Frostad seals it

Norwegian victory again at the conclusion of this year's Nokia Oops Cup series

After dominating the 2004 Nokia Oops Cup from the start, Knut Frostad finished in a suitable way. On Sunday 11 July, he skippered his 60 foot trimaran Academy to win the last race in Gdansk, Poland. “Sailing today was fun,” Frostad says. “Lots of wind but flat seas, a fitting last race.”

For six weeks, the five skippers in the Nokia Oops Cup have helmed their yachts in ten ocean races and course races in the Nordic region. Frostad has only lost once, but the victories have not always been as easy as the final score suggests. In several races, the margin to overall runner-up Klabbe Nylof on HiQ, and Magnus Olsson on Gore-Tex in third spot, has been very slim.

“We have caught decisive wind shifts, and the crew pushes hard and is very focused,” Frostad explains the success.

Behind Frostad, Nylof and Olsson engaged in a close fight that did not end until Sunday’s extremely tight final race where Nylof came second.

“We wanted to win today,” Nylof says. “But there are five even teams, so we are happy to end in second place, considering all the troubles we have had.”

Magnus Olsson came third in the final race. “We would have liked to come second, we focused on HiQ but were not able to beat them,” Olsson says. “I can only congratulate Knut [Frostad], he sails well, has a good organization and a good boat.”

The Danish trimaran Nokia with skipper Stefan Myralf and the Finnish yacht TietoEnator-L'Oréal, skippered by Thomas Johansson and Kenneth Thelen, have battled it out many times over the cup’s six weeks. In Gdansk, Myralf had to withdraw because of a possible delamination in the main hull, but he still managed to stay ahead on the total scoreboard, finishing in fourth position.

“But we’re not happy, we aimed at third place,” project manager Christian Jensen says. “But we’ll come back next year.”

TietoEnator-L'Oréal, the first Finnish boat in the history of the Nokia Oops Cup, finished in fourth spot in Gdansk, and fifth in total. ”We have learnt a lot, how to race a trimaran and to improve the crew work,” Kenneth Thelen says.

Result Gdansk/Sopot City Race:
1 Academy, Knut Frostad
2 HiQ, Klas Nylof
3 Gore-Tex, Magnus Olsson
4 TietoEnator-L'Oréal, Kenneth Thelen
DNS Nokia, Stefan Myralf

Final result Nokia Oops Cup:
1 Academy, Knut Frostad: 11 points
2 HiQ, Klas Nylof: 25 points
3 Gore-Tex, Magnus Olsson: 30 points
4 Nokia, Stefan Myralf: 41 points
5 TietoEnator-L'Oréal, Thomas Johansson/Kennet Thelen: 44 points