Drama among Nokia Oops Cup trimarans

Frostad tries to keep Academy together as the 60ft trimarans roar around Gotland

After one third of the Gant Round Gotland Race, HiQ with Klabbe Nylof and Academy with Knut Frostad are fighting a close battle for the lead. Both yachts are suffering some damage, but nothing as bad as what happened to Gore-Tex. Four hours after the start, her mast suddenly toppled down while rounding a mark.

The Gant Round Gotland Race begun early Sunday afternoon at Sandhamn in Stockholm’s outer archipelago. The 60 foot trimarans in the Nokia Oops Cup started last of the 255 yachts participating in this classic Baltic yacht race. Academy got away first against a 10 knots southerly breeze, on starboard tack at the windward end of the line. Gore-Tex followed further down the line, ahead of Nokia, HiQ and TietoEnator-L'Oréal.

The boats then tacked, heading southwest towards the first rounding at Gunnarstenarna, close to the Swedish mainland. Academy maintained her lead for most of the first leg, but shortly before the mark Knut Frostad chose a route inwards of the small island of Huvudskar. HiQ stayed further out to sea in stronger air, and rounded two minutes ahead of Academy as the result.

A few minutes later, Gore-Tex approached the same mark in third place. When rounding up, the shackle key attaching the forestay to the mast gave way and the 27m tall pole toppled over backwards. The crew were able to retrieve the rig and sails, and motored to a wharf in Stockholm with the mast tied up under the crossbeams.

“We are happy that no one got hurt, but disappointed that we had to withdraw from the race,” Gore-Tex skipper Magnus Olsson said. The team now has to try to refit the mast in time for the remaining two races in the Nokia Oops Cup starting with a double handed race to Poland on Wednesday night.

Before the race, the speculation had been whether Gore-Tex would be able to beat the larger and more powerful HiQ and thus manage to keep her meagre one point advantage on the leaderboard. With Gore-Tex gone, the race has turned into a duel between HiQ and Academy. The latter managed to regain the upper hand during the crossing to Gotland, passing the checkpoint north of the island at 20:45, three minutes ahead of HiQ. Academy logged a top speed of 31 knots during the passage.

Both yachts were taking a beating in the 25 knots south westerly wind and 3m choppy seas encountered outside the east coast of Gotland Sunday night. Academy broke her starboard running backstay. Despite that, skipper Knut Frostad reported that the rig was okay, but they were taking it easy and approached the east coast of Gotland on port tack and with one reef in the main, to get away from the waves. HiQ ruptured her solent jib, but still carried the full main. Before these incidents, Magnus Woxén on HiQ thought they might have a chance at beating Nokia’s race record of 24 hours and 40 minutes from 2002, possibly even breaking the 24 hour barrier despite the course being 30 miles longer this year. Now that looks more uncertain.

Behind the three top teams, TietoEnator-L'Oréal and Nokia have also had a close fight all through the Nokia Oops Cup. Before the Gant Round Gotland Race, Nokia was only two points ahead, and it looks like the team will keep its lead. Nokia passed the checkpoint north of Gotland at 21:22, almost one hour ahead of TietoEnator-L'Oréal at 22.18.

With the wind forecasted to stay south westerly, the yachts will have to beat all the way up to the Hoburgen lighthouse at the southern tip of Gotland, before they can bear away and start the run home. They winner is expected to finish on Monday afternoon.

Standings in the Gant Round Gotland Race at Faro:
1 Academy 20:45
2 HiQ 20:48
3 Nokia 21:22.
4: TietoEnator-L'Oréal 22:18
5: Gore-Tex: DNF

Total standing in the Nokia Oops Cup:
1 Academy 8
2 Gore-Tex 18
3 HiQ 19
4 Nokia 29
5 TietoEnator-L'Oréal 31