20 June 2022
On
June 16-19 a traditional Baltic Offshore Week was hosted by Kalevi
Jahtklubi in Tallinn, Estonia - the venue of the Alexela ORC World
Championship 2021. 25 teams from Estonia, Finland, Sweden and UK had
a fierce competition for the titles of the ORC A and B class
Estonian and Finnish Championship as well for the other podium
places. In summary, there have been eight races sailed in three days
- seven on windward-leeward course and one longer offshore race.
The conditions were rather stronger, mostly in westerly winds and
choppy waves. The sun was keeping sailors happy during two days and
the day of the offshore race with rain and fog felt like in
Scotland, as the furthermost guests on Corby 37 boat from there were
saying.
Both winning teams - Olympic (X-41 mod) EST463 with Tiit Vihul at
the helm in Class A and Team Pro 4U (First 36,7 Mod) SWE88 of Patrik
Forsgren had an overwhelming victory since Olympic kept in their
final scoreline 4 bullets and two second places, while Team Pro4U
discarded two second places and their final score consisted from 6
bullets only. Excellent performance from both teams!!
“We are very happy to win Baltic Offshore Week for the third time,”
said the helmsman of Olympic, Tiit Vihul, “but this time it was
different because we have got to know our boat and its trim better
with this race, and after ten years of sailing we are really finally
figured out how to achieve great speed. If last year we were more or
less equal to our competitors’ X-41 yachts, this time a little
faster. So it is very good to move on from that base! The team did a
very good job and made no tactical or technical mistakes, and it
seems to me that we learned more this weekend than in the previous
ten years. Strong winds are very suitable for us and contributed
well to the speed of the boat. Today’s competition was of the
highest level competition after last year’s World Championships,
because most of the boats competing in our group were in the top ten
at the World Championships. “
“It was a very good and useful regatta for us with a lot of race
practice in a lot of wind, especially today when we raced in around
25 knots gives a lot of new learnings and experiences,” said Peter
Thorwid, Tactician of Pro4U.
Team member Emil Forsgren added that sailing here against so many
strong Estonian boats is especially important for them. “It is good
for us to compare how our home rides and settings this season have
developed, competing here in the fierce competition. We have a
couple of new team members, and for them it was a great training and
an opportunity to learn from unusual conditions.” Main trimmer Sven
Eriksson added that the waves here are different from what they are
used to in Sweden, but it is especially good for training and
attention to detail.
“We want to thank the Estonian hosts for an excellent regatta and
everything around the races such as courses, results, information
has been excellent. We hope that we will be able to come back to BOW
another year,” said Team Pro4U.
Both teams will be competing at the ORCi European Championship 2022
in Hankø, Norway in August.
At the same time the battle for the second and third final podium
places was fierce in both classes.
In Class A, the winner of yesterday’s offshore race, Juss Ojala’s
Matila 4 (J-112E) scored 1-2-1 today – the best score of Class A –
and jumped from the yesterday’s fourth to the second. The battle was
fierce for completing the podium. Premium (X-41 mod) of Tanel Tamm,
who was the second before the final day, scored 6-3-4, while Forte
(X-41) with Jaak Jõgi at the helm, being third in the morning,
scored 3-5-2 today and outperformed Premium by 0.4 points in the
final score to complete the A class podium.
In class B Aivar Tuulberg’s Katariina II (Arcona 340) kept his
second place on the podium scoring 8-3-2 today, despite of having
some technical problems in today’s races. Amserv Toyota ST (First
36.7 Mod) of Margus Zuravljov had a great day today scoring 2-1-4
and while their main competitor for the third place was Directo
(Italia 9.98) with Erki Melts at the helm, who scored 4-6-2 today,
Amserv Toyota ST managed to jump to the final step of the podium
instead of Directo.
With that being said, the following teams and crews were on the
podium at the BALTIC OFFSHORE WEEK 2022 winning 2022 ORC Estonian
and Finnish Championship titles, silver and bronze medals in
Tallinn.
GROUP A
1. Olympic – EST 463 – 8.8 pts
Skipper: Tiit Vihul, Raul Vane, Ivo Kais, Indrek Ulla, Aivar
Kaljumäe, Meelis Pielberg, Tanel Trööp, Tarmo Vesberg, Marko Manni,
Raul Eesmäe, Raul Vinnal
2. Matilda 4 – EST 112 – 13.4 pts
Skipper: Juss Ojala, Joachim Aschenbrenner, Arne Veske, Marek
Harjak, Christopher Juul, Erki Teras, Robin Juul, Meinar Mäesalu,
Marko Seier
3. Forte – EST 475 – 19.2 pts
Skipper: Jaak Jõgi, Marko Nüüd, Indrek Rajangu, Meelis Nurk, Kalev
Vapper, Martin Kaal, Tammo Otsasoo, Ando Raud, Marti Hääl, Kalev
Kaal, Veiko Nüüd
GROUP B
1. Team Pro 4U - SWE 88 – 6.4 pts
Skipper: Patrik Forsgren, Anders Björk, Peter Thorwid, Sven
Eriksson, Emil Forsgren, Krafft Zacharias, Emil Alnebeck, Pontus
Dahl, Per Joakim Hoppe
2. Katariina II - EST 646 – 15.8 pts
Skipper: Aivar Tuulberg, Karl-Hannes Tagu, Lorenzo Bodini, Henri
Tauts, Jaan Akermann, Peter Saraskin, August Luure, Peeter Kaju,
Karl Kolk
3. Amserv Toyota ST - EST 379 – 18.2 pts
Skipper: Margus Zuravljov, Rene Maajärv, Martti Kinkar, Margus
Nõmmik, Olari Vokk, Lauri Luks, Anna Maria Sepp, Eva Jakunin
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