ORC Sportboat European Championship 2023 in Kalamaki, Athens to start

27. Sep 2023

27 September 2023 - Athens, Greece – After two days of measurements and inspections of 14 entries from 5 countries, tomorrow racing will start at the 2023 ORC Sportboat European Championship, hosted by the Nautical Club of Kalamaki (NOK) with support from the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC).

Based at Alimos Marina, the largest marina in the Balkans, NOK and the entries of the event will start four days of competition with a Coastal Race tomorrow.

ORC SB Europeans 2023 - Athens, GRE - Coastal Race Course

This race will be over a 27-mile roughly triangular course held off the coast near the main venue. The remaining days will feature shorter Windward-Leeward races of about 1 hour duration and held in succession, with multiple races planned for Friday through Sunday.

Some favorites among the entries are:

- Ott Kikkas’ (EST) Corsa 915 SUGAR, two-time ORC Sportboat European champions in 2021 and 2022, with Sandro Montefusco (ITA) at the helm and Simone Ferrarese (ITA) calling tactics. The SUGAR team are also multiple World champions in their larger ORC Class C boat of the same name.

- Andrea Pietrolucci’s (ITA) Este 24 MILÙ 4, this year’s Este 24 Italian champion, winner of the last Este 24 Winter Championship, and winner of the Coastal Race and third stage in Santo Stefano of the Este 24 Italian National Circuit. This team also finished in 6th place at last year’s ORC Sportboat European Championship in Sistiana, Italy.

“We’re pleased to once again offer a European Championship using our rule system applied to Sportboats,” said ORC Chairman Bruno Finzi. “We expect this to be competitive for all well-sailed entries and wish the best of luck to all participants at the event.