AUDI, LENCO & FEELGOOD WINNERS IN RACE 1 OF AUDI ORCi WORLDS
Light start but fast finish in a race that had it all
Helsinki, Finland - In conditions that varied from sunny skies and light
winds to driving rain, thunderstorms and over 20 knots of breeze, the first
offshore race of the Audi ORCi World Championship finished last night, with
three winners in each class emerging after completing the 63-mile course.
The overall increase in breeze up to midnight tended to favor the
slower-rated boats in Class A, but the subsequent decrease in breeze tended
to favor the faster boats in the Class B1 and Class B2.
First to finish the course at 20:57:41 local time was Thomas Nilsson's
Norwegian TP52 Wolfpack Trucknor, with Thomas Blixt's Swedish team on their
rival TP 52 Blixt Pro Sailing astern by nine minutes. But by a margin of
only 15 seconds in corrected time, Jahni Lehti's Finnish team on his GS 42R
Audi won the class, defeating runner-up Alberto Rossi's Italian team on his
Farr 40 Enfant Terrible. Third in Class A was Bernhard Buchwald's German
XP-44 Xenia after Matt Sepp's Estonian XP 44 Albatross was disqualified for
missing a mark of the course.
In Class B1, Nico Brabers's Dutch Salona 37 Lenco skippered by Erik van
Vuuren finished nearly four minutes ahead of Mihkel Kosk's Estonian
Leitvaagen team on his NM38 Sugar 2, with Mats Vicotrin's Swedish X-332
Boxer in third.
Class B2 was won by Martin Nilsson's Swedish Salona 37 Feelgood, beating's
Italian NM38 Scugnizza by by the largest winning margin of the event
thusfar, over 7 minutes in corrected time. In third was Patrik Forsgren's
Swedish modified First 36.7 Team Arken Zoo.
Besides the challenging weather, the race had its unfortunate casualties:
Kirsten Harmstorf's all-female German team on their DK 46 Tutima hit a
submerged rock just 200 m from the finish, and had to retire. Their boat is
currently being evaluated for possible repairs to finish the regatta, but
will not sail today.
Due to the postponement and light air at the start of yesterday's race,
organizers from Yacht Club Merenkävijät decided to re-schedule today's start
of inshore racing to 1400 local time, with two races planned.
More information, links, results when available, videos, and photos from Max
Ranchi Photography are available on the event homepage at
www.orciworlds2012.com [r20.rs6.net].
Sponsors for the Audi ORCi World Championship 2012 include Audi, Hi Q, North
Sails, John Nurminen Marine, Lemonsoft, the City of Helsinki Sport
Department, and Salona Yachts.
