It was another near-perfect day for racing in Day Four of the 2023 ORC European Championship, co-hosted by Royal Malta Yacht Club and Yachting Malta.

Blue skies, flat seas and 8-12 knots of wind kept the racing close in all three classes of this championship event featuring 37 teams from 11 nations.

Racing on the southern course for Class B was spectacular, with that fleet starting on time in a building and shifting southerly with a hint of current that made for an interesting racecourse.

This and five Club Swan 42’s that are at the top of the class makes for a competitive intensity of inshore racing simply not found on the other course areas. So much so that after the first race yesterday the three top teams were all tied in overall points. 

One of them, Aivar Tuulberg’s Katariina II from Estonia, got off to a non-ideal start to the event with scores of 3-4 in the first two races. Yet their subsequent 2-1-2 finishes have put them only one point behind Marcin Sutkowski’s (POL) Grand Soleil 44 P Wind Whisper 44, who won the first two races in the event. 

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