Nokia Oops Cup Race 7 - Copenhagen City Race

Frostad wins in Copenhagen

I wouldn’t change these guys for any sailors in the world, said Knut Frostad after he won the Copenhagen City Race with a clear margin this Monday. Team Academy is the only team in Nokia Oops Cup that, according to Frostad, only has amateurs on board and they are all young Norwegian sailors.

Frostad has focused on building a Norwegian team from the bottom in this year Nokia Oops Cup. While most of the other teams have hired multihull rockstars to top of their teams, Frostad has kept to his fellow countrymen.

As usual he has Espen Guttormsen, his right hand from the last two Whitbread/VOR campaigns on tactics. Eivind Melleby, respected Laser and Melges 24 sailor, has recently joined the team as trimmer, and Frode Bovim, high ranked 49er sailor, is also on the trim, to name some of the crew.

The first race turned out to be a question of who had paid attention at the skippers briefing. HiQ was leading the fleet towards the finishing, trailed by Stena Sovcomflot. When the Russian-Swedish team went round the bottom mark instead of going for the line, Klabbe Nylöf and the HiQ crew turned around and chased after them. Both skippers thought that the course had three rounds, but Knut Frostad and his Team Academy where in no doubt. Instead of ending third, they took the gun while the two other boats sailed the wrong way.

– We where convinced that there only were two rounds so we went for the finish, says Frostad.

In the next three races the Norwegians where the second boat over the line and they finished the racing day just as they begun it: With a win.

Stena Sovcomflot realised their mistake way to late in the first race and ended up last over the line. They fought hard to recover from the loss in the remains of the races, and could return to the dock after five races in second place.

HiQ, with Klas Nylöf on the helm, came third, while the Finish TietoEnator was fourth, Nokia fifth and Bonduelle sixth.

The next race for the six trikmarans in Nokia Oops Cup is the long distance classic Eurocard Gotland Runt which starts June 3rd.

Copenhagen City Race Results:

1) Academy, Norway, Knut Frostad, 1pt
2) Stena Sovcomflot, Russia/Sweden, Steve Ravussin, 2pts
3) HiQ, Sweden, Klas Nylöf, 3pts
4) TietoEnator, Finland, Thomas Johanson, 4pts
5) Nokia, Sweden, Björn Hansen, 5pts
6) Bonduelle, Poland, Gotek Zibi, 6pts

Nokia Oops Cup after 7 of 11 races:

1) Stena Sovcomflot 11pts
2) Academy 16pts
3) HiQ 21.5pts
4) TietoEnator 26.5pts
5) Nokia 26.5pts
6) Bonduelle 35.5pts