The third stage of the Estonian Offshore Cup – the 54th Moonsund Regatta -was held from the 11th to 17th of July in Tallinn. This regatta had the highest number of participants since Estonia regained independence, with nearly 700 yachtsmen on 109 yachts from Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia race on the course of Pärnu-Roomassaare-Virtsu-Heltermaa-Tallinn. This year the event ended in Tallinn, the European Capital of Culture, giving additional sparkle to the finale of the Tallinn Maritime Days. Besides being the Estonian Offshore Sailing Championship for ORC classes, the event was also a championship for LYS and X-41 classes as well.

The most popular offshore race of the regatta took the yachts to the port of Roomassaare after passing 68-91 miles from Pärnu Yacht Club to Saaremaa, where the yachts arrived during the night. The second 10-23-mile stage was raced near Roomassaare in the afternoon of Tuesday.

In the morning of Wednesday was the 33-70-mile stage from Roomassaare to the port of Virtsu. The fourth 22-40-mile stage was raced on Thursday from Virtsu to Hiiumaa (port of Heltermaa), and the fifth stage 12-30-mile course was raced near Heltermaa on Friday. The longest, 70-95-mile stage of the Regatta from Heltermaa to Tallinn Peetri port took place on Saturday and the last, 9-19-mile stage was held in Tallinn on Sunday.

The yachts, from the smallest to the largest, in total raced 224 to 368 nautical miles, depending on their class. The award ceremony of the 54th Moonsund Regatta and awarding on the champions of Estonian offshore sailing took place on Sunday, 17 July at Old City Marina in Tallinn.

The EYU Offshore Sailing Cup consists in total of six regattas. The Kessu regatta raced near Haapsalu on 3 July was followed by the Watergate regatta that started and ended in Pärnu on 7-9 July. Thereafter the racing took to the traditional Moonsund Regatta on 11-17 July, which is also the Estonian Championships for Offshore Sailing. At the end of the month, on 30-31 July, the Tallinn Championships will be held and less than a week later, on 4-7 August, Baltic Offshore Week will be raced in Tallinn. The last stage of the series is the Ruhnu Regatta held on 13 August, where the race takes the participants around the island of Ruhnu.

The participating yachts are divided into four groups on the basis of the competition value - ORC I, ORC II, ORC III, ORC IV. In all groups the results of four best stages are taken into account in the summary of the series.

The Moonsund Regatta was organised by ESS Kalev Yacht Club and Pärnu Yacht Club in co-operation with the Estonian Yachting Union. The major sponsors of the Moonsund Regatta are Helly Hansen/Sportland, Tallinna Sadam, A Le Coq, Viking Line, Dermoshop, Loodusinvest, North Sails and Nivona, co-operation partners and supporters are Delfi, Estonian Maritime Administration, Estonian Cultural Capital, Autoekspert and Minu Rada.

Results are as follows: The Estonian champion in the ORC1 group on scores of 1-1-2-3-1-4-1 is Priit Tammemägi’s X-41 OD Premium-Tallinn 2011 Sailing Team from Kalev YC. Silver medals were won by Peter Saraskin’s team on the Comet 41S LHV-Zuxu also from Kalev YC, on scores of 3-5-1-1-5-6-3, and bronze medals were awarded to Jaak Jõgi’s X-41 OD on scores of 2-2-5-7-7-1-2. All podium finishers are from Kalev YC, and there were 12 yachts competing in this group.

In the ORC2 group, a sweeping victory was taken on scores of 4-3-1-1-6-8-1 by Rene Treifeldt’s First 34.7 Déjà vu from Kalev YC. On scores of 8-5-6-4-3-9-2, second place was won by Alari Akermann’s First 36.7 Merepärl from Pärnu YC, and third place awarded to Erki Melts’s Archambault 31 Mia from Pärnu YC, on scores of 1-1-7-23DNF-1-1-6. There were in total 22 yachts competing in this group.

The title of Estonian champion in ORC3 group was awarded to Viktor Feofanov’s X-332 Georg from Pärnu YC on scores of 2-3-1-3-3-1-1. Second place was won on scores of 4-2-4-5-2-2-3 by Alar Ivanson’s Ridas 35 Tessa from Kalev YC, and third place belongs to Raiko Lehtsalu’s Bavaria 37 WindWalker from Pärnu YC on scores of 1-1-7-2-1-6-7. There were in total 13 yachts competing in this group.

The Estonian Champion in the ORC4 group was again without a doubt Koit Pauts’s Polaris 31 Edasi from the Haapsalu YC on impressive scores of 1-2-8-1-3-2-1. Second place and the silver medal was won by another Polaris, Priit Põldmaa’s Leila from Kalev YC on scores of 2-6-2-5-6-4-3, and the bronze medal was awarded to Dmitrii Mostovoy’s Rikoshet 780 Prizrak from Moscow on scores of 4-7-1-13-8-3-2. There were in total 21 yachts competing in this group.