After a long wait in the morning finally the wind was filling in and the first start signal was fired at 14.30.

In a fresh 12-14 knots of westerly wind Junior FRA 177 took the lead in the modern fleet. They kept it to the finishing line and therewith secured the World Cup win of modern Sixes. Second in the race was Sting SWE 123, third May Be XIV SWE 115. After having already taken the title Junior FRA 177 did not start the last race and let the others fight for the following positions. May Be XIV won the last race and took second overall. Former world champion, Sophie II SWE 132, took the third place.

The classics started in increasing wind reaching 15 knots. The first boat to round the windward mark was Lucie US 55 tightly followed by Nada K 12, Jolanda FIN 39 and Sara af Hangö FIN 49. Next time the boats rounded windward markLlanoria US 83 came first followed by Lucie US 55, Nada K 12, Great Dane DEN 65 and Sara af Hangö FIN 49. First boat to cross the finishing line was Llanoria US 83 then Lucie US 55, Great Dane DEN 65, Nada K 12 and Sara af Hangö FIN 49.

Standings in the total results after the sixth race was that Sara af Hangö FIN 49 was leading by two points before Llanoria US 83 and Gallant KC 10 was only one point behind Llanoria US 83. 

The final race was on its way at 16h15. Great Dane DEN 65 turned first to the downwind leg holding a convincing lead. Lucie US 55 was second and third was Sara af Hangö FIN 49. Llanoria came as ninth and Gallant close behind. The rest of the race the Finnish crew on board Sara af Hangö sailed by the book finishing fourth while controlling their main opposition carefully. By doing this they secured their World Cup victory in style. 
The Regatta was successfully completed despite of all the troubles with the unstable wind, lots of rain, AP up and down plus restart after restart etc. 

Seven starts out of six were sailed in fine conditions; the sailors and organizers should all be satisfied.

Results of the day 

Moderns 
First race: 
1.Junior FRA 177 
2. Sting SWE 123 
3. May Be XIV SWE 115

Second race: 
1. May Be XI SWE 115 
2. Sting SWE 123 
3. Berta SWE 121

Classics
First race: 
1. Llanoria US 83 
2. Lucie US 55 
3. Great Dane DEN 65

Second race: 
1. Great Dane DEN 65 
2. Lucie US 55 
3. Flapper N 71

SEB SIX METRE WORLD CUP Final results:

Moderns:
1. Junior FRA 177 Yann Marilley
2. May Be SWE 115 Patric Fredell
3. Sophie II SWE132 Hugo Stenbeck

Classics:
1. Sara af Hangö FIN 49 Henrik Tenström
2. Gallant KC 10 Eric Jespersen
3. Llanoria US 83 Erik Bentzen
4. Seasta DEN 66 Erik Tinglef Larsen
5. Fridolin FIN 12 Henrik Lundberg

Complitely result list you will find atnjk.fi/images/stories/kappsegling/2011/6mRWC/results.htm

Pictures of the event at sailpix.fi

After a rainy night the sailing started at 11h00. The conditions were reasonable for some light wind sailing.

First start for the modern fleet took place at 11h20. Wind was 6 knots from south-west, waves under 1 m. In moderns the windward mark was rounded first by Sophie II SWE 132 followed by May Be XIV SWE 115. Sophie II maintained its lead during the downwind leg until the race was abandoned because of the time limitation. Wind was dropping all the time and when the classics after two restarts were on their first windward leg the wind almost died. Llanoria, the 1952 Olympic gold medalist on these same waters, sailed up the course in the middle and was first to round the top mark followed by Boree IV FIN 70, Elisabeth X NOR 80, Gallant KC 10 and Off Course FIN 60. They also finished the race in same same order.

The second start took place at 14h20 and the wind had increased to 4 m/s. Moderns made one round before classics managed to make a clean start. It was two times black flag for classics and totally 6 boats were disqualified. Llanoria US 83 von this start, second was Sara af Hangö FIN 49 and third Seasta DEN66.

Classics made their third start at 16h35 while wind was blowing appr. 8 m/s. The conditions were nearly perfect for a thrilling race. Sara af Hangö FIN 49 took the lead chased by Seasta DEN 66, Lucie US 55 and Gallant KC 10. After the second lap around the course Gallant KC 10 crossed the finishing line first followed by Sara af Hangö FIN 49 and Seasta DEN 66.

Moderns made their third start as late as 17h05. Junior FRA 177 was the winner of this race with Temptation SUI 104 in second and Sophie II SWE 132 in third place. At the end of the long day both classes had finished three races.

The results after three days and five races are:

Moderns

1.Junior FRA 177

2.Sophie II SWE 132

3.May Be XIV SWE 115

4.Sting SWE 123

5 Temptation SUI 104

Classics   

1. Gallant KC 10  

2. Seasta DEN 66 

3. Sara af Hangö FIN 49  

4. Fridolin FIN 12

5. Nada GBR 12

6. TOY FIN 44

7. Elisabeth X NOR 80

8. Lucie US 55

9. Llanoria US 83

10. Nirvana DEN 67

Event images: www.sailpix.fi

Second day of racing & two first races

On Tuesday there was again a wind warning up to 25 knots plus a nasty swell from the previous days. Also the more sheltered inner race course does not work too well in southerly winds. Hence another postponement was given to start the second day as well.

Finally, before 11am the fleet was sent out and the first race started in nearly perfect conditions. A surprisingly strong counter current gave the helmsmen some headache while trying to hold their positions on the start line.

 The modern class was under way shortly after 1pm. At the first rounding the Swedish team of “Sting”, skippered by Thomas Lundqvist, was in the lead. Sting was closely followed by  the French boat “Junior” and the Swiss “Temptation”.

The reigning world champion, Sweden’s “Sophie II”, skippered by Hugo Stenbeck, managed to overtake the leading trio and took home the first race of the World Cup.

In the classics, Finnish yacht “TOY” started in the middle of the starting line and tacked inshore immediately. The replacement helmsman, Jali Mäkilä, with the experienced crew of TOY found better winds on the right side of the course and built a convincing lead by the first rounding. The TOYboys had no difficulties in holding and even extending their lead, while another Finnish entry, “Fridolin” helmed by Henrik Lundberg took second with a huge margin to the next boat. Canadian entries “Gallant” (reigning world champions) and “Saskia” battled it out for 3^rd and 4^th with Saskia skippered by Don Martin being stronger at the end. The Finnish champions on “Sara af Hangö” took fifth place.

In Tuesday’s second race the wind picked up a little while some scary looking thunder fronts surrounded the race course. With some luck the race could be sailed in reasonable conditions. A wind shift during the first lap made the second beat more of a speed contest with boats all lining up for the second top mark rounding. This took away all major tactical opportunities for the chasing boats and early leaders could just protect their positions by making no mistakes in their boat handling.

In the modern fleet French “Junior” lead through the race until the finish line. Second was British yacht “Valhalla” while “Sophie II” took third place.

In the Classics a black flag was put up on the second start attempt and two Finnish boats, “May Be IV” and “Bambi” were flagged out of the race. First race winner “TOY” was also too early on the line and had to make an extra loop when the gun went. They could only recover to a modest 18^th place from their failed start.

2009 world champions “Gallant” showed great form again and lead pretty much from start to finish. The Finnish runner-up from 2009 World Cup, “Fridolin”, took another second and snatched the overall lead in classics after two races. Third was “Sara af Hangö” and fourth another Finnish entry “Ali-Baba II”.

Leaders after 2 races:

Moderns:

1. Junior, FRA
2. Sophie, SWE
3. May Be XIV, SWE
4. Sting, SWE
5. Valhalla, GBR

Classics:

1. Fridolin, FIN
2. Gallant, CAN
3. Sara af Hangö, FIN
4. Seasta, DEN
5. Alibaba II, FIN

Images of the regatta: www.sailpix.fi

Out on the track following the daily races is Erik Lahteenmaki, the official World Cup photographer. Check out his world cup pictures on www.sailpix.fi

The SEB Six Metre World Cup 2011 under way

The opening day of the SEB Six Metre World Cup saw the AP up for a couple of hours until the fleet of 45 classics and 10 moderns was sent out to the race course. Unfortunately the wind did not stay within the 25 knots limit of maximum wind and the only race had to be abandoned at the last rounding.

Prior to this hard decision a number of boats had some serious breakages including a dismasting, broken boom, damaged rig and a punctured hull. The race committee decided to switch its entire support boat fleet into rescue mode after a crew reported ”a hole in the body”. This luckily turned out to mean a hole in the boat’s body instead of a human one, and with the hindsight, the fleet probably should have finished the race…

However, safety of the sailors and the boats must come first and due to poor communication, this unfortunate chain of events lead to a lost opening race of the championship.