Please select your home edition
Edition
sMRT AIS Man Overboard Beacons AUS / NZ

2023 ORC World Championship at Kiel, Germany - Day 5

by Offshore Racing Congress 12 Aug 2023 01:07 AEST 4-12 August 2023
2023 ORC World Championship at Kiel, Germany, Day 4 © Janis Spurdzins

Starry skies, varied wind speeds and close competition in all three classes made for a beautiful night of racing on the Long Offshore Race of the 2023 ORC World Championship.

The forecasted westerly winds held in - more or less - throughout the night, helping the fleet make good progress around their marks in the Kieler-Bucht.

However, PRO Eckhardt Reinke sent this message to the fleet at 0630 this morning: "Weather observations and forecasts are presently conclusive, suggesting that the gradient wind will drop significantly before - according to our routings - the majority of all fleets who would approach the finish line at Kiel lighthouse. Fair sailing cannot be assured for the final 12nm of the course," so the courses were shortened for all classes to finish in the mid-morning hours.

All teams seemed to agree with this decision as overcast skies accompanied a new light southwesterly wind that was starting to die out and would have affected all classes in their final miles of the race.

Teams in Class A pushed each other more than any other class on their 102-mile course, resulting in some very close racing throughout the night and some new entries at the top of the leaderboard. In this seventh race of the series, Johannes Wackerhagen's Knierim 49 cruiser/racer DESNA (GER) managed to defeat all four all-carbon full-race TP52 designs, but not by much: after 14 hours of racing - two hours longer than the faster TP's - their corrected time margin of victory was only 14 seconds over Tilmar Hansen's Outsider (GER) and only 20 seconds over a podium newcomer, Carl-Peter Forster's Red Bandit (GER).

Series leader Beau Geste, owned by Karl Kwok (HKG), finished in 4th place another 1 minute back, and Holger Streckenbach's IMAGINE (GER) in fifth by just another 24 seconds. Among the top 8 boats in this race, all were within only 10 minutes in corrected time - this is only 1.1% of the elapsed time of the slowest boat in this top-eight group, the all-women's team on Kirsten Harmstorf-Schonwitz's DK 46 TUTIMA.

"This was a perfect night of sailing," said Tilmar Hansen, "a little cold but exciting because we were so close with the other boats. We had the early lead but then broke our starboard D1 shroud and lost some time rigging a replacement. Fortunately we have a spare shroud to rig today to be ready to fight again tomorrow."

For this class a discard of the worst result of the inshore races will come into play after the second of two planned windward-leeward races tomorrow - under ORC rules the results from the Long Offshore Race are not discardable.

Unlike in Class A, Class B results today show the same top teams remaining at the top, and not by small margins. Marcin Sutkowski's Grand Soleil 44P Windwhisper 44 (POL) won the 91-mile race by over 19 minutes in corrected time over Aivar Tuulberg's Swan 42 Katariina II (EST) after nearly 14 hours of racing, and 26 minutes over Peter Buhl's Swan 42 Sirena (DEN).

Not only is the Polish team stretching away from the pack with a lead now increased to 9 points, but so have the Estonians and the Danes from others in the class: 18 points now separate Katariina II from Jens Kuphal's 4th-placed Landmark 43 INTERMEZZO (GER). When tomorrow's discards get applied after the first race, Windwhisper does not have anything worse than a second place, but Sirena has a 6th to discard, Katariina II a 7th and INTERMEZZO a 16th to help compress the standings.

One possible problem for the Poles could be an unfavorable outcome of an outstanding protest between them and Henning Uck's Mat 1180 TOSEN 2 (GER) from an incident in yesterday's first windward-leeward race - TOSEN alleges Windwhisper did not keep clear to windward on approach to the start. Yet even if Windwhisper were to get a DSQ for this race, one race sailed tomorrow would trigger an inshore race discard and likely still keep them on the podium.

Results from the long race today in Class C are similar to Class B: the leaders had good results with sizeable gaps to their rivals in corrected time. Patrik Forsgren's modified First 36.7 Team Pro4U defeated the Blue group runner-up Kai Mares's Italia 9.98 IMMAC FRAM (GER) by 5:43 after 21 hours of sailing the 72-mile course, while Ott Kikkas's Italia 11.98 Sugar 3 (EST) won the Yellow group by 3:55 over runner-up Juss Ojala's J-112E Matilda (EST).

However, the points gaps are close among those currently on the podium, so the fights in tomorrow's two planned windward/leeward races will determine what color medals are won in Class C and how the discards play out. Matilda is currently in the lead by 2 points over Team Pro4U, and both have 4th places as their worst score. Sugar 3, however, is another 3 points behind the Swedes but have a 6th place to discard, and an early series leader - Harles Liiv's J-112E SHADOW (EST) - is another 6 points back and has a discardable 7th place from yesterday.

So, with discards coming to the scorelines tomorrow, it will be all to play for in Class C for sure, and possibly in the other classes as well to determine final podium positions and the new 2023 ORC World Champions.

Live tracking will be available here.

Results after Day 5:

Class A (15 entries) - 2 coastal, 4 inshore and one long offshore race

1. Beau Geste TP52 - Karl Kwok (HKG) 1+1+1+1+1+1+4=10
2. Outsider TP52 - Tilmar Hansen (GER) 2+4+2+2+6+3+2=21
3. Red Bandit TP52 - Carl-Peter Forster (GER) 3+3+3+4+9+6+3=31

Class B (29 entries) - 3 coastal and 4 inshore races

1. Windwhisper 44 Grand Soleil 44P - Marcin Sutkowski (POL) 1+1+1+2+1+2+2+1=11
2. Sirena Swan 42 - Peter Buhl (DEN) 2+2+2+1+6+1+3+3=20
3. Katariina II - Aivar Tuulberg (EST) 7+7+3+3+3+4+1+2=30

Class C (65 entries) - 3 coastal and 2 inshore races

1. Matilda 4 J-112E - Juss Ojala (EST) 1+4+2+1+2+1+2+2=15
2. Team Pro4U mod First 36.7 - Ptrik Forsgren (SWE) 2+4+2+2+1+2+3+1=17
3. Sugar 3 Italia 11.98 - Ott Kikkas (EST) 3+5+6+2+1+1+1+1=20

Complete results here

The ORC World Championship in Kiel is supported by partners Sportland Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel.Sailing.City, Sydbank, Gaastra, X-Yachts, North Sails, Pantaenius, Cylops Marine powered by Gotthardt, Kohlhoff, Fachkanzlei für Wassersport Tanis/von der Mosel and NV Charts.

Event website: www.orcworlds2023.com

Related Articles

Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Trophy 2025 Preview
International sailing & ocean conservation unite in Cascais From July 4 to 6, Cascais hosts the biggest sailing regatta of the year with a strong focus on sustainability. The Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Trophy celebrates six years of diversity, competition, and environmental commitment. Posted today at 3:59 pm
From ORC to DH: The XR 41 Delivers Again
All eyes were on the new XR 41 during the Maior Regatta in Kiel All eyes were on the new XR 41 during the Maior Regatta in Kiel, where she convincingly won under ORC. The boat has proven her versatility by taking on Denmark's Fyn Cup — and winning again. Posted on 29 Jun
First-ever ORC North American champions crowned
Fox, Zammermoos and Teamwork win at Block Island Race Week 2025 After completing the full schedule of races - 9 in the ORC 1 class and 10 in the ORC 2 and 3 classes - three new ORC North American Champion teams have been crowned on Friday at the Storm Trysail Club's 31st biennial Block Island Race Week. Posted on 28 Jun
31st Block Island Race Week Day 5
IHG Hotels and Resorts Race Day concludes the event Block Island Race Week's final tent party was abuzz with anticipation and excitement Friday evening, as sailors and spectators awaited the announcement of cumulative awards for the regatta's 60th anniversary. Posted on 27 Jun
31st Block Island Race Week Day 4
Round The Island Race on Mount Gay Rum Race Day Mount Gay Rum Race Day featured everyone's favorite race of Block Island Race Week: the Regatta Craft Mixers Round The Island Race. The breaking of the recent heatwave made for a fast and furious counter-clockwise lap. Posted on 26 Jun
Tight racing at ORC North American Championship
Two days of racing remain before titles awarded in three classes With three days of racing completed over 7 Windward-Leeward courses, the scorelines are filling up for all three classes competing in the first ORC North American Championship at Storm Trysail Club's Block Island Race Week. Posted on 26 Jun
31st Block Island Race Week Day 3
Soaring temperatures on Risk Strategies Race Day Risk Strategies Race Day at Block Island Race Week featured another day of champagne conditions and soaring temperatures. To give sailors a brief reprieve, the Race Committee called for an "early" end to racing (only 2 long races instead of 3). Posted on 25 Jun
31st Block Island Race Week Day 2
Regatta Craft Mixers Race Day turns up the heat Regatta Craft Mixers Race Day turned up the heat at Block Island Race Week—literally. The Island was not spared from the heat wave sweeping the East Coast this week, but that did not put a stop to the action out on the water. Posted on 25 Jun
Kieler Woche Day 4
IDM Inshore Gold to Flensburg and Denmark The weather conditions during Kieler Woche on Tuesday continued just as they had on Monday: sustained winds well over 20 knots and gusts exceeding 30. Posted on 24 Jun
31st Block Island Race Week Day 1
The wind fills in after a short delay on North Sails Race Day Racing in the 31st Block Island Race Week got under way on Monday with the North Sails Race Day. After a one hour wind delay, the three fleets motored through "The Cut" to their respective race courses for a 12:00 p.m. start as the sea breeze filled in. Posted on 23 Jun
Zhik 2024 DecemberRooster 2025X-Yachts X4.3