Today’s light conditions didn’t stop Swedish Nicklas Dackhammar’s impressive sailing at the Scandinavian Series event in the Danish city of Aarhus. The young skipper is now leading the pack heading into tomorrow’s final day.
The racing in Aarhus got off to a slow start today with light winds of 4-5 knots postponing the scheduled start at 2PM. The five teams eventually got going and had four practice races before the Racing Committee decided to make the following ones count in the overall scoring of the event.
Starting on a reach, all five teams were fighting hard for the best spot on the start line with Swedish Nicklas Dackhammar (Essiq Racing Team) and Brit Ian Williams (GAC Pindar) eventually accelerating ahead of the rest in the first race. Dackhammar put himself in a comfortable lead on the up and down course and looked strong right up until the final rounding. Here Williams managed to top the young Swede on the final top mark, sailing a comfortable reach to the finish line.
But as they say, it isn’t over till the fat lady sings – and she couldn’t muster a single tune before Dackhammar made his return in the second counting race. Here the Swede got a fight for his money in the start from Danish Nicolai Sehested on TREFOR Racing but Dackhammar eventually pulled away and kept a comfortable distance to the rest of the fleet around the course. The Swede sailed over the finish line with the crowds cheering the young skipper and his team on. Behind him, Sehested managed to barely hold on to the second spot with Ian Williams trying to jilt the Dane over on the top mark. But Sehested held his own and Williams finished the race in third. The Racing Committee decided to call it a day after the two races, meaning that Dackhammer is now in the lead with 19 points, one point ahead of Williams.
“We had a really good day with good starts in almost every race. We found the right track around the course,” says Dackhammar after today’s Prize Giving and adds, “leading after the start and keeping your position is of course always better than battling it out in third, but in the M32 you can’t feel too safe. The margins can change things in an instant, as we saw today.” For the young skipper, tomorrow’s ambition is to keep momentum and maintain the top spot ahead of Williams. But with one point – the game is open. “We are in second place but still with the chance to win, so of course that is what we’re aiming at,” says Williams who had a new crewmember in the shape of experienced Olympic sailor, Richard Sydenham, onboard today. The fight for the third spot on the podium is also open after today, with Swedish Måns Holmberg (TyphoonX Racing) on a tie with Nicolai Sehested (TREFOR Racing) at 32 points. Danish skipper, Jes Gram-Hansen (Team TRIFORK) finished last today with 36 points overall.
Tomorrow is the final day of the Battle of Aarhus where the winner will be found on the waters of the inner city harbor. The event is the third stop on the Scandinavian Series and runs from Thursday the 18th of August until Saturday the 20th of August, with racing from 2PM – 5PM daily. For news and live commentary go to m32series.com.
– M32 Media
