Following an exhilarating start to the sixth Swedish Match Tour season, the Tour heads north of Copenhagen, Denmark, for the 8th annual Danish Open.

The Danish Open is one of five events that have featured on the schedule in each of the Tour’s first five seasons. This year the event offers DKK200,000 (approximately $32,900) in prize money, with DKK60,000 (approximately $9,850) slated for the winner.

The top eight finishers also earn points towards the Tour championship, which awards $60,000 and a BMW 545i Touring to the champion.

Reigning champion Magnus Holmberg (SWE), skipper of the SeaLife Rangers crew, won’t be in attendance as he’s taking a break from match-racing until at least November.

The list of entries includes reigning Swedish Match Tour champion Peter Gilmour of Australia, the skipper of the Pizza-La Sailing Team, who placed third last year, as well as 2002 Danish Open champion Jes Gram-Hansen of Denmark.

Gram-Hansen and his crew of Michael Arnhild, Christian Kamp and Rasmus Kostner spent the month of July crewing for three-time America’s Cup champion Russell Coutts.

They won the Swedish Match Cup at the beginning of the month, and placed second on two other occasions, including the Portugal Match Cup, which kicked off the Swedish Match Tour season two weeks ago.

For the first time in Danish Open history the field features a female entry. Lotte Meldgaard-Pedersen (DEN), skipper of Team Gerimax, is the world’s No. 1-ranked women’s match-racer.

Medgaard-Pedersen and crew placed sixth last weekend in the Lysekil Women’s Match Race, billed as the largest women’s match-race regatta in the world.

The field also includes Michael Dunstan (AUS) of the OzBoyz Challenge, Kelvin Harrap (NZL) of Team New Zealand, Ulf Jonson (SWE), Chris Law (GBR) of “The Outlaws”, Staffan Lindberg (FIN), Lars Nordbjaerg (DEN), Philippe Presti (FRA) of le Défi Français, Mathieu Richard (FRA) and Peter Wibroe (DEN).

Racing begins Thursday, 12 August and continues through Sunday, 15 August with 0930 daily starts.

The Tour kicked off in Portugal two weeks ago, with Ed Baird (USA), skipper of Team Musto, defeating Russell Coutts (NZL) and his Danish crew in a thrilling final that featured numerous lead changes and penalties.