More from Sandhamn

New ambitious offshore race around the Baltic rim sets sail tomorrow

The countdown is on: 24 hours before the start of the first ever NORD/LB Baltic Sprint Cup the last preparations were being carried out today in Sandhamn, Sweden.

43 crews, among them many youngsters and ambitious cruiser sailors, but as well as semi-pros and real racing crews get ready for this 1,150 nautical miles regatta. Over seven legs the teams will visit eight countries around the Baltic rim. The first leg heads for Finland this weekend. The final destination is Rostock-Warnemuende, Germany on 29 July (to read more about the format of this race - click here)

At present the weather is calm. “We expect light winds, probably very light winds”, predicted Meeno Schrader, meteorologist from Wetterwelt in Kiel. “But it might increase later on in the leg.” A tiny low pressure system over the Swedish mainland might bring a little easterly breeze, but this would mean unfavourable headwinds for the participants. But this may turn left and change to a northwesterly. “We’ve watched the weather situation on and on, but for a long time our hoping and praying for a change seemed not to be helping at all”, says Race Officer Alan Green.

Gunter Persiehl (67), who is not only President of the organising committee of the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein Hamburg (NRV), but also taking part in the regatta as the owner and skipper of the Bavaria Match 42 Pippifax. He said: “When there is no snow, you cannot ski, it’s the same in our sport. I am certain; the race organisation is doing everything to offer a fair and thrilling competition. We are looking forward to a great race with many stopovers. It will be a very exciting event”.

On board with Persiehl will be a very special crew, including Achim Griese an Olympic silver medallist from 1984 as well as former Olympic FD sailor Albert Batzill.

At 6am today the yacht Ladybird from Estonia arrived in the harbour. The red one-off cruiser racer is sailed by Erki Melts and his crew. They became the Estonian 2004 champions in this boat. “So this year we are looking for a new challenge”, said the 32 year old skipper. And the crew knows the waters around very well…

Closely watched by the competitors will be Tutima belonging to Tom Ebert. The brand new DK 46 just finished the first long trip of her short life, coming to Stockholm. In May
she was shipped from Malaysia, where she was built. “We did not have any problems, no stress and everything went really well”, said the owner. “I can not yet tell you about the potential of the boat, because we had only sailed her in light winds so far”. But he is one of the very hot favourites for line honours

The next stopovers after Helsinki will be Tallinn, Estonia, Riga, Latvia, Klaipeda, Lithuania and Gdansk, Poland. The last leg from Copenhagen, Denmark ends in Rostock-Warnemuende on Friday 29 July with a big party. The fleet is divided in three classes with an additional classic division. The race results will calculated with the ranking system ORC Club. The big effort will pay of for the winning crew: They will receive the porcelain statue 'Neptune with two Tritons in the water' from the famous
manufacturer Fürstenberg.