Pedal to the metal

UPDATED REPORT: Academy breaks Gotland Runt race record; Blixt leads VO60s

Blixt still leading...

Thomas Blixt and the crew of the Volvo Ocean 60 Sony-Ericsson rounded the penultimate mark of the Gant Gotland Runt with a healthy 14 minute lead over Matthew Humphries’ Elanders. The pursuing Humphries was further hampered by the 70 foot cruiser race, Loftari, of Hasso Plattner that had rounded the mark off Visby one minute in front of the second placed VO-60 that had started an hour behind.

Both of the Volvo Ocean 60s gybed soon after rounding the buoy, and set off northwards for the Almagrundet light tower 95 miles away. It would seem that Blixt is sufficiently far ahead to lay claim to the extra points for this race in the Volvo Baltic Race series and will start in the final three windward/leewards with a half point advantage. Sony-Ericsson is expected to finish around 0330 local time tomorrow.


Record tumbles...

Sweeping across the Skanskobb finishing line at 18 knots, Knut Frostad and the six-man crew of the 60ft trimaran Academy were just ten minutes inside the multihull record speed for the Gant Gotland Runt.

There were cheers and high-fives from the crew as the silver hulled racing machine with the bright blue mainsail crossed the line in flat water. Earlier, on the leg from the final turning mark at Almagrundet light tower, they had been topping 25 knots and averaged 20 knots for the last ten miles. Their overall time of 26 hours 29 minutes 50 seconds gave them an average speed of 13.66 knots, 0.08 knots faster than Stephan Myralf’s Nokia in 2002.

"I didn’t think we could break the record," said a delighted Frostad on the dock at Sandhamn, "because there was so much beating." He did admit that the leg from the new mark of the course off Nynashamn to the Salvorev mark at the north of Gotland provided an opportunity. "We had our maximum speed in the race on that leg – 32 knots."

It had not been totally simple for the Academy crew although they saw their rivals on HiQ split their genoa on the leg from Hoburgen to Knollsgrund, a sail that they desperately needed. "It enabled us to storm away from them," said Frostad, "as they had to use a smaller jib." But damage was to come their way on the next leg, to Visby, when the running backstay tackle parted. "We had to make do with one for the rest of the race," admitted Frostad.

"It’s a good day for us," he said beaming, "we have won the Gant Gotland Runt, we have won this years Nokia Oops Cup [with two races to spare] and we have broken the record." There was further consolation for Frostad who plans to sail the two-handed race of the Oops Cup to Gdansk/Sopot in Poland that starts on Wednesday with Espen Guttormsen.

"I was planning one night’s sleep before the two-hander," said Frostad, "but now I have two nights before that starts." He was looking forward to the challenge of the two-hander, saying that it was not too difficult to sail the big trimaran with just two people. "We have to lower our limits with just two of us, but if girls can do it, so can we!"

Klabbe Nylof’s HiQ rounded Almagrundet an hour and a half after Academy at 1644.


Noon update:

Thomas Blixt, the skipper of the Volvo Ocean 60, Sony-Ericsson, reported that he was two miles ahead of Matt Humphries’ Elanders with some ten miles to go to the turning mark at Hoburgen, the outermost point on the Gant Gotland Runt race.

That alone would put him half a point clear of Humphries in the Volvo Baltic Race series, but he may be unaware that the boat immediately behind him might not be Elanders but Jonas Claesson’s JMS Next Generation that had been 20 minutes ahead of Elanders at the previous checkpoint halfway down the east side of Gotland. If those positions were maintained, it would put Blixt in an impregnable lead for the Volvo Baltic Race.

There has been no respite for the crew of Sony-Ericsson. "They were on the rail all night," declared Blixt, "no one went below to sleep". Throughout the race, Stig Westergaard and Jeff Scott have shared the helming duties. "They keep us going at top speed," added Blixt.

Life might be slightly easier for the tired crew after Hoburgen has been rounded as the course to the Knollsgrund mark will be a port tack reach and the speed will increase for that 48 miles and for the 27 mile reach into the Visby mark.

Meanwhile on three hulls...

Knut Frostad and the crew of Academy put the pedal to the metal after rounding Hoburgen at the southern tip of Gotland and averaged 16.1 knots for the two reaches totalling 74.5 miles to the Visby turning mark, 105 miles from the finish. They had earlier averaged 11.4 knots to the outermost point of the course of the Gant Gotland Runt.

With the breeze up to 16 knots and Academy on the rhumb line for the Almagrundet, the Open 60 foot trimaran was expected to finish by 1600 today. She had been 47 minutes ahead of the second boat, Klabbe Nylof’s HiQ at Hoburgen.

Ingenious to the end, Magnus Olsson, who’s Gore-Tex was dismasted following the failure of the shackle that attached the forestay to the mast, performed a salvage operation worthy of note. Finding the wingmast difficult to tow with the trimaran, he backed the boat over the mast and then lifted it under the crossbeams. With the mast in place, Gore-Tex was motored through the ultra-narrow Baggenstaket passage to her base in Stockholm where repairs began overnight to have Gore-Tex ready for the Nokia Oops Cup's two-handed race to Poland that starts on Wednesday.