The first regatta of the new Baltic IRC series, took place in Kerteminde Denmark. The Big Boat Challenge had almost similar numbers of entries under IRC and Danish Handicap, so it was a success to the Baltic IRC Open concept.

In the entry list there was the TP 52 FRAM owned by HKH Harald of Norway and the Cookson 50 Camilla, owned by Ole Martin Vordal also from Norway as the favorites in Class 2. The Cup lived up to the expectations with perfect sailing. In Class 1, for the smaller yachts, there was entry by Jesper Bank in his new Faurby 396 race, and Peter “Blur” Gustafsson in his J 109, amongst 3 Farr 30 and more.

Tarok 7, the Danish Swan 45 owned by Erik Berth, which is participating in the Baltic IRC Open series, has found new and bigger partners for their serious training sessions.

DEN 9503, Tarok 7, Erik Berth, Swan 45, KDY

Please note that every owner has to register for each of the Baltic IRC Regattas with the organizing club of the particular race and according to the particular rules of the event. Race Registration on this homepage for the Baltic IRC circuit does not replace registration for any particular regatta which is part of the circuit. For more informations about the races click here

Merena is one of the first Class40 ever build, number 8 actually. She was designed by Pierre Rolland and build in a very small yard in Brittany. "Since her launch in 2006, we have been sailing a lot of fancy races", says the owner Alexis Guillaume, " like: Island, Madeira, Fastnet, Jacques Vabre to Brasil and several inshore races. Our specificity is that the sponsors are participating to the crew for the races. Personally, I lived in Norway and Sweden as a child and allways have thought coming back some day... We definitely looking forward going sailing in the Baltic sea this summer..." The first Baltic start for Merena is Kiel-Sandhamn on 2nd July, followed by the Gotland Race..

 Check the specially the page: http://www.sailaway.be/video.html


BEL-8000, Merena, Alexis Guillaume, Class40, Nieuwpoort

LTU-1000 Ambersail is the former Assa Abloy 2, the last edition of Vo60, a sister ship of Assa Abloy 1 - the runner-up in VOR 2001-02. She was purchased by Ambersail Yachting Club in 2008 for the promo-PR circumnavigation to commemorate the Millennium of Lithuania celebrated last year. She was extensively re-fitted in 2008 and completed The Millennium Odyssey - the proper trip around the Globe, including Southern Ocean with all its Capes.Some 44,000+ nm were covered in 11 legs during 9 months. More than a 100 Lithuanian sailors took part. You can find more stories about it in www.1000odiseja.lt

LTU-1000, Ambersail, Simonas Steponavicius, Vo60, Ambersail Yachting Club, Lithuania

On Friday, the 12th of March, the new Haspa Hamburg arrived for the first time in her port of registry: Hamburg. She will race in the Baltic IRC Circuit and had come a long way from New Zealand on a carrier from Hamburg Süd. People from the owner foundation “Hamburgischer Verein Seefahrt” welcomed her home.

It was not the first time in the history of the club, that a boat had been designed as a one-off straight for the clubs major purpose: “Education of young people in offshore-sailing.” The aim was difficult, as the boat should be fast, easy to handle and nevertheless forgiving mistakes. Judel/ Vrolijk understood the intentions very well and came up with a promising design of a 52 feet construction, fulfilling nearly every sailors wishes in terms of a beautiful and competitive boat.

GER 6300, HASPA Hamburg ,Hamburgischer Verein Seefahrt, JV 52, NRV Hamburg

Danish X40 owner Henrik Jorgensen and Per Weiskvist sent us a very fancy tool for calculating IRC handicap positions on the fly. With a simple spreadsheet you can enter your own rating upside in the middle and then it calculates the difference in plus and minus time to all the competition.

You can also, on the right side up, enter a sailed time in the different regattas and it calculates the time, the competition needs to beat, plus and minus. This way it is easy for you to follow every race at every mark and see how you are doing. And you can prepare yourself by knowing how the competition is before you leave home.

In case you have any questions concerning this tool please send a message to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Download the Excel Sheet right here ...

SAIL & RACE is close to the final announcement of a great new offshore sailing Event: a long distance non-stop race from Saint Petersburg (Russia) to Kiel (Germany) starting Sunday, July 18th 2010, organized in co-operation with the Russian Yachting Federation, the Yachting Union of Saint Petersburg, the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and supported by the Kieler Yacht Club, which at the same time will be implemented as race no. 14 in the hanseboot Baltic IRC Circuit.

Expected Rules: IRC (ORC Club as a parallel ranking). Eligibility: Minimum LOA 40ft, minimum TCC 1,000. A maximum size may be decided at a level to include all current maxi-racers. Race records to be reported to the ISAF WSSRC (World Sailing Speed Record Council). The race is acceptable as a qualifier for the Royal Ocean Racing Club's Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race 2010.

A full web site tracking service is expected with specialist beacons supplied to each boat.

Great social events are planned in Saint Petersburg and Germany at a level equal to or exceeding the best of the renowned parties enjoyed in the Baltic Sprint Cup!

More Information here

The offshore racing scene has changed a lot during the last few years, so there was a need for an update on design, technical development, rating rules and race formats. So this weekend the German Offshore Owners Association (http://www.ger-oo.org/) together with Pantaenius, North Sails, hanseboot Boatshow and SGS arranged a free forum on the future in Offshore Yacht Racing.

The first edition of the International Yacht Forum was held in Hamburg with over 220 participants from Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, USA, Spain, Netherlands and the UK.

In the panel on yacht design there was presentations from Simon Rogers, John Corby, Mark Mills and Torsten Conradi from Judel/Vrolik & Co. And in the discussions afterwards, Michael Castania (ORM), Dobbs Davies (ORC/Seahorse), Rob Weiland (TP 52 Class Manager) Andrew McIrvine (Commodore of RORC) and many others presented their view on “The Future in Offshore Yacht Racing”.