Win for Peyron and Ravussin

A report from the Nokia Oops Cup's two handed race from Sandhamn to Sopot

Bruno Peyron and Steve Ravussin on their 60ft trimaran Stena Sovcomflot won the doublehanded race in the Nokia Oops Cup with a six minutes margin over Klas Nylöf and Andreas Andersen on HiQ.

"It was quite easy to sail these boats this time actually," said Ravussin. "The wind was perfect and we only had to do one gybe between Sandhamn and Sopot.

Together with Bruno Peyron the two world class multihull sailors took the lead a couple of hours after the start from Sandhamn, and managed to fight the other teams off all the way to Sopot in Poland.

"I know my boat very well and it was only in the light winds after the start when we had Nokia and Academy in front of us," continued Ravussin. "When the wind filled in we where off. I’m not sure what the other boats did."

The Swedish trimaran HiQ was the only one who where able to hang on to Stena Sovcomflot all the way to the finish line.

"Conditions where perfect," said HiQ's Klabbe Nylof. "Just the right wind and a very hard fight with Stena Sovcomflot. But at the end of the race we were a little to far behind to really get a shoot at the first place. Our boats have the similar speed and we only needed for the to make a little mistake. But Bruno and Steve doesn’t make any mistakes."

Academy, sailed by Knut Frostad and Espen Guttormsen, reached the finish line just about an hour after the winner. They were followed into Sopot by Nokia, Bonduelle and finally TietoEnator.

Stena Sovcomflot has now a healthy six points lead on Academy overall in the Nokia Oops Cup, and with only two races left they have more than a fair chance of winning the series overall.

"I have been racing far to long to celebrate victories in advance. It looks good right now, but anything can happen, commented Steve Ravussin.

Results:
Nokia Oops Cup, Sandhamn-Sopot:

1) Stena Sovcomflot, Russia-Sweden, 16 hours 52 minutes
2) HiQ, Sweden, 16.58
3) Academy, Norway, 17.51
4) Nokia, Sweden, 18.36
5) Bonduelle, Poland, 18.42
6) TietoEnator, 19.12.
Nokia Oops Cup, 9 of 11 races: 1) Stena Sovcomflot 14 points, 2) Academy 20 p, 3) HiQ 26,5 p, 4) TietoEnator 36,5 p, 5) Nokia 37,5 p, 6) Bonduelle 45,5 p.