Due to the forecasted storm for the Baltic Sea, the Garmin Round Denmark Race will most likely make two course changes.
With gusts of up to 50 knots in the Baltic Sea on Monday, the race management of Garmin Round Denmark Race assesses that the participants' safety will be compromised. However, there is still some uncertainty in the various forecasts about when, how, and how strongly the wind will kick in, which has resulted in a "Last Call" skipper's briefing for the participants on Saturday morning at 10:00 at the Aarhus International Sailing Center.
Emergency Pitstop
What is likely to be communicated at the skipper's briefing are two course alterations. The first will either send the boats around Læsø or Anholt instead of Skagen. After that, the boats will head towards Helsingør, where all participants will go to a mandatory emergency pitstop. The length of the potential stay in Helsingør depends on the expected storm. The next alteration will be to skip Denmark's easternmost point, Christiansø, and instead head directly towards Denmark's southernmost point, Gedser. From there, the participants will continue along the original course towards the Little Belt and then towards Aarhus.
For the Offshore sailors
For participants on the offshore course, which started on Thursday at 16:00, it will apply that participants in the full crew category will sail the original course of 760 nautical miles. For participants on the Doublehanded category, the course will omit Christiansø and Bornholm. For participants in the Singlehand category, the mandatory stop in Skagen will be reduced from 16 to 12 hours, after which the participants will sail to Helsingør, where they, on equal terms with the Inshore participants, will enter a mandatory emergency harbor in Helsingør.
No final decision yet
The final decision will be made on Saturday morning when the latest weather data has been processed through a routing program. The decision will be announced at the extraordinary skipper meeting at 10:00.