Assa Abloy v Wild Thing

News of this year's Baltic Sprint Cup

As the clock counts down towards the start of the Baltic Sprint Cup 2008 on July 19 in Travemünde, the competition is stronger than ever. In fact, it got even stronger during the past week with the acquisition by Simon Steponavicius of Assa Abloy 1 (now renamed Ambersail). From Lithuania, Steponavicius sold his Swan 42 Affair and will join the race in the Volvo 60 that was second in the 2001/2002 Volvo Ocean Race behind illbruck.

“During the Baltic Sprint Cup we expect to have a good shake-down and training for our circumnavigation, to take place from Oct. 2008 to June 2009 in celebration of the Millennium Anniversary of Lithuania. In the Baltic Sprint Cup, we will be exchanging crews between the legs, but nonetheless will keep pedal to the metal all the time”, said 'Simon' Steponavicius. He will have his work cut out, as the competition from other entrants will indeed be fierce.

Two weeks ago, Christopher Wuttke skippered his brand new guts n’ glory in her first race to victory in the Danish Around Fyn Race, coming in seven hours ahead of the second finisher and winning overall by two hours on corrected time under Dansk handicap. The Danish television and print media provided solid coverage of the victory.

Of the 61 registered yachts for this year’s Baltic Sprint Cup, the list of biggest and fastest boats to fight for the Speed Award, donated by Catharina Baronin v.Toll, now includes among others:

Ambersail (ex Assa Abbloy 1) - Lithuania - VO60, Bruce Farr Design
Calypso (ex Wild Thing) - Germany - Murray, Burns & Dovell 82ft design
Danebury - British Virgin Islands - Rogers 46
Essex Girl - Sweden - Oyster 46
guts ‘n glory - Germany - Rogers 46
Norddeutsche Vermögen Hamburg - Germany - Andrews 56
Outsider - Germany - Elliot 52ss
Scho-Ka-Kola - Germany - Reichel Pugh 57
Yeoman XXXII - Great Britain - Rogers 46

“With the record-breaking fleet this year for the Baltic Sprint Cup, we’re working harder than ever this year to make sure this is a second-to-none sailing event in the Baltic Sea region, and the most memorable experience for all involved”, said Sven Herlyn, Chairman of the Baltic Sprint Cup Committee and Group CEO of primary event sponsor
Bank DnB NORD.

The 710 nm Baltic Sprint Cup 2008 will be started on Saturday, July 19, 2008, the first day of the 119th Travemünde Week by the Patron Bernd Saxe, Mayor of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, and Wolfgang Tiefensee, Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs.

This year the fleet will comprise 60 cruiser-racers sailing under ORC Club and a racing division competing under IRC.

The fleet will race from Travemünde to Karlskrona, Sweden and will proceed to Klaipėda, Lithuania, arriving just in time for the annual Klaipėda Sea Festival weekend (each year attended by over 500,000 people). From there it’s on to the Polish ports of Gdynia and Gdańsk for the DnB NORD Offshore Regatta Days - including two round-the-buoys races. The final leg will take the regatta to Rønne, on the holiday island of Bornholm in Denmark for the final showdown before the DnB NORD Prizegiving Party on 1 August.

The main sponsor DnB NORD is a joint venture between DnB NOR, Norway’s largest financial services group, and NORD L/B Norddeutsche Landesbank, the leading universal bank in Northern Germany. DnB NORD’s operations span Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Supporting sponsors for 2008 include the “Start-Up-Sponsor” for Travemünde, SE Spezial-Electronic AG and the Co-Sponsors Jeantex Sportswear GmbH & Co. KG, HanseNautic GmbH - International Admiralty Chart Agent, Ernst Kabel Druck GmbH and Little Wing Flight Services GbR..