ORCi European championships – New leader emerges

by Offshore Racing Congress on 10 Aug 2011 ORCi European championships, hosted by the Royal Norwegian YC (KNS), were held in Hanko, Norway. After a breezy and cold final lap around the two-lap course, all entries have finished.

The results are in and a new leader has emerged after four races completed in the Championship.

In Division 1, Peter Ortendahl’s IMX 40 Gertrud from Sweden helmed by Lena extended their lead after the first lap, with Norwegian sistership Jan Henrik Bryde’s Xanthippe in second place by 11 minute 29 sec in corrected time, and Peter Suselbeck’s First 40 Westwind from Germany dropping back to third place by just another 28 sec.

First-to-finish the race was Tore Kandahl’s Landmark 43 Destin, completing the 123-mile course in 17:05:33, just one minute 29 sec ahead of John Langø’s Swan 42 Lusso Lupa. However, neither corrected to good results in this race, as the building breeze has favored the smaller boats in each division.

And even though the series leader, Peter Schmidt’s Evento 42 Silva Hispaniola, is a big boat and thus had their worst finish so far in the series with a fourth place result, they still retain their lead by 3.25 points over current runner-up Xanthippe.

In Division 2, the race remained very close, with Norwegian Eirik Brekke’s X-382 Mk 2 Felicia IV surpassing first lap leader Kai Haupthoff’s X-332 Sport Varuna Express from Germany by one minute 42 sec in corrected time. Another four minutes and 1 sec behind in corrected time and taking the last place on the podium was Patrik Forsgren’s modified Beneteau First 36.7 Team SWE 88, who on the strength of the 1.75 points-weighting given this race has emerged as the new leader in Division 2 after four races scored thus far in the series.

Later today at 1600 local time a protest hearing will be convened by the international jury chaired by Eva Andersson to determine the merits of a redress request for one minute in elapsed time sought by Ludvig Daae’s Ille Moro for an alleged improper movement of the finishing vessel in the pre-dawn hours of this morning. If Daae prevails in his request, Ille Moro’s seventh place in the race would change to sixth, and they would earn enough points back to overcome the one point lead now held by Team SWE 88.

Current top five standings after four races:

Division 1
1. Silva Hispaniola 9.25 points
2. Xanthippe 12.50
3. Westwind 14.25
4. Gertrud 19.31
5. Saillogic Racing 27.75

Division 2
1. Team SWE 88 18.00
2. Ille Moro 19.00
3. Xtreme 20.75
4. Chinook 21.00
5. Feelgood Event website

More information about ORC events and rating systems available here.