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”.

Finland has amplified the circuit with one more race - the Gulf of Finland Race. The regatta is part of the Finnish series and will be a long distance race about 100 nm, starting outside the Espoon pursiseura harbour. The winner of Gulf of Finland Race shall be presented a special "HANSEBOOT BALTIC IRC"–price.
All participating yachts shall have a valid an endorsed IRC rating certificate.

Please click here for the notice of race.






FIN 45012, Two Fast, Swan 45, Olkkonen Laaksonen, EPS

For all sailors, whose intention is to take part in the Round Gotland Race and who have their home base in the south-westerly Baltic, we have planned a nice feeder-race, starting in Kiel.

With the kind support of the British Kiel Yacht Club (BKYC), the feeder-race will be started on 2nd July, 18:00 after having a barbecue in the marina to strengthen you for the night!

The race’s course will take you from the German coastline to the incredible Swedish summer nights, leaving Fehmarn and Bornholm to starboard, Oelland to port, Gotland to starboard to the finish line, right in front of the KSSS's clubhouse in Sandham.

The offshore regatta scene has changed dramatically during the last years. New formalities and numerous changes in measurement have internationally caused a lot of discussion. Fast yachts and sailing fun are booming. Against this background the German Offshore Owners Association together with hanseboot Boatshow, North Sails, Pantaenius yacht insurance and SGS invite to a free forum concerning the future in Offshore Yacht Racing.
We have been able to secure international experts and the naval architects Torsten Conradi, John Corby, Marc Mills and Simon Rogers as discussion partners for this workshop, who will elucidate various topics. In an open discussion the participants will be able to direct questions to the experts and discuss different points of view. Click here for the program. Please register for the event until the 1st February 2010 at the latest by email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
We are looking forward to stimulating conversations with you!

12th February 2010:Annual Hamburg Senate prize giving in the Hamburg town hall.

The organizers of Warnemünder Woche have recently published the programme for the Bornholm/ hOO regatta. Races will start on SATURDAY, 3 July 2010, with the Warnemünde Cup, a middle-distance race on the Mecklenburg Bay. It will be followed by Up&Down Races on Sunday. The highlight of the series, the Round Bornholm long distance race, will be started on Monday, 5 July 2010. It is a long standing tradition of this third longest regatta of the Baltic IRC series, that the participants will have to decide by themselves whether they will round the island of Bornholm clockwise or anti-clockwise, which has always been a major tactical challenge. Due to the fact that the Baltic Sea mostly provides strong winds from either westerly or easterly directions the Round Bornholm Race has year by year proved to be a great challenge for the skills and endurance of participating crews in real offshore conditions. Furthermore the race record set by Klaus Murmanns former Baltic 56 "UCA" of 28 hours 37 minutes is still waiting to be broken.

GER 4070, Uijuijui, Rainbow 42, Friedrich Hausmann, HSC

Big Boat Challenge is organized by Kerteminde Yacht club as an invitation event for Big Boats, sized up to 60 feet.This new race concept was first time organized in 2009. The Event was a great success and we are pleased to announce the Big Boat Challenge 2010, in the days 22-23.may 2010. Big Boat Challenge includes 5 short course races on the Kerteminde Bay Area.Invitation will be send during January to the most active Big Boat teams in Germany and Scandinavia. Number of Boats will be limited to 50. After having received the first 40 registrations, the Race committee will award another 10 places to Teams on request. Big Boat Challenge 2010 is the first event in the new circuit Hanseboot IRC Baltic Open. Kerteminde Yacht Club looks forward to greeting skippers and crews in May and together celebrating the success of the Big Boat Challenge 2010.


DEN 19294, Visione, JV 41, Per Weiskvist, Kerteminde Sejlklub