Frostad does it doublehanded

Further success for Norwegian skipper on Nokia Oops Cup

After a nerve-wrenching finish when the wind died, Knut Frostad on A cademy won the extremely tight 300nm double-handed race from Sandhamn to Sopot, Poland.

“If feels great, we are extremely satisfied. We could see HiQ all the way,” Frostad says. “We covered each other move by move. Two wind shifts made the difference.”

The five 60ft trimarans in the Nokia Oops Cup started in Sandhamn, Sweden, Wednesday night. A light breeze kept the fleet together for the first half of the race, when the yachts positioned themselves for an expected easterly shift.

During Thursday, the wind gradually shifted and built, peaking just under 30 knots. This sent the trimarans hurling towards the finish line at more than 20 knots for the last six hours of the race.

“But we didn’t held back, the water was smooth with no big waves,” Frostad says.

When the yachts came under lee in the bay of Sopot just before the finish, the fleet was squeezed together. But Academy managed to keep her lead, finishing 22:57:03. HiQ skippered by Klabbe Nylof was eight minutes behind, three ahead of Gore-Tex with skipper Magnus Olsson, who just managed to make it to the start after dismasting during the Gant Round Gotland Race three days earlier.

Nokia finished 35 minutes later, with TietoEnator-L'Oréal one hour behind.

In the Nokia Oops Cup, there is now one race remaining, the Gdansk/Sopot City Race on Sunday 11 July.