Green Course face tough conditions

Hard Upwind Sailing Takes Its Toll on the Green Course

The Green Course may have been reduced from 100 to 66 nautical miles, but there is nothing easy about Vegvisir Race tonight.

The Esse 850 Jinx skippered by Patrick Heinrichs in currently leading the Green course race.

At 21:00 Friday evening, the fleet is battling its way upwind from Agersø towards Romsø in mean winds of 12–14 m/s. It is a hard beat, and the conditions are already taking their toll.

Several boats have retired from the race, including two of the pre-race favourites.

Singlehanded sailor Jan B. Hansen has retired with his Beneteau First 36 The Beast, while Kasper Wedersøe and co-skipper Thomas Bro have also retired from the doublehanded race aboard their Dehler 30 OD The Hulk.

Jinx leads the way

At the front of the fleet, Patrick Heidrick is currently leading aboard his Esse 850 Jinx.

He has made it north of the Great Belt Bridge and is currently making around 5 knots towards Nyborg. From the tracking it looks like his bearing is pushed south by the current so he is at the moment not laying the next mark, the island of Romsø.

There are still miles to sail, and after several hours of hard upwind work, nothing can be taken for granted.

The good news for the sailors still racing is that the wind is forecast to begin easing around 23:00.

Will the original ETA hold?

Before the start, the ETA for the fastest boats was estimated at around 01:00 Saturday morning.

With the conditions the fleet has encountered tonight, the question is whether that prediction will hold. For now, the sailors have one job:

Keep the boat moving, keep pushing north and get safely back to Nyborg.

The finish line is waiting.