Tight Inshore Racing At ORC Worlds

A long postponement today was worth the wait on day 3 of the 2014 ORC World Championship, as an 8-10 knot easterly sea breeze built up in the afternoon allowing race managers from Kieler Yacht-Club on all three courses to conduct three races each.

Conditions were so good that the last of these races was a three-lap windward-leeward course, giving teams more challenges in the mark roundings and able to play more with the oscillating shifts on the course.

In Class A Claus Landmark (NOR) in his Landmark 43 Santa continued his on good form by winning the first two races of the day and a second in the third race to put him at the top of the leader boards. Only Heinz-Peter Schmidt’s GP42 Silva Neo (GER), Ole Martin Vordahl’s Cookson 50 Camilla (NOR) and Alberto Rossi’s TP 52 Enfant Terribl (ITA) have been able to break into the top ranks of the class among the racer/cruisers, although Rossi, the 2011 and 2012 ORC World Champion, finally managed a win in the third race.

In Class B there is less domination of the results in the 58 boat fleet, there are numerous ties in corrected time (the second race today had actually two ties) and race winners spread among many teams. These included Lars Ive’s Danish XP 38 Soldier Blue, Mati Sepp’s Estonian X-41 Premium, Ralf Lessig’s German XP 44 Xenia, Holger Streckenbach’s German X-42 Imagine, and Ola Sandel’s Swedish First 40 Karukera, who won two races on the day.

Finally, in Class C it is a similar situation for the 66 boats in this class, with corrected times that are among the closest in the event. Among the winners is Aivar Tuulberg’s Estonian Arcona 340 Katarina II who made the long journey back from Valencia at the ORC Europeans one month ago to participate here, and claimed his first race victory today. Others include another team who travelled north from the Mediterranean, Alessandro Consiglio’s First 35 South Kensington. Last year’s Class C ORC European champion Sugar 2, an Estonian NM38 helmed by Erki Melts, won the second race and is staying at the top in the standings, while Michael Mollman’s Danish X-37 Hansen had their best race in also winning their group in the second race and the Swedish team on Patrik Forsgren’s modified Beneteau 36.7 Team Pro4U repeated a race win they also earned on Monday.

But the best team of the day in Class C was Giuseppe Giuffre’s modified M37 Low Noise (ITA), the reigning ORC European Champion who came up trumps with two seconds and first place.

Among the competitors in Class B and C, this is the last day of inshore racing before the second offshore race and the determination of who will be the top 30 teams to advance to the Gold Fleet on Friday and Saturday’s to determine the new champions in those classes.

For complete results, photos, and more information about the 2014 ORC World Championship, visit the event website at www.orcworlds2014.com.

And for more information on ORC and ORC classes and events, visit www.orc.org.