HiQ takes the lead

As Nokia Academy breaks her daggerboard on the Nokia Oops Cup's offshore race from Horten to Gothenberg

HiQ made a smashing start to a close lead over Nokia Academy in the third round of Nokia Oops Cup, the Offshore Race Horten-Gothenburg. That lead held all the way to the finish line at Älvsborgs fortress in Gothenburg, 15 hours  and 8 minutes later.

"Everything went smooth like a clock, it was just a very beautiful sailing," said a very satisfied skipper onboard HiQ, Klas Nylöf, who has now taken the lead in Nokia Oops Cup.

Nokia Academy’s chances to win disappeared after just an hour when the daggerboard broke. TietoEnator Audi placed second in the race efter a troublefree sailrace.
"This is just a lot of fun, we are really happy to have won again. We had a super start and succeeded in that,"continued Nylöf.

The wind was blowing pretty hard at the start in Horten, about 20-24 knots. Just before the start HiQ and Nokia Academy took a reef and put up a staysail. Their speed remained around 20-24 knots. TietoEnmator kept the main up and a staysail in the start.

"About an hour into tthe race something happened with Knut's boat and we lost him," continued Nylöf said after finishing in Gothenburg at 10.13 this morning. "But we have had a wonderful sail - fast, beautiful and nice,."

We can report one incident onboard HiQ. A few hundred yards before the finish line at Älvsborgs Fästning the mainsail halyard broke with a frightening noise, and the crew had to roll in the gennaker fast and set a stay sail.

"Luckily enough it happened there, so there was really no worry," said Pelle Norberg, shore manager of HiQ.

The incident in Horten was more serious for Nokia Academy. The daggerboard in her central hull broke clean off. Frostad and his crew dived to dislodge the board which they removed leaving it to be picked up by the Coast Guard and delivered to the shore crew waiting in Tönsberg to drive it to Gothenburg for repair. Nokia Academy then sailed to Gothenburg without her daggeboard, and was expected at about 14.30 in the afternoon.
"It might be old damage to the daggerboard that now broke," Frostad commented yesterday evening.
 
Thomas Johanson, Kenneth Thelen and Stève Ravussin, the Swiss sailor who won last year’s Nokia Oops Cup, had a nice, problem-free sail to take second place, one hour and two minutes after HiQ.

"Unfortunately we ran into a current close to the shore where there was a lot of wind at Faerder’s Lighthouse in the evening and so we lost a bit speed there," said Johanson. "Klabbe took a route further out at sea and had a better direction of the current and gained speed instead."

But the Finn was anyway satisfied with his and the crew’ day at work, finishing second.
"Tomorrow it’s our turn to climb another step up."
 

City Race in Gothenburg Tuesday

Tomorrow, Tuesday at 11.00-20.00, it’s time for City Race in Gothenburg, the spectacular and spectator engaging sail race in and close to the harbour. That will be the fourth round of Nokia Oops Cup, which this year is a nation competition between the the Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish skippers.

The start of the Fleet Race, a course race in four to five heats, will be at 12.00 outside Älvsborgs fortress, and at six o’clock the spectators can enjoy the sailing Speed duels in the middle of the harbour.
 

Results Nokia Oops Cup Round 3, Offshore Race Horten - Göteborg
1.                   Klas Nylöf, HiQ, Sweden, 10.13
2.                   Thomas Johanson, TietoEnator Audi, Finland, 10.15
3.                   Knut Frostad, Nokia Academy, Norway, estimated finish ca 14.30

Preliminary standing in Nokia Oops Cup after three rounds:
1.                   HiQ, 8 points
2.                   Nokia Academy, 6
3.                   TietoEnator Audi, 4