Polish yacht WindWhisper 44 starts ORC World Championship

The Polish-flagged WindWhisper 44 is not slowing down. After the bronze of the ORC European Championship won this year in Malta and the victory in the ORC Polish Championship in Gdynia in July, the time has come for the season’s most important event. The dream is to maintain the medal streak and medal at the ORC World Championship in Kiel, which starts today.

For the crew made up of extremely talented young sailors – Mateusz and Kacper Gwóźdź and Stanisław Bajerski – and a mix of Polish and foreign sailors with many years of experience, this is certainly a bold but achievable goal.

As WindWhisper 44 skipper Marcin Sutkowski points out, the crew is prepared and set to fight for the highest goals:

– ‘We have spent the last few days practising starts and turns, with constant mast trimming and adjusting the navigation electronics. All this to avoid potential mistakes that could deprive us of a good result. We have well-prepared competitors in the World Championship and we know that seconds will be the deciding factor in many races. The team is close-knit and well prepared – we have six participants from this year’s The Ocean Race on board (Kacper, Mateusz, Stanislaw, Aksel, Martin and Hugo) and two participants from one of the America’s Cup editions (Piotr and Hugo). Although the weather is not the best for us, as our yacht likes a weak wind, we will fight for the highest possible place. Stormy conditions and winds stronger even than at the start of the recent Fastnet Race, raise concerns for all participants.

WindWhisper 44, competing in Class B, was due to set off today for an offshore, two-day race from Kiel. Unfortunately, due to a storm front expected on Monday with wind gusts of 40 to 50 knots, the Race Committee decided to change the order of the race. The Polish yachts will compete today in a short coastal race.

– There are challenging days ahead. The wind will be moderately strong but very gusty, requiring hard work from all crew members. The most important decision will be to choose the right sails, which may be too expensive to change later. We will give it our all, hoping to achieve a good result,” announced team navigator Aksel Magdahl.

During the ORC World Championship, WindWhisper 44 is sailed by:

Marcin Sutkowski – skipper
Aksel Magdhal – navigator
Robert Gwóźdź
Stanisław Bajerski
Kacper Gwóźdź
Piotr Przybylski
Joan Navarro Guiu
Mateusz Gwóźdź
Afonso Domingos
Hugo Rocha

The team’s competition in Class B during each day of the Championship can be followed on the tracker.