ORC Double Handed World Championship off to a spectacular start
Three starts for each class at the ORC Double Handed World Championship could not have been more spectacular under sunny skies and downwind conditions. The 91 entries were sent off by race managers from the Royal Swedish Yacht Club (KSSS) and led the larger Gotland Runt fleet through a labyrinth of channels and passages to start to exit the Swedish archipelago about 6 hours after their start.
The ORC DH fleet positions are being tracked in real time by the TracTrac system using the following link: https://live.tractrac.com/viewer/index.html?target=https://em.event3.tractrac.com/events/67d552c0-b335-013a-cdbd-342e996a9920/races/0a596910-dc4d-013a-d705-342e996a9920.json
The image above is from 1800 CET and shows the fleet heading out of the last channel in the archipelago and headed southeast in a solid southwesterly breeze. This is setting them on a fast starboard tack reach down the track on their 358-mile clockwise course around Gotland island.
Being in Class C, the modified First 36.7 TEAM PRO4U (SWE) being sailed by Patrik Forsgren and Joakim Hoppe led the pack until overtaken by the faster boats in Class A. These included Anna Drougge (SWE) and Martin Angsell (SWE) racing the Shogun 50 LADYKILLER 4.0 and closer to the pack Roger Samuelsson and Klabbe Nylöf’s Club Swan 36 MINI RAVENGER.
The fleet will make great progress tonight as the forecast is for the southwest breeze to hold in strength. The course being a reach will allow the fast boats to overtake the slower ones, and with >200 boats behind them it will be exciting indeed this evening.
The midsummer Swedish night will not be very dark, so all competitors will enjoy the long parade of racing yachts, both DH and full-crewed, all night long.
