Extremely close racing today at the 2024 ORC European Championship in Åland Islands

The outcome of the final two inshore races at the 2024 ORC European Championship has determined three new ORC European Champions: Karl Kwok’s TP 52 BEAU GESTE (HKG) in Class A, Tiit Vihul’s modified X-41 OLYMPIC (EST) in Class B, and Ott Kikkas’s Italia 9.98 SUGAR (EST) in Class C.

Penultimate day of racing today sets up the showdowns for final podium positions tomorrow. Each class had their own course to race today: Class A’s was 46.4 miles in length, Class B was 39.9 miles and Class C was 30.7 miles. Each course had its finish line placed in the harbor at Mariehamn.

Today’s 10-12 knot conditions were once again perfect for tight inshore racing at the 2024 ORC European Championship with some new teams having entered the winner’s circles in the day’s two Windward-leeward races.

The fleet of 56 entries in the 2024 ORC European Championship has just completed their first and arguably most important race of the event: the Long Offshore Race, which is non-discardable in the final scores. KARUKERA, SHADOW and SUGAR are respective race winners in Classes A, B and C