Gotland Island, Sweden - At 2000 local time, all remaining entries in all three classes in the ORC Double Handed World Championship are close to the halfway point in the 358-mile Gotland Runt, the world's largest annual offshore race. As shown on the trackers, most are close to getting around the south end of the island after a long upwind beat. 75 ORC DH teams remain on the course after numerous non-starters and retirements.

Race managers from the Royal Swedish Yacht Club (KSSS) yesterday started this fleet at 1100 CET in the harbor in Stockholm, with spectators lining the course.

At 1800 ORC DH leaders in corrected time included the following:

Class A: JOULE (SWE), a J/122 raced by Marcus Osterberg and Henrik Borg, followed by ZEUS+ (SWE), a Z30+ being raced by Anders Dahlsjo and Martin Stromberg, and in third place - although ahead of the fleet in elapsed time - is the Shogun 50 Ladykiller 4 (SWE) being raced by Anna Drougge and Martin Angsell.
In Class B the leaders at 1800 were: PISCO SOUR (SWE), a Salona 37 raced by Robert Helenius and Sakari Laulajainen, followed by IMBRUGLIA (SWE), and Arcona 340 raced by Staffan Larsson and Magnus Wregell, and IMPANEMA (SWE), a J/109 raced by Kim Lindroos and Mikael Lindberg.

And in Class C the 1800 leaders were TEAM PRO4U (SWE), a modified First 36.7 raced by Patrik Forsgren and Joakim Hoppe, followed by LADY X (SWE) raced by Mikael Alvgere and Per Lindell.
With light to moderate downwind conditions ahead, there may be lead changes in all three classes throughout tonight as the teams make their way north past the island.

Weather models suggest this southerly may weaken just northwest of the island until a few hours later when a new stronger breeze will fill in from the southwest making for fast reaching conditions on the final approaches to the finish at Sandhamn.

Present rates of speed predict the first boat to finish to be LADYKILLER 4 at around 10:30 on Tuesday, but this will very much depend on forecast accuracy.