European ORC: Be Wild champion, here’s which boats won in Malta

A hard-fought ORC European 2023 ended in Malta with uncertain results until the last day. Seven trials were completed, including the 24-hour offshore trial and a 10-12 hour coastal trial, both of which were not discarded from the final series.

European ORC smiles on Italian boats, who take the overall podium in all three classes: in A Claudio Terrieri’s Blue Sky closes on equal points with Tp 52 Beau Geste but is second for worst overall results, in Group B the Swan 42 Renzo Grottesi’s BeWild wins the title; in Group C, Enzo De Blasio’s Italy 11.98 Scugnizza takes silver.

European ORC – Swans Always Winning

Swan 45 and Club Swan 42 are two boats that, more than 10 years after their launch, still continue to have their say. In Group A, Claudio Terrieri’s Swan 45 Blue sky came close to “hitting the jackpot” by finishing tied on points with Tp 52 Beau Geste, the reigning World Champion and big favorite. Only Tp’s higher number of test wins relegate the Italian crew the second place. The Swan 45 proves to be a very competitive boat both between buoys and on offshore or coastal courses, especially when running in winds that are not too light.

The same discourse applies to ClubSwan 42, which won the hard-fought Group B with Renzo Grottesi’s BeWild. In second place is another Swan 42, the Estonian Katarina II, with the super-favorite Grand Soleil 44 Windwisper having to settle for only third place after leading the standings for part of the week confirming the great competitiveness of a design that has already won two ORC world championships.

Decisive in this case was the result of the coastal trial, where the 44 finished with a 13th place while the Swan 42s did better. A boat the latter once again proves to be for all seasons and conditions: fast between the buoys, competitive even in light winds, seaworthy enough to cope even offshore with tough conditions. To this day it is still one of the boats to beat, even though it was not designed, by German Frers, expressly to race in ORC.

European ORC – Group C is always Italia Yachts

Italy Yachts also dominated the Malta European, with Estonian Ott Kikkas’ 11.98 Sugar 3 preceding Enzo De Blasio’s twin Scugnizza. Best performances for the Neapolitan crew were in the offshore and inshore trials where they kept Sugar behind, but the World and European Champions between the buoys proved relentless. Credit also goes to a bit of Italy aboard the Ott Kikkas team, starting with Matteo Polli on mainsail, Sandro Montefusco at the helm, Maurizio Loberto navigator and Paolo Bucciarelli tailer.

The 1198 when conducted to the maximum is still the winning design for running ORC races in the small group. It remains the largest boat in the category and the one that in real time races at the head of the fleet, if conducted tactically and technically to the maximum it is still a lethal weapon. Rounding out the podium in Group C is an evergreen M37, Hebe V from Czech owner Zdenek Jakoubek.

Full European ORC rankings