Marinepool is official clothing partner of the Austria Sailing Federation and the BMW Open Austrian Offshore Championship

October 2011, Biograd, CRO

On the occasion of the BMW Open Austrian Osshore Championship Austria´s Olympic sailing stars are changing into big boats and will give the who is who of the Austrian offshore scene a run for their money.

The championship in the Adriatic sea has developed from a small event for insiders to an event with a great number of yachts and a strong line up of top level sailors from Olympic classes and ORC and IRC racing. Every year approximately 400 athletes flock to Biograd, among them the "Créme de la Créme" of Austrian sailors. The race will be decided in 4 classes in a total of 8 races. The most important race will be a non stop 100nm offshore race.

Tough racing

While in ORC, sailed with spinnackers, the team of Helmut Böhm and tactician Hans Spitzauer is favorite for the top spot, in the 42 foot one design class there are several contenders for Gold. One of them the skipper of Austrias RC44 team AEZ44 René Mangold, arriving straight from the RC44 Adris cup which his team finished in 11th position. He will be up against Team Aquila of Christian Bayer and BMW Austria CEO Gerhard Pils. The eyes will also be on 470 junior world champion David Bargehr and Lukas Mähr. The latter will compete against their 470 team mates Matthias Schmid/Florian Reichstädter forming the Austrian Sailing Federation´s press team, 49er cracks Thomas Zajac/Thomas Cajka representing the colours of Austrian sailing magazine Yachtrevue and Florian Raudaschl. Austria´s Olympic squad is sailing on four different yachts.

Online Coverage

The first race of the championship will be started on Monday, Oct. 3. All races will be virtualized and can be watched on www.bmw-hochseemeisterschaft.at. The championship will finish on Oct. 7.

The offshore regatta, combining top grade sport and a sailing event for everyone is organized in cooperation of BMW Austria, the Austrian Sailing Federation and Yacht Charter Pitter.

Report: DoMa

News Updates and Results: www.segelverband.at