The forecasts for the 15th Göteborg Offshore Race couldn't have been better. SE 10-15 knots going to lighter NW during the evening. The Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club had a new challenging 150 mile course from Långedrag in Gothenburg, north to Marstrand, over to Skagen and around Kattegat. In addition to IRC there was a local SRS-class and a doublehganded class as well. Unfortunately several boats posted DNC (just before the race (noatbly the Cookson 50 Camilla and IRC-55 Progressiva), so only three boats competed in IRC: J/109 Blur, JV41 Inschallah VI and the 72' mini maxi Royal Blue.

All the boats got off at 1100 on fridag the 13th (maybe the start date was enough to keep some from starting?) and after some short and intensive legs to get out of the harbor everyone hoisted their kites for the run north towards Marstrand. Perfect contitions but tricky winds and current reshuffled the standings early on... click below to read more ..

SWE 326, Blur, Peter Gustafsson, GKSS - Gothenburg Royal Yacht Club

For the 23 starters some rain and moderate winds are expected this weekend in the 150nm Göteborg Offshore race. One of the top favorites in IRC class is the 50ft canting keel "Camilla", helmed by Ole Martin Vordahl, who is on position 2 in the hanseboot IRC Circuit overall ranking at the moment. But there is another very fast entry, the "Royal Blue", a 78 feet maxi racer, formerly known as Charles Jordan in the Whitbread Around the World Race. Thereafter she was sailing as Nicorette for several years and is today named Royal Blue. The boat has over these years been refitted several times and is today in full race mode with new sails and in top sailing trim. She is 100 percent carbon fibre and weighs 18 tonnes. Royal Blue has won many races including the Fastnet Race, Cap Town to Rio, Gotland Round Race (5 times) and the Goteborg Offshore Race twice. She will have 20 plus crew members including Mange Olsson, skipper of Ericsson 3 in the last edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.

SWE 2004, Royal Blue, Jonas Martin Löf, KSSS

Only threeIRC-measured participants found their way to the hanseboot Open Offshore Regatta series in Warnemünde. Nontheless the three competitors enjoyed almost perfect sailing conditions and an interesting competition. After one medium distance race (which had to be shortened due to the wind conditions), two up & down races and the 250 nm Round Bornholm Regatta Friedrich Hausmann's "Uijuijui" won the series. In all four races the 22 years old Rainbow 42, a Danish ULDB built for fast downwind reaching took first place against the faster and bigger Andrews 56 "Norddeutsche Vermögen", a pacific sled operated as a youth boat by the Hamburgische Verein Seefahrt and the RP 56 "Schokakola", owned and skippered by Uwe Lebens.

Winner Bornholm: GER 4070 "Uijuijui"

Sunshine, 15-20 kts wind, white nights, 80% kite of 450 nm racing in the Baltic: This is a fairy tale of which every yachtman is dreaming about. But no fairy tale without the Norwegian king, H.M. Harald V "the Invincible". With his 3rd overall victory in the hanseboot Baltic IRC circuit he clearly leads the international crowd with 75,6 points followed by Norwegian Camilla (67,5 points) and Varuna from Germany with 66,7 points.

Round Gotland is the biggest race in the Baltic IRC circuit with 40 yachts in the scoring and who doubts, that the king will take home the Hanseboot cup at the end of the series? But you never know, the Finns are still to race with their IRC championships end of August and the KDY autumn regatta at Copenhagen will see many participants as well! More infos about Eurocard Round Gotland here. ACTUAL SCORING HERE

H.M. King Harald V of Norway

"The wind conditions were actually more stable than predicted", reported Marten Schirge, skipper of the german J/V 52 youth yacht "Bank von Bremen". The crew of the Segelkameradschaft "Das Wappen von Bremen" felt sailing in the the baltic sea this year more like sailing in the caribean.

They were even able to watch the worldcup game Germany against Argentina during a phase of calm winds close to Bornholm. Their first ship home arrival at Sandhamn was celebrated together with Shakti and Haspa Hamburg on Monday morning 5th July with two kegs of beer. Congratulations!

Crew "Bank von Bremen" minutes after arrival Sandhamn

Skagerak and Kattegat have always been a natural arena for serious offshore racing. Historically Skaw Race was one of the most grueling races and in more recent year Watski Skagerack Twostar have been called the toughest shorthanded race in Scandinavia.

For the 15th Göteborg Offshore Race the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club in agreement with the Swedish Sailing Federation has been working together with the sailors to revive this exciting race. Start and finish at Långedrag, August 12 -14, 2010. A new challenging 150 mile course is running from Långedrag in Gothenburg, north to Marstrand, over to Skagen and around Kattegat. The start is on friday 13:th and we expect all the boats to be back well before the prizegiving and the big party saturday.

Photo: Peter Gustafsson, blur.se

1040 boats started in sunshine and light winds to the long-distance Faerder'n Race. This regatta is the most popular long-distance race in Norway, and the fourth regatta of the Baltic IRC series. The race track is about 120 nm long and runs from Oslo around the lighthouse Faerder Fyr on the Tristein island at the exit of the Oslo Fjord, and back again. The challenge in this race is the navigation between the islands and the current tactics in Oslofjord. Under certain circumstances the yachts have to deal with very rough Skagerrak weather at the outflow of the Oslo Fjord.
Therefore, the lighthouse Faedern has a comparable meaning for the Norwegians as the Fastnet-Rock has for the British.

With a 30 min lead over her sister Rogers 46 "Gut´s n Glory",Jens Kellinghusen´s Rogers "Varuna" (Hamburg/ Germany) took over the yellow jersey in race 3 "Round Fyn" in the Baltic IRC Cup. Varuna was modified by getting a bigger squaretop mainsail and some extra weight in the keel last winter. But with this modification Varuna only got a 5 TCC points higher IRC Rating. It was an absolutely tight racing between the three Rogers for a long time, when "Shakti" hit the ground near Svendborg to have a rest of 45 minutes.

The yachts from Germany did benefit from 2 extra points sailing abroad as the Swedish boats did, which will be no further advantage, when the Danish fleet reaches Gotland, Helsinki and Flensburg. One of the top scoring Danish yachts is DEN 19294 "Visione 3" from Per Weiskvist/ Kerteminde on position 4 at the moment. Visione is a former ILC 40, modified with a new carbon rigg, big symetric and asymetric kites and the very experienced skipper Per Weiskvist, who is one of the initiators of the Baltic IRC circuit . Download the actual scoring here.

Skippers meeting at Kerteminde after a nice breakfast

The Elsinor Yacht Club near Helsingoer has now opened for entries to the Danish part of the hanseboot Baltic IRC Open. The regatta is part of both the Baltic IRC Open as well as the Baltic Sea Challenge for Swan Yachts. The regatta is an invitational regatta for competitive yachts over 35’ holding a valid IRC certificate and is also open for yachts over 35’ holding a valid DH certificate, but IRC participants will precede.

There will be max. 35 entries accepted after the principle “first entry, first served” and the regatta will offer 3 days of competitive sailing with one long race and 6 windward-leeward races. The race office will be based in the NORTH HARBOUR next to the Castle of Kronborg near the town of Elsinore. The Elsinor Yacht Club will guarantee you a you a high level of social activities after the races.

See invitation here!