Jens Kuphal at ORCi European Championships in Norway: "That was a good start, now it's time to get going!"

The first race of the ORCi European Championship in Norway has been completed. Several German boats got themselves off to a good start for the week-long title fights in Scandinavian waters. Above all, Jan Opländer's team on "Katima" from the Flensburger Segel-Club did surprisingly well at the start in winds of between seven and 14 knots. The 15-year-old Swan 45 won the race in the large class A according to the calculated time. "Of course I'm a happy skipper with a happy crew today," said Opländer after returning to the small European Championship harbour in Hankø.

"The rally through the islands made it difficult for the gennaker boats to utilise their straight-line speed on this medium distance. We were more flexible with a spinnaker," said "Katima" strategist and navigator Tim Kröger, explaining the race victory. "We also received a few valuable routing tips from Wouter Verbraak before the race, which showed us the way. A lot of good little pieces of the puzzle came together in this victory. The crew sailed strongly, the boat is good. It also helped that although we sail in class A according to our race rating, we were sometimes sailing close to the B boats such as 'Intermezzo', depending on our size. They gave us a good push."

In addition to Opländer and Kröger, Christian Bader (foresail), Kai Reimers (mast), Nico Krause (pit), Max Opländer (cockpit), Jan Baumann (foresail trimmer), Stefan Voss (tactics/kite), Eike Schurr (brace/cockpit) and Rainer Wilhelm (mainsail trimmer) sail the Swan 45.

Co-favourite "Semi-dry 4.5" well in the game

Michael Berghorn's co-favourite "Halbtrocken 4.5" took second place in the large A class at the start of the European Championships. Finishing third behind Holger Streckenbach's TP52 "Imagine" and the Norwegian TP52 "Jokerman", the "Halbtrocken 4.5", sailing for the Kieler Yacht-Club, moved up another place. According to the ORCi handicap, this was thanks to a three-and-a-half minute lead over "Jokerman" and just under five minutes less than "Imagine", which finished fourth.

"Imagine" crew member and RVS boss Bertil Balser drew a first small interim balance and reported: "We are sailing here in a great and challenging area with current and waves. The organisers of the ORCi European Championship are innovative with self-propelled buoys and confident with their experience from previous major competitions. It is a well-rounded event." The GP 42 "X-Day" skippered by Lars Hückstedt opened the ORCi European Championship in Class A in fifth place.

In Class B, Jens Kuphal's modified Landmark 43 was not able to make it to the top as hoped at the start, but the team is not dissatisfied with seventh place in the field of 21 medium-sized boats. "That was a good start, now it's time to get going," said Kuphal on Tuesday evening after the middle course in Hankø. Commenting on the race itself, the owner and helmsman said: "It was a great, scenic and very challenging course. The start was tricky. When we went into the first long upwind leg, we took our chance to attack and were first at the top of the buoy. As locals, the Norwegians were obviously able to cope well with the various challenges between the islands during the night. They managed to get through well. We enjoyed the duel with them and had a great atmosphere on board."

The fact that the hot meals had been left in the fridge in the harbour did nothing to change this. "You wouldn't believe how the 'price' for the sandwiches on board went up," Kuphal said with a laugh. Kuphal, whose team is one of the favourites for Group BB in the ORCi European Championship, commented on his own position in the first race: "It's not a great place, but it's no drama either. I would have hoped for a place in the top four. That might have been a bit more relaxed. But our direct competitor, the 'White Shadow', is only one place ahead of us. The duel with them is great fun!"

The first short races off Hankø start on Wednesday

According to Kuphal, the dominance of the X-41 yachts in the top five places in Group B after the first European Championship race is nothing new when it comes to longer courses: "It's a familiar phenomenon. We can hardly achieve the good factor they have on such long courses. We're much faster on the cross, so we can take it out on the short courses. But on the downwinds, they are almost as fast as us ..." In addition, a second phenomenon applies to the short distances: "In the up & downs, the many X-41s are fighting each other, cancelling each other out." Will this also be the case on Wednesday, when the first short races take place in the Oslofjord?

The XP 44 "Surprise" was the second German boat to finish 19th in Class B. There were no German boats at the start in European Championship Division C. Here, the Swedish team Pro4u on the modified First 36.7 won the middle distance against two Arconas from Estonia and Norway. Here is an overview of the intermediate results of the ORCi European Championship>>