Rochier Baltic Sea Race | Trash talk
It’s great to see RORC involved in a 600′ offshore race in the Baltic, and I hope we’ll see this event grow over time. I’m not sure what the expectations were, but it’s a decent fleet for a first-time event this far outside the normal sailing calendar for the IRC fleet.
Below are some of my speculations. It’s all weather dependent of course, and it’s too early to make a decent forecast. Right now it looks like light to medium winds due to a high-pressure area over the Baltic states.
Official site + starting list.

IRC Zero | Class Total : 7
The big guys. Should be an easy win for TP52 Outsider. Too bad we don’t get to see the other German TP, Imagine, on the starting line as they were pretty close around Gotland the other week.
Carkeek 47 Störtebeker should be second and then the two VO70s, with a slight edge to I Love Poland? Both boats have struggled in handicap fleets even in optimal conditions (like RMSR 21 or Gotland Runt 22).
Volvo 65 | Ambersail 2 | 1,648 | Clarke Murphy |
Volvo Open 70 | I Love Poland | 1.639 E | Polish National Foundation |
Volvo Open 70 | GP Bullhound | 1,636 | HYPR Ocean Racing |
Volvo 60 | Boudragon | 1.431 E | Bolsius International bv. |
Tp 52 J/v | Outsider | 1.412 E | Tilmar Hansen |
Carkeek 47 | Störtebeker | 1.327 E | Hamburgischer Verein Seefahrt e.V. |
CNB76 | Enderpearl | 1,311 | Kenneth Bjoerklund |
IRC One | Class Total : 10
This is where the action is? Jpk 1180 Dawn Treader should be a clear favorite. The JPK is a great offshore boat and Ed and his team won Gotland Runt comfortably with almost 2 hours. There was (naturally) some debate over the SRS rating for the french design, but as a matter of fact it rates even better in IRC.
Challengers are Xp 44 Xtra Staerk with a very strong offshore crew and maybe the Sydney 40 Rush if the winds are light. With more wind and some reaching, I’d put some money on Sun Fast 3600, even if they race doublehanded.
Farr 400 | Wetjob | 1.238 E | Niclas Heurlin |
Pogo 44 | Mariejo | 1,175 | Martin Buck |
Millenium 40 Q.b. | Edelweiss | 1,164 | Thomas Reinecke |
Sydney 40 | Rush | 1,146 | Pasi Uoti |
Xp 44 | Xtra Staerk | 1.135 E | Arto Linnervuo |
Jpk 1180 | Dawn Treader | 1.098 E | Ed Bell |
First 40 | C-me | 1.093 E | Hakan Groenvall |
Swan 51 | Eira | 1,093 | Sebastian Gylling |
Sun Fast 3600 | Groovie | 1.083 E | Karl Jungstedt |
Figaro 2 | The Spirit | 1,068 | Anders Lundmark |
IRC Two | Class Total : 10
Very varied fleet and hard to make any projections. If the winds are light I wouldn’t mind being in the new J/112e or the J/109. I also know that bot Embla and Team Mobline are well sailed.
First 40.7 | Embla | 1.054 E | Olof Granander |
IMX-38 | Kind Of Magic | 1.049 E | Ilmari Absetz |
Finngulf 41 | Indigo | 1,048 | Juha Mattila |
J-112e | Nola | 1.044 E | Margus Uudam |
Swan 441 | Carissa | 1,026 | Raija Alapeteri |
J/109 | Irie | 0.996 E | Julius Haartti & Sanna Moliis |
MP42 | Tokka-Lotta | 0.991 | Henri Reivolahti |
X 3/4 Ton Mk2 | Xchiquilla | 0.979 | Mareks Ivans |
Albin Nova | Team Mobline | 0.925 E | Paer Lindfors |
H-323 | Silver Moon II | 0.884 | Salla Kaven |
IRC 2H | Class Total : 5
Too bad that the doublehanded class didn’ät get more entry. I thought this race would be a great combo with the recent worlds in Sweden, but apparently many had enough after Gotland Runt 😀
Have a hard time separating the boats. so my bet is that a Swedish boat wins the class.
Sun Fast 3600 | Groovie | 1.083 E | Karl Jungstedt |
Figaro 2 | The Spirit | 1,068 | Anders Lundmark |
Finngulf 41 | Indigo | 1,048 | Juha Mattila |
J/109 | Irie | 0.996 E | Julius Haartti & Sanna |
Albin Nova | Team Mobline | 0.925 E | Paer Lindfors & Nadin |
Jul 19, 2022 @ 07:45
Roschier Baltic Sea Race – The Pioneers
Helsinki (18 Jul, 2022): The inaugural Roschier Baltic Sea Race starts from Helsinki, Finland on Thursday 21st July 2022, organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club together with the Ocean Racing Alliance. The race is approx. 635 nautical miles, starting and finishing off Helsinki in the Gulf of Finland. The course incorporates the Swedish island of Gotland, located approximately 250nm southwest of Helsinki.
The Roschier Baltic Sea Race has attracted 27 entries from 11 countries; the host nation Finland; Denmark; Estonia; Germany; Great Britain; the Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Spain; Sweden and the United States of America. A huge diversity of entries; a totally new course and a variety of weather scenarios makes predicting the elapsed time for the competing yachts to be far from straight forward. Three teams; Ambersail 2, I Love Poland and GP Bullhound can be considered favourites to set the race record. Janne Kjellman’s TS-42 Squid from Helsinki is the only multihull entered. The overall winner of the Roschier Baltic Sea Race will score the best corrected time under the IRC Rating Rule.
IRC Zero
VO65 – Ambersail 2
The Lithuanian VO65 Ambersail 2 has been chartered to American skipper Clarke Murphy and will be racing under the burgees of NYYC and RORC. Ambersail’s crew includes Ian Budgen as tactician and Mike Broughton as navigator; both have won multiple world championships and competed in round the world races. Clarke Murphy will be racing with two family members; Liam and Caitlin Murphy, with a professional crew, including two-time Volvo Ocean Race sailor Abby Ehler.
Volvo 70 – I Love Poland
Nearly all of the 14 crew on Volvo 70 I Love Poland, skippered by Grzegorz Baranowski are 30 or under and all of them are from Poland. Owned by the Polish National Foundation, I Love Poland’s mission is to produce the next generation of top offshore sailors from Poland. A prime example is Magdalena Kwaśna who competed in the Tokyo Games in the Laser Class. Since starting the project in 2018, I Love Poland has taken Line Honours in the Rolex Middle Sea Race, first Volvo 70 to finish the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race, and winner of the 2022 IMA Caribbean Maxi Challenge.
Volvo 70 – GP Bullhound
Sailed by Per Roman Volvo 70 GP Bullhound is well-known as HYPR on the international offshore racing circuit. GP Bullhound’s crew of 16 is a mixture of friends and family and regular professional crew under Jens Lindner, including round the world sailor Diego Fructuoso. The international crew on GP Bullhound come from Spain; Sweden; France; Germany; Hong Kong and the Netherlands.
Tilmar Hansen’s German TP52 Outsider, skippered by Bo Teichmann, is one of the favourites for the overall win under IRC. Outsider’s biggest win to date was overall for the 2020 RORC Caribbean 600. German Carkeek 47 Störtebeker, formerly Black Pearl, is skippered by Torben Muehlbach with a young crew from Hamburgischer Verein Seefahrt (HVS). The largest boat in the race is Kenneth Bjoerklund’s Norwegian CNB 76 Enderpearl, which will have a Nordic crew including the owners’ regular friends and highly experienced Finnish sailors Ari Känsäkoski, Sakari Kalske and Jan Paukkunen. The Dutch in IRC Zero is Willem Jan Landman’s Volvo 60 Boudragon.
IRC One
Ten teams in a variety of yachts are entered in IRC One from six different countries. The largest is Sebastian Gylling’s classic Finnish Swan Eira, the smallest is Anders Lundmark’s Danish Figaro 2 The Spirit, which will be racing Two-Handed with Louise Edgren.
Notable entries in IRC One include Ed Bell’s British JPK 1180 Dawn Treader which was the overall winner of the 2022 Gotland Runt and class runner up fo r the 2022 RORC Caribbean 600. Arto Linnervuo’s Xtra-Staerk will be racing with a team of eight, all from Finland. The Xp-44 has scored impressively in the RORC Transatlantic Race, RORC Caribbean 600 and the Rolex Fastnet Race.
Two German teams of similar design will be racing Berthold Brinkmann’s Mariejo, skippered by Martin Buck is a brand new Pogo 44 with an all-German crew of four. Thomas Reinecke’s Millennium 40 Edelweiss will be sailed by Ove Franck with an all-German crew of eight. Swedish Farr 400 Wetjob is the highest rated boat and will be representing the Royal Swedish Yacht Club. Wetjob’s skipper Niclas Heurlin has competed in several Fastnet Races and close to 20 Gotland Runt races. The Swedish duo of Karl Jungstedt and Martin Dubois will be racing Sun Fast 3600 Groovie Two-Handed. Dubois has taken part in over 20 Gotland Runt Races. Karl Jungstedt is a highly experienced Class40 sailor and has competed in several RORC Caribbean 600 Races, the Rolex Middle Sea Race and the Rolex Fastnet Race.
IRC Two
Ten teams will be racing in IRC Two, the largest is the classic Ron Holland designed Swan 441 Carissa, owned by the Ocean Ladies Association and skippered by Raija Alapeteri with an all-women Finnish team of eight. The smallest boat in the class and the Roschier Baltic Sea Race is the Finnish H-323 Silver Moon II which has a crew of five family and friends skippered by Salla Kaven.
President of the Swedish Sailing Federation Olof Granander will be racing his Swedish First 40.7 Embla, the bulk of the Corinthian crew comes from three Swedish families that have been racing together for five years. MP42 Tokka-Lotta will have a crew of 10 Sea Scouts from Turku in South West Finland. Skippered by Philippa Rytkönen, Tokka-Lotta was designed for sail training and will be crewed by the young team.
Kind of Magic is a Finnish IMX 38 skippered by Ilmari Absetz with a crew of eight, mostly from Finland, but also Yasmine Piening from Switzerland and the well-travelled Australian Peter Fletcher who has competed in just about every 600-mile race in existence. Xchiquilla will be raced by owner Edgars Kvjatkovskis and skipper Mareks Ivans with an all-Latvian crew.
IRC Two-Handed
Five teams in the Roschier Baltic Sea Race will be competing in IRC Two-Handed, including Julius Haartti and Sanna Moliis with their Finnish J/109 Irie. The pair have twice crossed the Atlantic and competed in the last two editions of the Gotland Runt. Swedish Albin Nova Team Mobline will be raced Two-Handed by Pär Lindfors from Sweden and Nadine Kugel from Germany. Team Mobline regularly competes double-handed in the Baltic Sea.
Jul 21, 2022 @ 08:20
Gillar den långa banan: Tycker Gotland runt blivit i kortaste laget med dagens snabba båtar, men såklart fattar jag att ksss försöker “hålla ihop” racet.