Swedish trimaran circuit

2003 OOPS Cup schedule announced

This summer’s fastest yacht race in Scandinavia, Nokia Oops Cup, was launched today. The race will take place in and around the three Scandinavian capitals Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Nokia is to be both the event’s title sponsor, and a sponsor of one of the participating boats.

The Nokia Oops Cup is a yacht race for Formula 60 Trimarans. These 60 foot yachts have been selected for their extreme speed and design, creating an excellent platform for the sailing sport. The Oops Cup (Open Ocean Performance Sailing) is being held for the third consecutive year, this year for the first time with Nokia as the event title sponsor.

"The event is close to Nokia’s own values and way of working, with a focus on freedom, environment and speed. In addition, the Trimaran is an exciting invention within the sailing sport," says Erik Anderbjörk, Business Development Manager, Nokia Mobile Phones Scandinavia. "Furthermore, the Nokia Oops Cup provides us with an opportunity for testing and evaluating new mobile technologies such as MMS and positioning systems services.”

The format consists of two types of sailing/racing, the City Race and the Offshore Race. The City Races takes place on short courses close to the shore and will enable the public to watch the race from the shoreline. The offshore races in the Nokia Oops Cup take place as part of other races, in Norway; the Faerder Race, in Denmark; the Around Zealand Race, and in Sweden; the Accenture Around Gotland Race.

Schedule Nokia Oops Cup 2003:
The Around Lidingö Race (prologue) Saturday, 10th May Lidingö, Stockholm, Sweden
Oslo City Race Thursday, 12th June Aker Brygge, Oslo, Norway
Faerder Race Friday, 13th June Aker Brygge, Oslo, Norway
The Sound City Race Wednesday, 18th June Copenhagen-Malmö
Helsingborg-Helsingör
The Around Zeeland Race Friday, 20th June Helsingör, Denmark
Sandhamn City Race Friday, 27th June Sandhamn, Sweden
The Accenture Around Gotland Race Sunday, 29th June Sandhamn, Sweden

The names of the other boats and crewmembers have not yet been announced. However, Magnus Olsson will participate. 'Mange', has experienced the ocean racing transformation from big, heavy boats to the present day multihull with speed capabilities that make them superior to all other yachts.

"Trimarans belong to the ocean races of the future," commented Olsson. "These are the type of boats, that almost all professional sailors want to sail, and soon the trimarans will dominate other boats in most of the major ocean races. Once you have tried to sail lead-free (without a lead keel) you will not want to sail anything else!"

In order to bring this exciting new development closer to the general public and to ensure that more people have the opportunity to sail on a multihull, Atlant Ocean Racing, the organisers of the event will give the public the opportunity to test sail the trimarans and other multihulls in connection with the Nokia Oops Cup.