Sebastian Groth and Josefin Due Boie (C-45) led home a Swedish trio of racers at the opening round of the UIM Class 3C World Championships today in Tvedestrand, Norway.
Prior to heading out to the muster area Groth thought he had chosen the wrong propeller as the sea state had changed from when he had tested earlier.
We had propped for smooth conditions and thought there would be just one metre waves outside the comfort of the fjords. Heading south towards the lighthouse was tougher than we thought it would be and we were certainly grateful rounding it and heading back north with the tide.
Groth was quick to praise his co-pilot Due Boie who had kept him calm throughout the race.
She did an amazing job today, each lap she would make slight corrections on our headings shaving a bit of time off where we could.
Coming home in second place were Fredrik Groth Fyro and Fillip Eriksson (C-86), much to their surprise. They almost missed the race start because they had some small adjustments to make before heading out to the muster area. Having only tested their raceboat for just nine minutes the pair admitted that they would have been happy to just finish today, let alone take a podium place.
Victor Jansson and Sebastian Hogberg (C-80) completed the Swedish clean sweep of prizes which was a little bit better than they had expected. Hogberg said that they were running too big a prop which meant they couldn’t keep up with the leaders, but overall, it felt good.
It certainly wasn’t an enjoyable day for the Norwegian teams as out after only two laps went Andre Strand and Lasse Andresen when their engine lift broke whilst they were holding down third place.
Also struggling were Erik Sundblad Johansen and Frank Wilson. They had made an excellent start, surging into an early lead just after the start, but moments later their engine began to lose power.
We quickly lost about 2000 rpm and then suddenly it came back. In the end it was prop riding really badly as the only way to get the rev’s I needed was to jack the engine high.
When they finally got back to the race pits, they discovered an issue with the fuel hose and were relieved that it wasn’t an engine issue.
Joining today’s race winners at an evening reception in town was the Mayor of Tvedestrand Marianne Landaas who welcomed all the competitors to the municipality.
Tomorrow sees the competitors racing for the UIM 3B and 3D World Championship titles take to the fjords along with the second race in 3C.
