Racing on an aluminum boat

I´ve written about one of Europe´s most prestigious short-handed offshore regattas – the Baltic 500 – multiple times here on NO FRILLS SAILING. As this year´s edition had been taking place a week ago, I seized the chance to talk to Urs Kohler, Head of Sales at Pure Yachts and passionate sailor, about his third participation at the race. The most interesting thing about Urs´ race is the fact that he and Matthias Schernikau, owner of GORRE and founder of Pure Yachts, sailed the biggest and maybe most unusual boat to take to such a regatta: Metal!

Urs tells me that one of the more prominent skippers of the starting field, partially jokingly partially a bit honest snubbed at the two by asking: “What do you want here with such a big, placid bucket?” Well, Tim Kroeger, just wait and see! GORRE is a performance aluminum yacht which I know from her earliest days when she was in the welding workshop. So also for me it´s a very interesting setup: How can a modern lightweight aluminum cruising yacht perform against JPKs, XPs and even the two racing flukes, the JV 43s? Lets delve into the gripping setting of the Baltic 500 regatta …

Taking an aluminum cruiser to the Baltic 500 race

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Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „Urs, cool to talk to you so shortly after the race! To start with, congrats to the cool outcome for GORRE and Pure Yachts! Tell me, was this your first Baltic 500? It is said that this race is one of the more tougher and “serious” regattas, for example in comparison to the huge Silverrudder. Is that true?”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „Thank you Lars, it was such a joyful event, tough, but also full of so many happy moments! For me personally it was indeed the fourth participation at Baltic 500 and also the third time for our yacht and Matthias, by the way. We first started here in 2024, back then as the second-biggest boat. We had been hopelessly stuck in the back of the field as the 24-edition was a complete calm “race”. We´ve had no chance at all! The year after, last year, we finished second under sails in elapsed time, place 14 under handicap. This was totally awesome because we only had to give in to a Pogo 40 S4 Class 40 racing yacht! And this year it´s third ship home, calculated position 8, which is in the ORC-rated top 10 and a big, big thing for me! Comparing Silverrudder and Baltic 500, I wouldn´t agree that this race is so much different. Apart from the fact that there are more than 400 boats at the Silverrudder, as the biggest single-handed race of the world, the Baltic 500 featured only 48 boats this year. The field is much more compact, but you still have the faction of, let´s say, “fun” skippers who do not really seriously compete but take part just to prove they can do it. That they can endure this race. But yes, there is a very tight group at the top with thoroughbred racing boats, high-class regatta equipment and high ambitions. I mean, this year American pro-skipper Cole Brauer attended, but also old salts like Tim Kroeger, who might be well known to people remembering the South African America´s Cup team SHOSHOLOZA. So, yeah, I find the two regattas quite similar, but of course, each has their distinct own feats.”

Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „Who had the idea to participate with those big aluminum cruisers in serious racing event anyway? You …?”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: (laughs) „Yes, I fear it was me indeed! I took part in the Baltic 500 for the first ever time in 2023, sailing aboard a JPK 1010. It fascinated me from the start! So when Matthias had founded Pure Yachts and was finally also finishing building his own boat, the 49 ft GORRE, he was talking with me about how bad he wanted to sail through the night. So I said, why not during a regatta? I found it was fun and adventurous, and so we went there for the first time in 2024. That´s serious racing for basically three consecutive days. 500 nautical miles through partially very dense commercial traffic, lots of TTS and other navigational challenges. And not to forget the very “varying” Danish weather, which can be – and indeed was! – very treacherous.”

The performance profile of an aluminum fast cruiser

Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „This means you guys now have three Baltic 500 races to look back upon. What would you say are the principle characteristics of these boats in terms of performance? Is such a yacht really able to seriously compete against thoroughbred racers? I mean, aluminum-yachts are commonly seen as rather cozy boats, to say the least …”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „Yes, you are right! This is the general view on aluminum yachts. And it is true for many yachts made out of this fantastic alloy. But that´s not the case for GORRE, nor for the building material as a whole. See, before the big time success of glassfiber-boats, aluminum was indeed widely used for high performance yachts all over the world! Still today it is possible to build very lightweight hulls. I would say that boats around 50 feet made of aluminum have clear a weight-advantage over GRP-made boats. Not carbon, I wouldn´t say that, but it´s possible to make very, very fast and competitive racing boats in aluminum! I would say that it is possible to make alu-yachts with a handicap that is the same as an XP-50. I mean, if it wasn´t for their damage-related DNF, we were shortly before catching a race-tuned Solaris 50 last week. So yes, because of her modern hull shape, double rudder configuration and high righting moment because of the deep keel, GORRE is indeed highly competitive!”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „But there are always things to improve, of course. For example, we have some problems with our gennaker, but these relate to its sail shape, not to the boat. Her current sails setup makes her a very great performer on reaching points of sail. She is very, very fast and handles superbly. I will explain that later. GORRE is fastest on reaching courses, but most fun and exceptionally outperforming most of the other boats in strong winds on upwind courses! She eats up the waves and simple cut through! It´s a feast! Here´s a little fun fact, Lars: When we did the ORC measurements for the certificate, we did not mention her water ballast and drop keel. If we had, it would have saved on paper so much! I am sure our ORC rating would have ended at around 445, which is almost identical to true performance racers like the JV43! So, yes, she is a super-fast boat!”

Competing at the Baltic 500

Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „So, Urs, tell us about the race itself! 500 nautical miles: What´s the route and what has your race been like this year?”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „Well, okay. The start of the Baltic 500 regatta is organized by the German yacht club of Strande. It therefore traditionally starts and ends in Kiel, Germany´s “sailing city”. It´s a bit like the Silverrudder, which is around the Danish island of Fyn, but as for the Baltic 500, you have to round the island of Laeso, far north into the Kattegat. We started as usual on a Thursday morning, 10 o´clock. This time a new thing: A little dash upwind for the start, followed by some short downwind and another longer upwind stretch. This wasn´t good for us: See, GORRE is a cutter-rigged ship, meaning we have two forestays. So each time we go on a new tack, we have to furl in a bit the Genoa. This takes up so much time! Also, bringing out our huge, heavy Gennaker just for a short downwind dash didn´t make so much sense, so that´s the reason why we started very smoothly, knowing our time would come later.”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „And it was just like that: After we had reached the open sea, the Great Belt, we were able to one by one catch the boats and marched through the field. But a few wind shifts forced us to change Gennaker and Code 0 a lot, which on a big boat like GORRE is really tiring! As this year the route had to be sailed counter clockwise, we went on in the direction of Gedser, which was a nice reaching leg. But we weren´t able to set a direct course north towards Copenhagen as we´ve had to leave a commercial waterway to portside. Later, when on our northerly course, it was a nice, pointy run under Gennaker. There were times when we´ve had under three nautical miles distance to the top boats, which I found remarkable! After a fairly complicated, “roundabout”-shaped TSS off Copenhagen, which we passed in a respectful distance, the wind shifted again and came in exactly from abaft! And here´s where our Gennaker didn´t work out quite well, because its shape prohibited courses over 150 degrees. So we´ve had to gybe before the wind – where the other were able to just plane away on a flat out running point of sail.”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „Then we arrived at Copenhagen, Denmark´s beautiful capital. It´s a pretty darn narrow waterway just in front of the city. And of course, we´ve had to go upwind. That meant a lot, and I mean a lot, of tacks! Because of the cutter rigging, we lost a lot of time here and therefore couldn´t go with the front group. Nevertheless, as we´ve already managed to gain some 20 nautical miles of advance in front of the followers, we could limit the damage. After arriving in the Kattegat, it got pretty tense because we had to make some serious tactical decisions following sometimes contradictory weather forecasts. I trusted more the Danish forecast, which said that there would be a pretty hefty strong wind zone in the Kattegat with +30 knots. So we decided to sail a bit closer to Sweden, that way hopefully preventing being exposed to the worst winds and able to sail with full canvas. As it turned out, wind wasn´t as strong in the West, but that´s the reality of a regatta, right?”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „We reached the northernmost waypoint of the race, which is a buoy off Laeso. Tricky part was to find it, as we arrived around midnight and – of course! – the light of the buoy did not work. So it was a bit tricky to find it, but we managed it, rounded it and the island as well. In this period I was looking very much forward to the long stretch down south, as it seemed to be a full upwind battle. Something, GORRE was pretty good at, you know? Wind speeds of around 20 to 22 knots, high waves had already built up – that´s aluminum weather! And it turned out, it was: We were almost always more than 1 knot faster than all the others. Passing Danish Grenaa, we at last had the Solaris 50 in sight. Now, let´s catch her!”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „Wind had increased to some 30 knots and all was fine, as the main halyard of the Solaris just went bust and they had to abandon the race. All of a sudden we were placed fourth! Our next goal was the big Shogon 50, which was sailing in front of us. So I focused on this boat. A few moments later, her D2 shroud broke and they as well had to give up and seek shelter for repairs. So, suddenly: Place 3 for us. We went a bit to the safer side now. Facing the damage and DNFs in front of us, it was really not the time to bring GORRE to her limits, although I am sure that this robust yacht would have take much more battering. But let´s not stress Poseidon´s mood, right?”

The tough reality of a multi-day offshore race

Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „Urs, let me interrupt you here, because I was just thinking: Baltic 500 is a 3-day race with two people. We are just in the middle of the night: How did you manage the shifts, the active sailing, food and finally also getting some rest?”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „I think every crew has their own system, but Matthias and I, given the fact that this was out third Baltic 500 as a team, went for a roughly 3-hours-shift system. Usually, meaning in the past, this means that the one off duty has 2.5 to 3 hours of sleep. Or time to prepare food. This time we couldn´t pull this off, which was a problem that caused both of us to fatigue and wear off pretty hard. Just before the race we changed the autopilot´s computer, as there had just come out a new version. In hindsight we I am sure we wouldn´t have had so many problems if we just had sailed with the old one! Because there wasn´t enough time to properly program and fine tune the new processing unit, especially on downwind courses, we essentially had to manually steer the boat all the time. Upwind was okay, but the downwind legs ate away our power. This meant more shifts so that in the end each of us was only able to catnip a bit, maximum 1.5 hours. We never really slept. So, arriving in Kiel, we were just flat out dead …”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „And the wind increased ever so slightly. Maximum programmed in the system is a gust of 39 knots! So we decided to again sail a bit more to the Danish shores, because I supposed that in the leeward side of the islands, swell would be significantly lower. Which it was! But this detour in the end cost us 8 to 10 nautical miles which we´ve had to make up for on the last stretch. In the end, this is exactly the distance we are missing catching the two Judel-Vrolijk 43 in the final spurt, can you imagine! But on the other hand, wind was so strong that for the first time sailing GORRE, we´ve had to go to the second reef and the small Jib! So better playing safe here!”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „At least, we arrived without even the slightest damage, which not all crews can say. At the end, traversing the Kiel bight, which is one of the busiest areas traffic-wise, posed a last trial. There´s a TSS that, even now at deep night, was unusually crowded with freighters. But I had to cross it, so what to do? I radioed to Baltic traffic control and told them who we are and that we were racing. I must say that these guys had been awesome! They warned other traffic and even guided us through. I mean, we are fast, but these commercial ships are damn quicker! We even had overtakers overtaking the overtakers! And columns of head-on traffic. It was so full, I didn´t even dare to let go of the tiller just to take a picture. Can you imagine the adrenaline rush, so late in the race, worn down … and now in the midst of a waterborne rush hour!”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „And last not least, the race officials played a trick on me, although unwillingly. The called us via radio and informed us that according to their tracking data we had not properly rounded the Laeso buoy waypoint, therefore having violated the rules. Disqualification! I was shattered! And I couldn´t believe it – we had been desperately looking for that damn unlit buoy and I was sure we did everything right – but now we haven´t? I was furious, angry, agitated. I ran toward the pilot house to double-check our track, stumbled, hit my head on the roof – a metal roof! – and fell all along into the salon. You should have seen Matthias´ face …”

Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „… oh no! What a tragedy! I can´t believe this! Not the stumbling, but the disqualification!”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „Well, it´s not the end of this nice little anecdote, though. A few minutes later my phone vibrated. The race director called. He apologized for the false info, it was a readout mistake. I was like, can you believe this? At least we were all properly awake by now! (laughs and shakes his head) The rest is history: We arrived third ship home, just right behind the two JV43s. I was a bit disappointed because of the 8 nautical miles we gave away by playing safe, because if we hadn´t we might have catched up to them. But a third place, 8^th after handicap, is a really, really nice thing!”

Preparing a yacht for taking part in a serious regatta

Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „Congrats, what a story indeed! Tell us, Urs, how did you prepare GORRE for the race? Anything special in the setup beforehand?”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „Yes, sure! First of all, getting the boat, which is a custom one-off, certified is quite an undertaking, as you can imagine. But we also changed some of the initial original setup. We hired VMax-specialist Max Gurgel, who you know as well, to optimize our rudder blades. We felt that the original ones provoked stalling too early when going hard upwind, so this one is off the list now. Max also came up with an optimized tear-off edge for the transom. This “interceptor” called tuning detail is awesome, as it provides up to one ton of lift when going fast. And boy did we sail fast: 14.8 knots max speed in planing mode. Awesome! We´ve also bought a brand new A5 Gennaker for stronger winds, which was also a good decision.”

Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „Place 8 in ORC, third ship home – what does this outcome mean for you?”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „We are absolutely happy! Arriving in the top 10 amongst all these thoroughbred racers, JPKs, XP-44s and others, is a very, very good outcome. We are really proud of this. It nicely shows how powerful these boats are and how wide the range of performance can be driven for an aluminum yacht if you want to. It also underlines the performance orientation of your brand, Pure Yachts, which this is all about in the end.”

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Regatta racing as a marketing tool

Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „So participating in these races is also a sales instrument for your company, I guess?”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „Absolutely! We are here to showcase the boat, it´s strength and potentials. Most of our clients and really the target group of customers we aim at with Pure are indeed performance-oriented sailors. We are looking for the ambitious racer who, maybe as a second boat or family yacht, seeks a comfortable yet performant boat. This is the sweet spot where Pure can make an attractive offer. We are not primarily looking for the “standard” aluminum sailor, who is more comfort- and blue water-oriented. All of our clients now are passionate sailors, racers. The own a J-Boat or an X-Yacht for racing, the Pure is their choice for a fast, but comfy family yacht. So, yes, racing helps to get in contact, showcase the boat and raise awareness and visibility for Pure. This is why the top 10 is so important: Having your brand´s name immortalized here, is definitely a marketing-plus.”

Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „Any plans for upcoming races with Pure?”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „Yes, sure! I will participate in this year´s Silverruder Challenge of the Sea again. This will be great fun, I am sure! We also plan to take part in the Pantaenius Round Skagen in two years, a very tough race from Heligoland in the North Sea all around the northern tip of Denmark, down south towards Kiel.”

Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: „Will you be sailing the Pure 42 then?”

Urs Kohler | Pure Yachts: „As of now, no. That is because we want to sell our demo boat and therefore we don´t want to risk any damage. I will probably be riding GORRE again. Matthias and I are also talking about the Fastnet Race, which is an ultimate dream for  both of us. But before being able to pull off such a time-consuming event, we need to be able to leave the shipyard for a longer period of time, which is currently not possible due to the current high work-load. We´ve sold three Pure 42, you know. Other than maybe smoothly sailing her during upcoming Kiel Week, she will be prepared to being sold. Ah, and by the way, we are thinking of one day starting at Midsummer Sail, which is also one of these dream-regattas of ours.”

Urs, thanks very much for these intimate and first-hand insight into the Baltic 500, sailed with your 49 feet aluminum cruiser GORRE! It was a pleasure. Congrats again to your performance – and also to your sales successes with the Pure 42, rightfully voted “European Yacht of the Year” for 2026! If you, dear reader, want to know more, please check the articles under the hashtag #pureyachts, where you will find a lot in-depth article on Pure, the shipyard and the Pure 42 boat as well.

Also interesting to read:

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