Här kommer lite bra bilder från Malcolm Hanes som följer ORCi-EM i Sandhamn. Just nu är gänget ute på långa havsracet.

PERFECT START TODAY FOR AVANTIME ORC EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

Sunny skies and 10-15 knot breeze allows for two races completed in Day One of the 6-day series; tomorrow will be the start of two offshore races

Sandhamn, Sweden — The Avantime ORC European Championship got off to a perfect start today, with two of seven planned inshore races held in ideal 10-15 knot conditions. All 60 entries from 8 countries divided into three classes raced a 5-leg 9.5-mile windward-leeward course in Race 1, while Classes 1 and 2 raced an 8.0-mile 5-leg course in Race 2 and Class 3 races a 4-leg 6.4-mile course.

“Except for two general recalls and a black flag start to Race 1 for the 30 eager entries in Class 3, the fleet got off to a great start this week,” said PRO Eckard Reinke. “The wind filled in faster than we thought, so there were no delays needed except for spacing the starts to minimize the traffic in the course area.”

One way to avoid this traffic was to have the largest and fastest boat on the course, which no doubt helped Thomas Nilsson’s Norwegian team on their TP52 Trucknor Wolfpack to take two first place finishes in Class 1. The team has been well-honed after years of racing together, but suffered a setback yesterday when their regular tactician had to rush home to Norway on a family emergency.

So, Nilsson made a few calls and was able to get someone he describes as “probably the best sailor in Norway today:” London Star class Olympian Eivind Melleby. With no practice time Melleby fit in fast and fit in well: “We had great starts, and got a little caught off on the left away from the favored right side in the first upwind leg of the first race, but were able to gain back,” said Nilsson. “The rest of the day went really well. We’re really lucky to get Eivind on such short notice.”

But with twice as many boats closer in size and speed in Class 2 than Class 1, the level of boat-on-boat tactical action in this class was higher all day, particularly in the second race where the legs were slightly shorter and the wind slightly higher, compressing the fleet into a smaller space. 2011 ORC European Champion Silva-Hispaniola from Germany, Heinz-Peter Schmidt’s green Evento 42, won the first race, but then got caught in a tangle of boats at a gate rounding, pushing them back far enough to not correct better than 7th in Race 2.

“This week will not be like some other regattas we have sailed [in the last few years],” said Schmidt. “This will not be easy, we will have to really earn victory here.”

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