ORC European Championship: European ORC Summit in Mariehamn - 57 teams before the opening of the European Championship

Rough start to the ORC European Championship 2024: the training race the day before the opening long-distance race on Monday turned into a strong wind test at the weekend. As a result, the fleets did not finish their final test race, preferring instead to bring the boats back to harbour. "The test race started in 17 knots, which then increased to 25 knots at the top. The field then decided on its own to stop one after the other. You don't want to break anything the day before the start of the European Championship," reported "Intermezzo" skipper Jens Kuphal from Mariehamn.

New ORC class division, new luck?

Jens Kuphal's eleven-strong team with Ocean Race sailors Robert Stanjek, Annie Lush and Phillip Kasüske will gain completely new experience at the ORC European Championship. The 2022 European champions were previously assigned to the middle ORC Group B, where they were always among the fastest boats with their modified Landmark 43. Now they have been assigned to Group A of the large boats, which consists of just eight boats. Robert Stanjek says: "This is new for us: before we were always the fastest boat in group B, now we have to sail smartly at the back in A."

It remains to be seen how the new class division, which has not allowed Group A to grow but has shaken up the pecking order in Groups B and C, will play out at the European Championships. There will be a wide variety of boats competing: in A, for example, the world champions from Kiel on Karl Kwok's TP52 "Beau Geste" from Hong Kong will be pushing ahead. They will be joined by a second Landmark 43 from Finland, "Madame Gray", but also a Finnish GP 42, "Mercedes-Benz". Also active in A: Johannes Wackerhagen's Knierim 49 "Desna", Jan Opländer's Swan 45 "Katima", the Polish HH 42 "Scamp Three" and the Swedish M.A.T. 1220 "Karukera".

In Class B, the boats of 15 of the 23 starters belong to only three types: Eight X-41s, four Italia 11.98s and three J112s are at the start. The crews on Dirk Clasen's H 39 "Ginkgo", Felix Streckenbach's X-41 "Imagine" and Henryk Wulf's X-41 "Stardust" are also ready for the offshore test in Group B. As is usual at ORC European Championships, Class C has the largest fleet in terms of numbers with 26 boats. The majority of the yachts are older or new cruiser/racer series boats. Among the favourites are Aivar Tuulberg's Arcona 340 "Katariina II" and Ott Kikka's Italia 9.98 "Sugar", whose names will be remembered from the 2023 World Championship in Kiel. Eike Claas Carmincke's M.A.T. 1010 "Matchbox" from the Akademischer Segelverein Wismar will be the only German boat competing in Group C.

The Mariehamn 24-hour race

On Sunday evening, the offshore course for the opening long-distance race of the ORC European Championship will be presented in detail at the skipper's briefing. It is expected to last around 24 hours, with a time limit of 36 hours. The European Championship crews are initially expecting strong winds on Monday, but these are expected to decrease by the evening. There was plenty of praise for the hosts at the start. "It's a beautiful location, the organisation is good. They make a lot of effort here," said Jens Kuphal.

Click here for the results after the ORC European Championship boats return from Tuesday.

Before the first moving images from the ORC European Championship in Mariehamn are available - here are the images from the final of the ORC World Championship in Kiel 2023 as a reminder: