Sixth win for Frostad

But Norwegian skipper outside of course record for Nokia Oops Cup's Sjaelland Rundt

Norwegian skipper Knut Frostad has so far won all six races of the Nokia Oops Cup with his 60 foot trimaran Academy. Denmark’s major offshore race, the Sjaelland Rundt, proved no exception. But despite a mighty surge towards the finish line, he crossed it on Saturday afternoon just outside the race record established last year by the Swedish skipper Klas Nylof on HiQ.

“We focused completely on beating the record. Everyone stayed awake the entire race, no one went to sleep. So we’re obviously disappointed. We seemed set to beat the record until half an hour remained, then the wind shifted and we had to beat the last stretch,” Knut Frostad said.

After 20 exhausting hours of sailing, Frostad claimed a clear victory, but could do nothing but watch as the race record slipped between his fingers. HiQ retains her record from last year - by a margin of ten minutes.

The Sjaelland Rundt turned into a race against time this year. It started in a very light breeze Friday night, and finished in near gale force winds and pouring rain Saturday afternoon. Knut Frostad showed he is master of all conditions, by beating the other four trimarans in the Nokia Oops Cup.

“It was a fantastic race,” Frostad says. “We had a close fight after the start with Gore-Tex and TietoEnator-L'Oréal, racing towards the northern tip of Sjaelland to get the new wind first.”

Academy picked up the new breeze a few minutes before the others, and kept finding good wind and sailing fast down the west coast of the island. She passed the bridge over Stora Baelt, the strait west of Sjaelland, doing 25 knots in 35 knots of wind.

Gore-Tex with skipper Magnus Olsson claimed second position in the race, before last year’s winner HiQ, skippered by Klas Nylof.

The next event in the Nokia Oops Cup is the Copenhagen City Race on Monday 21 June. After that, the crews get a few days off before the Gant Around Gotland Race, the major Swedish offshore race, starting on 4 July.