Stone says RORC has seen an explosion of interest from Finland, Estonia and Poland in particular. ‘It’s time the Baltic had a 600-mile race, and these guys are so passionate about making the race happen that it made it very easy for us to work with them on making the race happen. We really want to grow IRC and club membership in these regions. RORC is a pretty proud club in terms of having a global member base and we’ve got a really strong IRC following in the area, but we want to grow it, and this race is a great way of building membership.’ The offshore tradition used to be strong in Finland, with a number of Finnish boats competing in past Whitbread Races. The past 30 years however have seen Finland somewhat slip off the offshore map, and this race is one step towards re-establishing Finland as a powerhouse of offshore racing. There have been some Finnish sailors doing their best to uphold the tradition, however. A case in point is Arto Linnervuo and his all- Finnish crew, who have become well known on the offshore circuit racing the XP 44 Xtra Stærk in several RORC races during the 2018-19 season, including the RORC Transatlantic Race, RORC Caribbean 600, and the Rolex Fastnet Race. Linnervuo has recently taken charge of a new Infiniti 52 Tulikettu. The main objectives for the new boat are to be the first Finnish crew to win a major RORC race and to win the RORC Season’s Points Championship. ‘We have already achieved some good results with the XP 44 Xtra Stærk,’ says Linnervuo, whose team was fourth in class for the 2019 RORC Season’s Points Championship. ‘We strongly believe that the new foil-driven Infiniti 52 will be one of the most interesting new offshore racing yachts entering the scene, and we are so excited about getting a chance to introduce her to our fans in Finland for the RORC Baltic Sea Race.’ Jan Pakkunen says first-time visitors will be pleasantly surprised by the conditions. ‘The race takes place close to midsummer, so there's around 20 hours of daylight and it never gets properly dark. It’s pretty magical. The sun goes down for a short time, then it pops right up again.’
In July, 8-10 knots of wind from the south-west is common. Summer storms are rare, although conditions can change dramatically due to squalls and thermal activity. Ari Känsäkoski comments: ‘One reason also why we are now running the race later than our proof of concept race, is because in the early part of
Above: Helsinki’s South
Harbour is the city’s
maritime hub and home to its oldest yacht club. Right: one of the unique attractions of the RORC Baltic Sea Race is the prospect of racing in 24- hour daylight. It’s also an opportunity to combine some high quality racing with a cruise through the beautiful Finnish and Swedish
archipelagos
the summer the winds can be quite light. Later on in the summer the wind tends to pick up and so the end of July should be a good time for stronger breezes. I think we’ll probably see an average of 10 knots, with some light, challenging sections and then some stronger parts of the racecourse too.’
For anyone who wants to make a longer season of it in the Baltic, there is plenty going on either side of the RORC Baltic Sea Race. The season gets into full swing at the beginning of June, with the first big offshore being the Espoo-Suursaari Race at 167nm. Then there’s the classic round the island race, the 360nm Gotland Rund at the start of July, an ideal build-up to the 630nm RORC Baltic Sea Race. The summer season draws to a close with the 192nm Round Bengtskär and the 46nm Helsinki Tallinn Race.
However, for a complete change of pace, there’s an opportunity to cruise the Swedish and Finnish archipelagos. ‘The archipelago, even very close to Helsinki, is spectacular,’ says Känsäkoski, ‘and it gets even better as you go towards Turku. For anyone who doesn’t want to use their raceboat, there is a very good setup for chartering cruising boats, with or without a local skipper. It’s definitely worth spending the extra time to enjoy the scenery here.’ Chris Stone has noticed the
difference in sailing culture and the greater emphasis on charter opportunities and shared ownership of yachts. ‘The model up there is a little bit different in some respects, and there’s a lot to be learned from this club charter environment where you join a group of people who are sharing a boat and sailing races between them. I think it’s a good model. We love working with the Germans because they bring a different approach to the sport. Anything that helps bring a broader crowd to offshore racing is a good thing, and that’s what we’re seeing with the Finnish offshore community, in terms of how they approach things from a different angle. We really enjoy working in collaboration with these three great guys who are making such a huge effort to pull things together and make it happen. This is not a big budget project, not by any means, but when the idea was pitched to us, of having offshore racing in 24 hours of daylight, that’s when the idea really hit home, when we realised, wow, this could be a pretty amazing race!’
The Notice of Race for the RORC Baltic Sea Race can be found at
www.rorc.org. For more information, contact the Royal Ocean Racing Club:
racing@rorc.org
If you’ve made up your mind already, then go ahead and enter the race:
https://rorc.sailgate.com q
SEAHORSE 75
PEPE KORTENIEMI
EETU AHANEN
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