A word from our new commodore - Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub

Photo: Øyvind Bordal
NEWS
Spring 2008
The Royal Danish Yacht Club’s new commodore,
Kim Andersen
“The worlds greatest
sailor” Paul Elvstrom.
Past Commodore
David Holm
R O Y A L D A N I S H Y A C H T C L U B
Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub
A word from our
new commodore
- Kim Andersen
Marbleheads, road trips, awards and academies-
We start as we mean to go on.
At the last Annual Meeting I was honoured with
being elected Commodore of the yacht club. I am
pretty sure that I know what I have let myself in
for...a lot of fun and a lot of hard work.
Our packed calendar of events includes sailing
events of every imaginable type, music evenings,
gourmet dinners, bowling etc etc and so socially,
there is no reason for anyone to miss out.
For the more dedicated sportsmen we have
recently launched the Royal Sailing Academy,
more about that in this edition of the NEWS;
also covered is the news that the Danish Open
in Match Racing has gone “on the road”. We will
also be hosting one of the more unusual and historic
of sailing trophies: the Marblehead Trophy
and I will write more about that in the next edition.
Two awards of note, to two very deserving
members of the Club. Firstly the Royal Danish
Yacht Club has awarded recent Commodore –
David Holm – its highest award - the Order of
Merit. Since its inception in 1930 by King Christian
X the award has only been given 15 times
and David currently shares the honour with Paul
Elvstrom. This fact is impressive when you consider
the next award, that of Paul’s elevation as
the very first entrant in the ISAF Hall of Fame.
He was chosen as simply “the World’s best
competitive sailor”.
It’s nice to say that the awards went to precisely
the right individuals, my (and indeed the
whole of the Royal Danish Yacht Club’s) warmest
congratulations to you both.
I am already looking forward to what should
be a great year on and off the water.

Our new Club House - it’s not only the
sailors who are winning!
Billedtekst
Photo: Gordon Smith
In addition to Paul Elvstrom and David Holms’ honours, the new Royal Danish Yacht Clubhouse has also been
in the limelight.
Danish architecture is recognised around the World for its quality, so try to imagine how tough a domestic
architecture competition is!
The Danish industry publication “Byggeri” awarded the new club house the Open Category prize.
“This is a distinctively unusual building of high architectural quality with soft forms and warm materials that
are in harmony with the harbour environment” concluded the judges’ summary.
We like it, and it is nice to hear that others do too!
The Royal Sailing Academy - ‘Prepare to succeed’
The Royal Sailing Academy; its purpose “to
provide sailors of every ability the possibility of
improving their skills all the way up to the highest
of highest levels”.
During the last America’s Cup it was clear that
a quiet revolution had taken place amongst Danish
sailors. For example about 15% of the Royal
Matchrace Centre’s members upped sticks and
moved to Valencia. North Sails in Alleroed (north
of Copenhagen) had members of staff living in
Valencia and working with all but one of the competing
syndicates and Danish technicians were
proving themselves invaluable.
On the back of this revelation and the increase
in Danish presence in big boat racing such as
Farr40 and TP52, it was realised that, within
Photo: Tim Wilkes
Denmark itself, it was neigh on impossible for all but
the most adventurous to gain big boat experience.
Using the framework of the Royal Matchrace
Centre, The Royal Danish Yacht Club’s two
Farr40s and the experience of AC crew, coaches
and skippers we have created an academy to allow
individuals from every different level to reach
the highest performance they are capable of. The
Royal Sailing Academy welcomes participants
from members and non-members alike, locally
and from across the Globe, continuing the Royal
Matchrace Centre’s longstanding training and
coaching heritage.
We are certain that this academy is going to
enrich and enhance the club’s training reputation
both locally and on the international stage.

Photo: Bent Lyman
Well, as far as Frederikshavn in any case! As
part of the Royal Danish Yacht Club’s policy of
supporting and developing the sport of sailing
nationally and internationally we have taken the
Open (the oldest part of the World Match Racing
Tour) on the road to Frederikshavn on the North
East Coast of Jutland.
It is an ideal setting for a Grade 1 International
event and the Co-hosts (Frederikshavn Sejlklub)
are actively using the event to promote this
beautiful part of Denmark internationally and the
sport of sailing locally.
In July 2007 the Royal Danish Yacht Club
moved up to Skagen on the northern most point
of Jutland, (just a few kilometres north of Frederikshavn)
for the Dexia Farr40 event. On that
occasion the location and hospitality were fantastic
and early indications are that the 2008 Danish
Open should be another great event.
The Danish Open is oldest event in the World
Match Racing Tour and offers $100,000 in prize
money. This year formal qualifying events are in
place for each part of the tour; for the Danish
Open they are: The TMC Grill Cup (Middelfart,
Denmark) and the Sails of the White Knights
event in Russia.
Although invitations will not be issued until
later in the year, early enquiries indicate a fleet
of the highest quality.
Svendborg and
Sandefjord - social
sailing the Viking way
A very important part of the Royal Danish
Yacht Club’s activities are centred on social sailing.
The classic regatta in Svendborg and the
“Vikingetraef” are really super examples of having
fun on the water with not so much as a flag
or umpire in sight!
Every three years hundreds of sailors meet
up in a gesture of friendship across the Scandinavian
waters. This year the Royal Norwegian
Sailing Association hosts this “Vikingetraef” and
has invited its sister Royal clubs from Sweden,
Denmark and Finland to the event to be held in
Sandefjord from the 16th-20th July; in addition
the Svendborg Classic Regatta focuses on classic
yachts and boats. The hospitality and fun to
be had at these two events leaves one feeling
“rather left out of it” if one has not been able to
attend.
So if you don’t want to suffer
from jealousy try to find
your way to one or another
of these events. They are
the reason why people love
to “mess around in boats”.
World Match Racing Tour - The Danish Open on the move
Photo Danish Open 2007: Henrik Hansen

Sailing Events Calendar for 2008 (www.kdy.dk)
April 18-20 Royal Matchrace Center Grade 3 Spring Cup
May 1st Rungsted Havn DFDS Optimists Cup (A,B and C)
17-18 Rungsted Havn Henri Lloyd Cup (for Knarr and Dragons)
23-25 Tuborg Havn Marblehead Trophy (Dragons)
30-1 Island of Fyn Palby “Round Fyn” Cup
June 6-8 Skovshoved Havn Copenhagen Swan Challenge
7-8 Rungsted Havn 24 Hour Challenge
On our website www.kdy.dk there are further details of future events including : The Yngling Open World Championships, The
junior European Yngling Championships, Farr40 events, Baltic Sprint Cup, The Danish Open, the X-Yachts Gold Cup and so forth!
Club Royal Partners
Published by:
Royal Danish Yacht Club
www.kdy.dk
R O Y A L D A N I S H Y A C H T C L U B
Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub
Tuborg Havnepark 15
2900 Hellerup
Denmark
Phone +45 33 14 87 87
Fax +45 33 93 87 88
Text: Gordon Smith
Layout and print:
www.sylvestertoksvig.dk
“NEWS” is sent to all foreign
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Yacht Club.