The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) with the Ocean Racing Alliance (ORA) announce the Roschier Baltic Sea Race. Starting on 21st July 2022. Open to boats racing under IRC, MOCRA, Class40 Rules and other class associations.
Approximately 630 nautical miles, the race will start and finish off Helsinki in the Gulf of Finland, incorporating the Swedish island of Gotland.
The race is supported by the City of Helsinki, the Nyländska Jaktklubben (NJK), Finnish Ocean Racing Association (FORA), Helsingfors Segelklubb (HSK), FINIRC and the Xtra Stærk Ocean Racing Society.
Over 200 sailors from 18 different nations raced in the inaugural Roschier Baltic Sea Race - the new 635-mile race starting and finishing in Helsinki, Finland and organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) in association with the Ocean Racing Alliance. Teams from Poland, Germany, Sweden and Finland won honours in the race, with a fairy tale overall victory for the smallest boat in the race.
The Roschier Baltic Sea Race Prize Giving was held on Wednesday 27th July at Katajanokka Casino, Helsinki. RORC CEO Jeremy Wilton thanked the official race supporters and hard-working volunteers to a terrific round of applause from the competing sailors.
RORC Racing Manager Chris Stone was the Master of Ceremonies awarding the prize winners. Ari Känsäkoski who was racing on Enderpearl, spoke on behalf of the Ocean Racing Alliance:
“I think everything went very well. This is Finland, a place that gets things done. The combination of world-class race organisation with RORC brings good results. In 2024 we aim to have more boats and we are already building the plan to get everything ready for the second race when we will do even better.”
Finnish H-323 Silver Moon II, skippered by Salla Kaven has won the Roschier Baltic Sea Race having scored the best time after IRC correction for the new race organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in association with the Offshore Racing Alliance.
The Kaven family have raced the 9.9 metre sloop designed by Hans Groop since they were children on Lake Päijänne in Southern Finland.
The inaugural Roschier Baltic Sea Race produced a multitude of trace leaders in the latter part of the six-day race. On day four, Tilmar Hansen’s powerful German TP52 Outsider was in pole position until the youth team from the HSV racing German Carkeek 47 Störtebeker took up the lead. The largest boat in the race, Kenneth Bjoerklund’s CNB 76 Enderpearl was also a favourite on day five. On the sixth day, the Swedish Albin Nova Team Mobline, raced double-handed by Paer Lindfors & Nadine Kugel, took the lead. However, Silver Moon II, the second to last boat to cross the finish line in Helsinki, took the prize. Silver Moon II won by just under 16 minutes after six days of racing. All of the team are related either by family or marriage. While the team have won many local races in the past, to beat an international fleet of proven winners is extraordinary.
Crew of Silver Moon II: Salla Kaven, Heidi Ekholm, Kari Itkonen, Jorma Kaven, Jouni Kaven.
All of the team are born and bred in Finland and a completely amateur crew. Salla is a class teacher, and her sister-in-law Heidi is a nurse. Salla’s brothers Jorma and Jouni are an engineer and a paramedic respectively, and Karl, Salla’s husband is a firefighter. The Kaven family sailed from a very young age with their parents who bought Silver Moon II in 1985. Salla became the skipper in 2012. The team fully admit that they sometimes argue when racing on Lake Päijänne, where they grew up, but the arguments stopped offshore!
There were tears of joy from Silver Moon II Skipper Salla Kaven as a huge crowd cheered the team to the dock: “I am speechless, just so happy, we never thought we could win this race,” commented Salla, a teacher in Helsinki. “It was great sailing and everything went well, but even when we crossed the line, I didn’t believe it.” – but the message to all the amateur sailors out there from Salla is: “You can do it if you want to; do what you love.”
The Swedish Farr 400 Wetjob, skippered by Niclas Heurlin became the eighth team to complete the Roschier Baltic Sea Race just after 0900 local time on the fifth day of the 635-mile race. Dockside at Marina Bay in Helsinki, crews are met with cold Fat Lizard Beer and warm greetings from the volunteers and organisers. As a new offshore race, the dock talk is all about the new experience for sailors from all over the world.
I Love Poland, owned by the Polish National Foundation and skippered by Grzegorz Baranowski crossed the finish line in Helsinki to take Line Honours for the Roschier Baltic Sea Race at 19:27:35 EEST on Sunday 24th July 2022. The elapsed time was 3 days, 0 hours, 27 minutes, 37 seconds, setting the Monohull Race Record.
Line Honours for the Roschier Baltic Sea Race is expected to be decided today after four days and three nights of intense racing for the front runners. Under the IRC Rating Rule a large variety of boats are emerging as contenders for the overall win. Conditions in the Baltic Sea are ever changing, adding to the thrill of the 635-mile race organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club together with the Ocean Racing Alliance.
By the morning of the third day of the Roschier Baltic Sea Race the new 635-mile race is producing a thrilling competition. The race for Line Honours has produced three different front runners.Teams from all three IRC classes are ranked in the top 10 for the overall win. A fresh northerly breeze is producing red-hot action with leading boats pulling the trigger south of Gotland.
The fastest boats on the water had rounded the Swedish island of Gotland and the slowest had made their way to the Almagrundet Lighthouse outside the Stockholm archipelago. Over 180 miles separates the fleet, but the rankings of the boats under the IRC Rating system give a clear and exact picture of the leading boats in the race.
The fleet in the Roschier Baltic Sea Race made good progress on the first night racing west towards Stockholm. Just over 15 hours into the 635-mile race, Volvo 70 I Love Poland had raced nearly 200 miles and was the first to round the Almagrundet Lighthouse outside the Stockholm archipelago. In contrast, the smallest boat in the race; Finnish H-323 Silver Moon II had sailed 90 miles with 540 miles to go to the finish the Roschier Baltic Sea Race.
The inaugural Roschier Baltic Sea Race started on time outside the historic Port City of Helsinki Finland.Twenty seven boats with over 213 sailors from 18 different nations started the first chapter of the 635-nautical mile race in the Baltic Sea, organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club together with the Ocean Racing Alliance.
The overall winner of the Roschier Baltic Sea Race will be the boat that scores the best corrected time under the IRC Rating Rule. Trophies will also be presented for Line Honours Monohull, Line Honours Multihull, plus special trophies. RORC medallions will also be presented in the usual tradition at the RORC Annual Dinner later in the year in London for each class and division.
Helsinki Finland 20 July 2022 - Paavo Arhinmäki, Deputy Mayor for Culture and Leisure at the City of Helsinki welcomed crews taking part in the Roschier Baltic Sea Race to the impressive City Hall of Helsinki for an Official Reception two days before the start of the race.
The RORC was founded in 1925 to encourage long distance yacht racing and the design, building and navigation of sailing vessels in which speed and seaworthiness are combined. Today the club encourages ocean, long distance and other forms of yacht racing and yachting activity.
Crew of Silver Moon II: Skipper: Salla Kaven, Heidi Ekholm, Kari Itkonen, Jorma Kaven, Jouni Kaven © Pepe Korteniemi /
High Five: Celebrating their win on the Finnish H-323 Silver Moon II © Pepe Korteniemi /
An emotional welcome for the Finnish crew of Silver Moon II © Pepe Korteniemi /
Skipper Salla Kaven is thrown in the water! © Pepe Korteniemi /
