Starting with an offshore race on Friday and concluding with windward-leeward courses and a coastal race over last weekend, race organizers from ESS Kalev Yacht Club and
HSK Helsingfors Segelklubb in cooperation with 
the Estonian Yachting Union and 
Finnish Offshore Racing Association have concluded a popular and successful Baltic Offshore Week, with 50 teams competing in four ORC classes for this three day event. In total 22 boats came from Estonia, 27 from Finland and 1 from Latvia to compete for this Finnish and Estonian Offshore Championship.

The long offshore race in Day 1 of the championship was scheduled to start at 09:00, and while all 50 boats entered were on the race course, the wind was not. After a hot three hour wait for the wind the Race Committee was finally able to start the race on 4-6 knots of wind from NNW, and although ORC 2 had one general recall, all other boats got away cleanly.

After 5 hours of sailing the leading boats were found to be north of Naissaar and nearing the half way mark when the wind shifted to West and was lighter out to sea. Eventually the fleet managed to finish in the light conditions, with Acton Yachts’ Akton 395 Lady Bird prevailed in ORC Class 1, and Brink Consulting’s Salona 37 Audi winning Class 2. Classes 3 and 4 did not finish within the time limit.

Over the weekend’s racing, the conditions improved, with racing on Saturday started in a southerly 8-10 knots, but diminishing as the day progressed. Being the largest class with 18 boats, however, did not diminish the intensity in Class 2, where a collision among three boats produced some drama and a DSQ but no injuries and only minor damage.

Sunshine, blue skies, warm weather, and winds of 8-10 knots from the southwest welcomed sailors to the final day of racing. In these ideal conditions racing was tight in all of the scheduled three windward/leeward races, producing some changes in podium positions.

Dominating ORC Class 1 by ten points in seven races was Uljaste Purjetajate Ordu’s X-41 Forte, while in the contentious Class 2 Audi prevailed by 9 points. Racing in ORC Class 4 was also dominated by one team, H Hannelius’s & P Klemetz’s Finn Express 83 Charlotta, who had enough of a lead in points to sit out the last race and still take the win,

But racing in ORC Class 3 came down to the final contest, with Pauli Wettersrand’s Dufour 34 Ilmarinen winning the final race and earning a slim but effective 2.4 point margin of victory over runner-up Pekka Halonen’s X-332 Phoenix.