Frostad wins despite a shorter board

Nokia academy shore crew up all night fixing broken daggerboard prior to Gothenberg fleet race

Not even a shorter daggerboard could stop Knut Frostad and his crew on the trimaran Nokia Academy from claiming victory in Gothenburg’s Fleet Race, the fourth competition in this year's Nokia Oops Cup.

"This was the crew’s victory. They worked so hard, both repairing the daggerboard all night and with trimming the sails today," said Frostad.

In 20-24 knots of wind Nokia Academy won three heats out of four in Nokia Oops Cup Fleet Race, sailed outside Gothenburg’s harbour. All night before, the Nokia Academy crew had been up repairing and reconstructing a usable daggerboard out of the one that broke in the Offshore Race from Norway. The result was 1.5m shorter, but it worked.

"We could not sail as high as we wanted, but it worked out anyway," said Frostad. "Everyone was tired and we tried to save our energy before the race. Ten minutes before we said, “Now, let’s show them…”

But it was Klas Nylöf and HiQ who went off in a smashing start in the race and won the first heat, just a couple of boat lengths ahead of Nokia Academy, and another two before TietoEnator Audi.

In the second race, Nokia Academy started from leeward with high speed and with two hulls in the air. Finland' s Thomas Johanson and his TietoEnator Audi hardly moved at the start, while HiQ speeded behind the leader. At the finish Nokia Academy claimed a safe victory.

The Finnish team soon got their revenge and had what looked like a safe lead, but nothing is safe in sailboiat racing. Nokia Academy's manoeuvres went smoothly all the time and the sails were rolled in and out in record speed. Ultimately TietoEnator Audi was passed by the Norwegians on the last leg before the finish, who claimed their second victory of the day.

"It was exciting, but we had problems with getting the gennaker in and then Knut passed by us," said Thomas Johanson.

Nokia Academy went on to take three bullets. The fourth and last became the most exciting one, where all three boats sailed closely together for one lap, sometimes on a line, sometimes beside each other at the marks. But on the second lap TietoEnator Audi suddenly lost ground, due to a problem with the mast and the mainsail.

HiQ was in the lead when the fleet was halfway and the gennakers went up. But suddenly HiQ lost metre by metre to Nokia Academy overtook them one metre before the finish line.

"We were tired physically and didn’t succeed to get the sails in fast enough," said HiQ skipper Klabbe Nylof.

Klas Nylöf and HiQ maintain their lead in Nokia Oops Cup with 10 points, ahead of Knut Frostad and Thomas Johanson. The Speed Duel tonight cannot change the results.

Results Fleet Race Gothenburg 13/6 and standings Nokia Oops Cup
1. Klas Nylöf, HiQ, 1-3-3-2 (10 p)
2. Knut Frostad, Nokia Academy, 2-1-1-1 (9 p)
3. Thomas Johansson, TietoEnator Audi, 3-2-2-3 (5 p)