Background
The 2001 season was the inaugural regatta with three competing Formula 60 trimarans: Toshiba, Sony and First Hotels. The Oops Cup brought a new dimension to sail racing by offering close in-shore racing in cities like Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki. Included in the total result were also the Nordic offshore races Lidingo Runt, Faerder Race, Sjaelland Rundt and the Round Gotland Race.
Winner of the Oops Cup in 2001 was Toshiba with skipper Mange Olsson. Toshiba managed to win 8 of 9 races in fierce competition with runner up Olympic gold medallist Thomas Johansson at the helm of First Hotels, and Olympic silver medallist Hans Wallén on Sony, in third place.
Nokia Oops Cup Total 2004:
1. Team Academy 11p
2. HiQ Sailing Team 25p
3. Team GORE-TEX 30p
4. Nokia Sailing Team 41p
5. Team TietoEnator-L'Oréal 44p
Brief presentations of teams 2004 Team Academy
Team Academy is Knut Frostad's new project. Frostad's sports- and marketing company Dragonhead bought ex-Banque Covefi only at the end of March, and will train with keen young Norwegian sailors in Oslo in May before the start of the Nokia Oops Cup at the end of the month.
Academy has a three year program with its partners.
"Our main focus this year is to deliver outstanding value for our partners and learn how to race our new boat. We are going to recruit young and keen Norwegian sailors for our project, and hopefully act as a springboard for them to make the leap to professional sailing", Knut Frostad says.
HiQ Sailing Team
HiQ Sailing Team, a Trimaran team with the shape of speed.
The winning combination of HiQ and Mainsail Management together with almost all of the Partner companies from 2003 is now forming the new version of HiQ Sailing Team together with a couple of new Partner companies and with a new fast Formula 60 trimaran.
The over all objective for 2004 is to win the Nokia Oops Cup in the same manner as 2003. In 2003 HiQ Sailing Team won all races in the Nokia Oops Cup, set three new speed records and ended up in first place in both Sjaelland Rundt and Faerder Race, plus took line honours in the Accenture Round Gotland Race. For more information visit the team website at www.mainsail.se.
Team GORE-TEX
Having had a serious break down in the Nokia Oops Cup 2003, skipper Mange Olsson and his team on board Gore-Tex are back with a different boat, this year also displaying a stunning new graphical design.
Mange Olsson won the Oops Cup in 2001, his longtime mates Juppa Olsson and Hasse Bauer who was onboard then are back for the 2004 season. Juppa as navigator and Hasse as trimmer. From the 2003 team trimmer/bowman Mathias Hellgren is also back. Together with Mathias, Linus Netzhagen is in charge of the technical maintenance of the boat, Linus is a very experienced VO60 and Formula 60 trimaran crew and took part both in the Oops Cup 2003 and 2001. Björn Hansen is new in the team for this year and brings with him a great tactical experience, obtained in many different types of races, in particular match racing where Björn has been ranked among the top-ten in the world for several years.
Nokia Sailing Team
The team has sailed together for almost 8 years. They successfully set the speed record in Sydney Hobart Race in 1999 with their former VO60 Nokia. They also combine offshore experience with match racing talents and since 2002 run the Nokia trimaran. They hold the very envious speed record in Accenture Gotland Runt Race with 24 hours and 40 minutes, set in 2002.
Team TietoEnator-L'Oréal
This all-Finnish team is a fusion of hot racing talent from the one-design racing world, with seasoned experience from the America's Cup, as well as offshore racing in both monohulls and multihulls.
Nokia Oops Cup Total 2003:
1. HiQ Sailing Team 7p
2. Nokia Sailing Team 22p
3.Team GORE-TEX 22p
Brief presentations of teams 2003 HiQ Sailing Team
The HiQ Sailing Team was skippered by Klabbe Nylöf. Klabbe is an offshore sailor with a lot of trimaran experience. He skippered Nicator in the Cape to Rio Race 2003. Before that he competed together with Mange Olsson on the Assa Abloy in the VOR in 2002, against Roger Nilson, then on Amer One. Klabbe now teams up with Roger as a navigator and doctor onboard. There is also match racer Espen Guttormsen and Andreas Andersen who was the first to race double handed on the 60 feet trimaran IPC in the Around Gotland Race. Tactician Bouwe Bekking will add his vast tactical skills to this project. Pontus Brenter was crew on the trimaran IPC.
Nokia Sailing Team
The team has sailed together for almost eight years. They successfully set the speed record in the Sydney to Hobart Race in 1999 with their former yacht, the VO60 Nokia. They combine offshore experience with match racing talents and since 2002 run the Nokia trimaran. They hold the much envied best time record in the Around Gotland Race with 24 hours and 40 minutes, set in 2002
. Team GORE-TEX
Mange Olsson is one of the world's most experienced offshore sailors. Since 1999 he has had a big taste for sailing trimarans. He managed to win the last Oops Cup 2001 with the very same team mates as he has chosen for Team Gore-Tex. Juppa Olsson is again the navigator and Hasse Bauer trimmer. Nevertheless the team has added match racing skills with Lasse Tapper on board, who raced in the last Americas Cup on Victory Challenge. Pelle Nylén and Mathias Hellgren successfully raced the First Hotels trimaran in Oops Cup 2001, Pelle as co-skipper and Mattias as bowman. The young lad in the team is Karl Thelander, who has mainly sailed the American 65 footer Zaraffa, in the Around Gotland Race and the Americas Cup Jubilée.
Cities
During the years, the Nokia Oops Cup has visited several cities in the northern Europe:
2001
Stockholm
Helsinki
Copenhagen
Oslo
2003
Oslo
Stockholm
Copenhagen
2004
Helsinki
Stockholm
Oslo
Gothenburg
Copenhagen
Sopot in Poland
2005
Helsinki
Stockholm
Oslo
Gothenburg
Copenhagen
Sopot in Poland
St. Petersburg in Russia
