Norway’s best Sailing Clubs participated in their third round of the Norwegian Sailing League at Stavanger Yacht Club in Stavanger, Norway. The initial forecast was promising for the 15 teams from across Norway—10 kts from the west on Saturday, followed by a little less from the northwest on Sunday, with Saturday being a bit wet and a sunny Sunday for all. It turned out the weather forecasters in Oslo were quite accurate. It was cold, wet and windy on the first day, with breezes hitting in excess of 20-25 kts on Saturday. Then, Sunday provided light northwesterly winds all day to enable the Stavanger YC’s PRO to complete a total of 14 races for each team. The Arendals team posted eight firsts and five seconds in their 14 races to win by four points over the Asgardstrand sailing club (also winning 10 races but having a few bad ones to contend with). Third was KNS (Kongelig Norsk Seilforening) only one point back from ASF. “It blew so fresh on Saturday that some teams chose to sail without gennakers in their races. In the big winds, you can see a big difference between the best teams and those who are still climbing up the learning curve,” commented Didrik Godaker, PRO for Stavanger YC. In the overall series, Åsgårdstrand SF currently leads by a single point over their arch rivals KNS. ASF counts a first in Oslo, second in Sandefjord and second in Stavanger for 43 points total (high point scoring). Due to their important win in Stavanger, Arendals counts a 4-8-1 for 35 points, vaulting from the bottom of the pack to third overall. While it may be hard for Arendals to catch the two leaders in the finale on September 10-11 in Bergen, they will have to watch their backs since they are in a virtual four-way tie for third place; sitting in third with 35 points, with RAN in fourth with 34 points, Larvik in fifth with 33 points and Trondhjems in sixth with 30 points. For more J/70 Norwegian Sailing League information, click here.