It’s only been a week since the Cap Martinique arrived… And already the JPK 1050 is back in action, this time in the ORC class!
We learnt yesterday that Jonas Hallberg’s JPK 1050 ‘Hinden’ had secured the OVERALL victory in the Baltic 500. It was a magnificent performance for the boat for two reasons: firstly, because Hinden, the JPK 1050 No. 12, had only just left our shipyard at the start of the month. That leaves very little time for preparation! Secondly, because this victory is the JPK 1050’s first in ORC, the boat having been designed for IRC… All this against stiff competition, including a Pogo RC.
This is sure to add to the JPK 1050’s young but already impressive list of achievements! Fastnet Race overall, Spi Ouest France x2, Cap Martinique, and now Baltic 500 overall… Well done to Jacques Valer, the magician, to our teams who build these boats with such care, and of course to our wonderful clients for this victory in such a prestigious race! We’ll let them tell their own story of the race below:
Race report
The 19th of May 2026
JPK 10.50 Straight from the Yard onto the Podium!
Every year over the Ascension weekend, the Baltic 500 Regatta starts from Strande in the northern part of Kiel Bay — a double-handed race covering approximately 500 nautical miles.
This year, nearly 50 boats started in moderate downwind conditions from Strande towards the Fehmarn Belt, then past the white cliffs of Møn and on toward Copenhagen and the Øresund. With the wind steadily increasing from astern, the fleet continued out into the Kattegat, past Anholt and toward Læsø, the northernmost point of the course.
Up to that point, we had a neck-and-neck battle with the Pogo RC Mariejo. Countless gybes were necessary to take advantage of every wind shift and every small current benefit — especially in the narrow Øresund.
After rounding Læsø, we began the long 180-nautical-mile beat back toward Strande through the Great Belt, under its bridge, and past Langeland. The wind continued to build, and for the first 16 hours we were beating into 20–25 knots of wind. One new experience for us was that sailing with a reef actually made sense. On the 10.10 and the 10.30 this was rarely necessary and usually only later on. On the upwind leg, we were able to pull away significantly from the Pogo RC. The 10.50 is simply a lot of fun to sail upwind.
In the end, we managed to secure the overall victory, finishing nearly two hours ahead of the second-placed Mariejo after corrected time calculations. The champagne shower was then delivered by Cole Brauer, who together with Mathias on Red 2, a JV43, claimed third place overall after correction time.
We are incredibly happy that we actually made it to the starting line at all, considering that just three weeks ago our boat was still in the yard in Larmor-Plage, with the final screws only just being tightened. A huge thank you to the fantastic team at JPK, who pulled every possible string to get us shipped from Lorient to Kiel just in time.
— Jonas Hallberg
