(Oslo, Norway)- The Norwegian Sailing League, the “Norsk Seilsportsliga”, will start its
first season in 2016. After two qualifying events in Western and
Eastern Norway in September, 15 clubs are now officially qualified for
the inaugural season in 2016. The regatta in Ålesund (western Norway)
was won by Arendals Seilforening; the eastern event in Oslo was won by
Åsgårdstrand Seilforening.Karl-Otto Book and his team from Åsgårdstrand Seilforening were delighted to win their qualifying races. “The goal was to qualify Åsgårdstrand,” said Book, “so it was a pure bonus that we won. It was a very tight fight and fun sailing. Now we are looking forward to next year and the start of the Norwegian Sailing League.”
Oslo showed its absolute best side on Friday with brilliant sunshine and a nice breeze across the race course. Saturday the conditions were somewhat more volatile, but the race committee completed enough races to give the 15 teams a total of six flights during the two days.
Nesodden Seilforening led after the first day, but was overtaken after losing on an equal points tiebreak with Åsgårdstrand Seilforening who had a win over Nesodden Seilforening. The really big battle came in the middle of the fleet, with a number of evenly-ranked teams looking to stay up in the top division. Tønsberg Seilforening qualified as the last boat, while Oslo Seilforening, which was just a point behind, could not make it. Jostein Aker (14 yrs old) from Tønsberg Seilforening was the event’s youngest helmsman and managed to qualify his club for next year’s elite division. Seilforening won all six races! “It was really fun to sail in such tight races, and particularly enjoyable to win all the starts,” said Aker who wants to sail for Tønsberg SF next year. He sails actively in several classes and finishes high up every leaderboard.
Espen Guttormsen, secretary general of the Norwegian Sailing Federation who owns the league, hopes the Norwegian Sailing League will be the start of a new series that will be as attractive as similar series in other sports. The hope is also that the Sailing League will inspire more organizations to host local events in the same format. “This format enables us to recruit young sailors locally without requiring them to invest in boats. Here, sailors only come with a bag and get to enjoy some really fun sailing,” said Guttormsen. Facebook Seilsportsliga sailing page- https://www.facebook.com/seilsportsliga/ For more Seilsportsliga sailing information
The 15 clubs that qualified for the 2016 Norwegian Sailing League are:
- Ålesund Seilforening
- Arendals Seilforening
- Åsgårdstrand Seilforening
- Askøy Seilforening
- Brevik Seilforening
- Florø Seilforening
- Fredrikstad Seilforening
- Kongelig Norsk Seilforening
- Larvik Seilforening
- Nesodden Seilforening
- Ran Seilforening
- Soon Seilforening
- Stavanger Seilforening
- Tønsberg Seilforening
- Trondhjems Seilforening
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