Another win for Frostad

Norwegian skippers adds Faerder Race to his trophy cabinet

Not a yearly occurrence, finally a Norwegian yacht took line honours in Norway’s major offshore race, the Faerder Race. Knut Frostad, skipper of Team Academy, did not give the other 60 foot trimarans any chance. One hour ahead of Klas Nylof on HiQ and Magnus Olsson on Gore-Tex, he crossed the finish line in the early hours of Saturday morning.

“I’m very pleased, it’s the first time I win line honours in the Faerder Race,” Frostad says. The victory means that he has won all four races in the Nokia Oops Cup so far.

Olsson and Nylof will not find it hard to appreciate Frostad’s feelings. They have both won the Faerder Race previous years, as well as established record times. Last year Nylof beat Olsson’s record from 2001 with seven minutes. The present fastest time of 10 hours and 30 minutes was never threatened by Frostad, for that the breeze proved too light. He had to be content with winning line honours, finishing in 14 hours and 11 minutes.

Frostad was in the lead for most of the race, except right after the start when Academy held back while HiQ and Nokia took the initiative.

“We knew where to find the wind, and the best way to get out of Oslo. But we didn’t want to give it away to the other yachts, so we took it easy,” Frostad says, obviously pleased that a Norwegian is now the reigning champion of the race.

Who will be the winner on corrected time remains to be seen. Many of the slower yachts in the more than 1,100 boats large field started a long time after the trimarans, and still had far to go when Frostad finished.

The Faerder Race was the fourth race of a total of ten in the Nokia Oops Cup. The next event for the teams is the Gothenburg City Race on 16 June.