Bluesmile continues to lead ORC Sportboat European Championship
After brief delay, two inshore races held yesterday in continued cold, rainy conditions.
Lake Balaton, Hungary – The cold rainy weather affecting eastern Europe is for millions putting a damper on the start of the holiday weekend, but here on Lake Balaton the competition continues undaunted, with two inshore races held yesterday in the ORC Sportboat European Championship. Having now completed the offshore race and two inshore races, just one more race is needed in the next two days to validate this year’s event according to the ORC’s championship rules (aka, the Green Book).
PRO Denis Marinov and the race committee team from the Balatonfüredi Yacht Club postponed the start of racing for one hour while the early morning’s strong gusty conditions abated and settled enough for courses to be set for fair racing and use of Performance Curve Scoring for the results.
Coming out strong in the first race were the two Dutch-sailed Smile 22’s – Bluesmile owned and sailed by Herman van Eijk, and Grijze Plaag, a sistership sailed by Martin Baas – until Bass had to drop out with a broken rudder. The team sailed ashore, picked up a spare rudder, then headed out again to win Race 3, with their sistership remaining well-placed in the series lead on scores of 1-1-2.
There were numerous other casualties in the day, with mostly local boats retiring from broken sails and broken gear due to the brisk 15-20 knot conditions atypical of the lake. But at the top of the fleet just behind the Smile 22’s the competition remains hot: the difference in corrected time in Race 3 between the Polish Cors T2 Neoprofil in 3rd place and the Turkish Farr 25 One Design Ruffles in 5th place was only 20 seconds after nearly an hour of sailing.
Today in the same weather conditions inshore racing will continue, with Sunday scheduled to be the final day of competition.
Top-ten standings after Races 1-3:
1. Bluesmile (NED) Smile 22 1 – 1 – 2 4 points
2. Onedesign Ruffles (TUR) Farr 25OD 5 – 2 – 5 12
3. Kvartet (RUS) O-800 4 – 4 – 4 12
4. Neoprofil (POL) Cors T2 9 – 3 – 3 15
5. Serafina (SUI) Saphire 27 6 – 5 – 7 18
6. Cheetah 30 (SWE) Cheetah 30 6 – 6 – 6 18
7. Orion (HUN) T-Jolle 3 – 9 – 8 20
8. Nomad (HUN) Elliott 770 7 – 7 – 9 23
9. Grijze Plaag (NED) Smile 22 2 – 28 – 1 31
10. Innov8 (HUN) Code 8 12 – 8 – 12 32
Photo: Hajó Magazin
For more information about teams, format and racing details at the 2015 ORC Sportboat European Championship, visit the event website at http://orcsportboateuropeans2015.bycold.digitalwave.hu.
And for more information on ORC and other ORC rules, classes and events, visit www.orc.org.