135 entries from 12 countries take to the start in one week at the Audi ORCi World Championship 2012. On Monday 6 August, one week from today, 135 boats will take to the starting lines off Isosaari island in Helsinki on the first day of competition in the Audi ORCi World Championship 2012.
Teams from 12 countries will be racing from Monday, 6 August through Saturday, 11 August in boats varying in size from 26 to 52 feet. Entries will be divided into two divisions, Class A and Class B, to fight for the ISAF Offshore World Champion title awarded to the winner in each class.
This is the highest turnout ever for an ORCi World Championship, surpassing the 119 entries at last year's Worlds in Cres, Croatia, and has prompted organizers from the Yacht Club Merenkävijät to not only create more room for the large crowd of entries at the regatta venue on Särkkä island, but to create two separate racing areas for each class. Class A will race in one group of approximately 50 boats, while the remaining boats in Class B will be divided into two sub-groups who will race first to be in the top of their respective group to qualify for the Class B Gold Fleet, and then finish the regatta racing for the overall Class B prize. Those that don't qualify will be racing for prizes in the Class B Silver fleet.
In addition to the overall prizes, organizers are also offering Corinthian prizes to the top finishers in each class who have all-amateur Group 1 skippers and crews as defined in the ISAF Classification Code.
Among the contenders in this year's Worlds is the reigning Class A World Champion from Cres, Alberto Rossi on his Farr 40 Enfant Terrible. Rossi has said this event will be important not only to defend his title, but to prepare his Italian team for the following month's Farr 40 World Championship in the US.
Another Italian Class A contender is Roberto Monti's Felci-designed GP42 Airis, being skippered by Cesare Bressan, who like 50 other entries is using the preceding Baltic Offshore Week regatta being held over 1-4 August as a tune-up to the main Worlds event. Airis will no doubt be sparring boat-for-boat against another GP42, Holger Streckenbach's Imagine from Germany.
And at the head of the pack in Class A will likely be two TP52's - Patrick Lindqvist's Blixt Pro Racing from Sweden and Thomas Nilsson's Wolfpack Trucknor from Norway - but several past ORC champions will challenge them in corrected time. These include the 2011 ORC Class A European champion Silva Hispaniola, Peter Schmidt's Evento 42 skippered by Dennis Gehrlein from Germany, 2010 ORC Class A World Champion Christian Plump racing his J/V 42 Elena Nova, and 2010 Baltic Offshore Week champion Jani Lehti's local-based GS42R Audi.
Class B will also have several past ORC Champions. These include Jurgen Klinghardt's 2010 Class B World Champion patent 3 from Germany, the 2011 ORC Class B European Champion Martin Nilsson's Salona 37 Feelgood from Sweden, and Class B runner-up in the 2012 ORC European Championship last month in Italy, Enzo de Blasio's NM38 Scugnizza.
New designs to be showcased in Helsinki include Veolia, Torsten Bastiansen's XP 38 from Germany, and Claus Landmark's new Farr 400 Santa from Norway.
After registration and measurement activities on Saturday and Sunday 4-5 August, racing will start at 1030 local time on Monday 6 August with the start of the first Offshore Race, whose length will be determined based on weather conditions but will be expected to finish in the early evening.
Three days of windward-leeward course racing will then start at 1030 on Tuesday, where each day may have up to three races depending on the weather conditions. Wednesday's racing will be followed by a Sailor's Party featuring live music from the bands Duo Beatbox and Topmost. The second offshore race in the Gulf of Finland will start at 1000 on Friday, 10 August, and racing concludes on Saturday, 11 August on windward-leeward courses, with starts held at 1100 local time.
Event Director Pekka Lopmeri expects this to be a fantastic week of racing and related activities for the over 1000 participants expected for this event.
"Besides all the rich history and culture offered in Helsinki, our venue is at a spectacular 18th century fortress just minutes from the city center," says Lopmeri, "so there will be plenty for everyone to see and do when not on the water. Our club is celebrating its 90th anniversary year, so along with our sponsors and partners we are pledged to do our best to provide everyone with a very positive experience of their time in Helsinki."
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