Round Baltic race underway

43 yachts leave Sandhamn, Sweden for first leg to Finland

In a beautiful start the 43 participating yachts took off from Sandhamn, Sweden on the first leg of the NORD/LB Baltic Sprint Cup 2005.

In a light easterly breeze, the boats sailed out of the archipelago in search of the best route to Finland, where the first leg of this 1150 mile long race between the Baltic countries ends.

The 195 mile course was shortened to 140 miles, because the predicted winds will be very light. The finish is now set south of Hankö, 55 miles short of the finishing port of Helsinki.

A few minutes after the start the speed differences of the yachts began to show. Volker Andreae's Inschallah VI and Josephine sailed by Uwe Lebens both made good starts and were the early leaders, but better speed allowed Tilmar Hansen's Outsider to take the lead 30 minutes later at the first mark. On corrected time Outsider owes every other yacht in the race time. Inschallah VI took the top position on the leaderboard, followed by the Sun Fast 52 XXL owned and skippered by Christian Beutin.

Sadly Tom Ebert's DK46 Tutima arrived first at the windward mark, but the crew did not notice the course change and went the wrong direction. They had to watch Outsider taking over the lead. "We had problems with our VHF, that's why we missed the change", said Ebert.

The 1984 Olympic silver medallist Achim Griese took the helm of Gunter Persiehl's Pippifax, a Bavaria Match 42 and the team showed that they are taking the racing seriously.

The Estonian Ladybird was also sailing in the front pack. The red yacht from Pärnu is skippered by Erki Melts and their spinnaker manoeuvres showed that their team is well trained. The latest data shows them holding fourth place behind Stefan Hummelt's Emil Reiseschwein.

While over the first few miles racing was relatively fast, the weather forecast is for the wind to lighten. A high pressure ridge above the Aland Islands is building. The time limit is Monday morning 8 o'clock and hopefully this will give the yachts plenty of time to complete the 140 mile course.