J/112E and J/109 garner silverware in the RORC Baltic Sea Race
by J/Boats 31 Jul 2022 01:44 AEST
RORC Baltic Sea Race © James Mitchell
The inaugural Roschier Baltic Sea Race started from Helsinki, Finland on Thursday 21st July 2022, organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club together with the Ocean Racing Alliance.
The race was approx. 635 nautical miles, starting and finishing off Helsinki in the Gulf of Finland. The course incorporated the Swedish island of Gotland, located approximately 250.0nm southwest of Helsinki. The twenty-seven entries from eleven countries (Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the USA) endured a much longer, lighter air race than everyone anticipated at the beginning.
Two-Handed Division
Five teams competed in the ORC Two-Handed division. In the end, Julius Haartti and Sanna Moliis with their Finnish J/109 IRIE pulled off the silver medal position on the podium. That was a great performance for the pair, having twice crossed the Atlantic and competed in the last two editions of the Gotland Runt.
ORC 2 Division
The ten boats in the division were all beaten by the all-family and friends team by the smallest boat and lowest rated boat in the entire fleet. Here is an astonishing number, while finishing nearly 11 hours behind the J/112E, the winning boat won by 7 hours corrected time after a 4-day light airs race.
In the end, Margus Uudam's J/112E NOLA took the bronze medal on the podium by completing the 635.0nm course in 103 hours at a 6.1 kts average...far, far below the boat's potential hull speed of 7.65 kts. Just 6 minutes corrected handicap time behind them was a stablemate- Haartti and Moliis' J/109 IRIE!