Nokia Academy wins into Copenhagen

Knut Frostad updates us from the Nokia Oops Cup

After we ended up on equal points in the races in Helsinki, Finland on Sunday, and then having to accept a second place in the speed races the previous day, it was a very satisfied Team Nokia Academy that crossed the finish line in Copenhagen early this morning, more than one and a half hours ahead of the next boat, TietoEnator Audi.

The 530 nm long offshore race from Helsinki, Finland to Copenhagen was the longest offshore race in this year’s Nokia Oops Cup. Yet we completed the race in only 38 hours and 38 minutes, which is also a new official record on the distance. In the middle of the race we had to round two marks outside Visby in Gotland to give the spectators on the beach a great view of the boats, and from there it was on to the finish in Copenhagen over the course of which we achieved an average speed of 20 knots!

The races started in very light wind, and Team HiQ took an early lead. However, we had decided to push hard towards the south to find a stronger gradient breeze and this proved to be a good strategy. In the stronger wind we had superior boat speed and passed Team HiQ both as we where further south, close to Tallinn in Estonia and also as we where faster.

On the Swedish coast, we focused on avoiding getting close to the land as we knew it was much stronger gradient in the south and the east, generated by the big low pressure which has been located over Poland over the last days. We gybed as late as possible towards the south tip of Sweden, and this gave us an even bigger lead.

This was a very important victory for us, and the crew has been fighting extremely hard for this one. Now we have caught up HiQ’s lead and we have even points before the last three rounds of Nokia Oops Cup 2006. We have hardly slept over the last two days, and now we are going to dive into a nice bed!

Results, Helsinki to Copenhagen Offshore Race:
1. Team Nokia Academy (38 hrs 38 min)
2. Team TietoEnator Audi (39 hrs 56 min)
3. Team HiQ (not finished)

Results, Nokia Oops Cup overall after 8 of 11 rounds:
1. Team Nokia Academy, 19 points
2. Team HiQ, 19 points
3. Team TietoEnator Audi, 10 points

The next race in the Nokia Oops Cup is on Sunday 13 August in Malmö, Sweden with round the cans races and a speed race. The offshore race from Malmö to Kiel in Germany starts on Tuesday 15 August and on Saturday 19 the Nokia Oops Cup 2006 will be decided with speed and round the cans races in Kiel.