The Baltic Sea is about to play host to the inaugural Nord Stream Race, a 750 nautical mile offshore race which is sure to challenge even the most experienced of sailors. With the first edition of the Swan 60 race now only weeks away the excitement is building amongst the European Team; skippered by Tim Kroger and sponsored by Nord Stream AG the team are eager to showcase their skills and take home the €100,000 prize fund.
Tim Kroger, skipper of Team Europe is looking forward to the challenge;
“I do like the idea of competing in an offshore race that will take us from Saint-Petersburg to Greifswald in Germany via Finland and Sweden. It could turn out to be a tough challenge racing from North to South at that time of the year, especially during the first leg – but that is a challenge we are very keen to take on. It’s been an honour for me to have been asked to skipper the European entry for the premier edition of the Nord Stream Race and I can assure you we will push very hard to be successful.”
“The Course has all the ingredients to make it a very exciting race. Offshore legs combined with a Match Race Event in Helsinki will request all of our skills, all our flexibility and all our concentration.”
Kroger, an experienced America’s Cup sailor has handpicked his team and praises their ability ahead of the event;
“The guys I have chosen go back a long way with me. For a race like this, you especially want to have people around you who you can trust and rely on. Just to highlight a few core crew members: Our Navigator will be Marc Lagesse with whom I have been sailing with since the 2007 America’s Cup on Shosholoza. Mikael Lundh and Eberhard Magg will be the watch captains. Mikael sailed with me in the Whitbread 97/98 on-board Swedish Match and Eberhard and I have known each other for about 30 years, sailing many miles together in that time. Eberhard was the founder of the German America’s Cup Challenge for 2007 and is the event organiser for Match Race Germany, the German Pit Stop of the World Match Racing Tour.”
“As Driver/Trimmers we have Christian “Blumi” Scherrer on-board, who won the AC in 2007 with Alinghi and is more than skilled – a great crewmember. As one of the rookies I have asked Robert Stanjek, who is just back from the Olympic Games (6th in Starboat) to join us as tactician. He will bring a wealth of experience from small boat campaigns on-board and will help us to get the most out of a Swan 60. The remaining crew consists of young players and yachties with an extensive background in offshore racing.”
The skipper is looking forward to racing a Swan 60;
“It will be a pretty cool thing to do one design racing on 60 foot yachts. Preparation of the new boats will be important and has to be really accurate within a limited time frame. Especially the Match Racing in Helsinki will be a highlight. I think the choice of these boats for the first Nord Stream Race is a good one. We will have a safe, fast and hopefully furious ride from St. Petersburg to Greifswald.”
Ulrich Lissek, Communications Director of Nord Stream AG, commented: “Nord Stream Race is a new and interesting event in the Baltic Sea. We are honoured that the Yacht Club of Saint-Petersburg suggested to call this professional team racing endeavour across the Baltic Sea “Nord Stream’ and to follow the route of our pipeline bridging Russia and Europe. We take it as recognition of the Nord Stream pipeline’s dimension, trans-boundary character and active public engagement. We are proud to support one of the competing sailing teams, Team Europe. It comprises professionals from different European countries and reflects Nord Stream’s philosophy and values: high competence, international character, pioneering spirit, excellence and cooperation.”
The Nord Stream Race is an invitational event, open to Swan 60s for the inaugural edition in 2012 with open entry for future editions. The environment is perfectly suited to offer high-class sailing with the promise of challenging winds. The other four entries are: Team Europe, Team France, Team Germany and Team Holland.