-planing conditions she has been able to correct in front of her rivals who have finished ahead of her.

The current runner-up is Vlas Kadetov's Prima, a team from Taganrog in Russia on the Black Sea, which is a GP 26 designed by Ceccarelli and built in small production in Taganrog.

Third is Courage, an Open 800 owned by Valentin Naumov, one of 16 entered in the event. Other Open 800's include Sergey Golofast's Enigma, with famous Russian match racer Andrei Arbruzov on board, and Globus, another Open 800 owned and skippered by the famous Russian pro sailor Andrey Nikandrov.

In fourth place there is Navis, the only Platu 25 in the competition, skippered by Marina Kasatova.

Vasily Alexeev, the Russian Rating Officer is competing on his Open 800 Kvartet, and doing well in elapsed time, but could not defend its handicap. Vadim Mekhanikov, the Commodore of RORA is also racing on a similar boat.

Meanwhile, racing continues into the long Russian evening now as the breeze has built to 14 knots and race managers try to catch up on the event schedule.

For more information please go to: www.sailingunion.ru/sportboat-2010