…but some are more winners than others.

 

Day 1

16 teams with 6 nationalities finally made it to start to the 24th raid in the Stockholm Archipelago on Thursday the 22nd of August. The forecast looked good with winds from 15-25 knots from south west, but a bit gusty. 

The downwind start in Saltsjöbaden in a gentle breeze gave raid rookies time to get acquainted with their navigation and safety equipment. But pretty quickly the wind picked up and offered champagne downwind reaching on starboard tack in 15-20 knots to the outer archipelago in less than 2 hours. 

Second leg started with a roaring reach with 15-20 knots of wind from the beam . After the 10 minute reach the teams could set the kites and start gybing the 20 Nm downwind to the finish in Sandhamn in increasing winds.  The sauna was hot and the beer cold and after a good 2 meal course the sailors went to bed fairly early, since start the next day was announced to 8 o’clock.

The performance of the teams of day 1 would repeat itself over the coming days. The top 5-7 teams were all chasing each other and often finished within 10 minutes after the winner after 3 hours of sailing. Typically the Lundqvist brothers (SWE111) made a good start and took the lead. Other teams in the top where Karlsson(Nordblom (SWE007), Busck/Rosengren (SWE64), the Wunderles (GER 33), Noordziij/MOerman (NED 15), young team Åberg/Norrby (SWE 363) and Linder/Brunnberg (SWE 1) when then managed to not break anything. 

In the second group both mixed teams with Hedman/Wyon (DEN 11) and father and daughter Schütz (GER 340) as well as Bergendahl/Johnzon (SWE 4) and Joyriders Bennet/Caufield (IRL 789) and some others followed, all performing very solid and usually within sight of the front group.

A third group in the back with some newer F18 sailors who sometimes struggled in the very windy conditions this year. In the end 12 out of the 16 teams crossed the finish line on the final leg. 4 teams could not complete that leg either because of material failure or because they chose not to start or had to abandoned race some previous day.

Day 2

The gennaker start was north of Sandhamn/Lökholmen and the first leg took the fleet out to pretty remote islands. The first passage was through the iconic archipelago of Björkskär, via some check points to Rödlöga, one of few places in the outer archipelago with a small supermarket and Cafe Truten, that opened up for the raid sailors to get a coffee and a cinemon bun.  

Due to a pretty nasty forecast with gusts over 30 knots of wind the 4th leg had to be cancelled. Instead a “jib race” to get all teams to base camp Lidö some 12 Nm north. The F18 can reach 10 knots on just the 4 m2 jib with an average speed of 6 knots in these conditions, but they can’t go upwind, which required some planning not to end up in the wrong place.

Again the sailors enjoyed a great dinner before going to sleep in “lyxury” hotel rooms with clean sheets and made beds. 

Day 3

During the night some pretty heavy winds passed, but in the morning a steady breeze of 20-25 knots was on. Breakfast was served at 8 and at 10.30 the wind was deemed stable enough to start the 4th leg. At this point 3 teams had abandoned race for different reasons and 14 boats came to start.

The course was drawn closer to main land to avoid too much open water with too heavy winds and waves. But instead it was pretty gusty and still on the edge for the F18s. If day 1 and 2 was all about gennaker runs, day 3 was mainly upwind, but with some down wind between Check points to make the course more interesting.

It was a pretty tired bunch that seeked shelter at Möja Björkvik and some teams had misunderstood the instruction and accidentally beached their F18s too close to a house on private property. 

The final leg of the day was a loop deeper into the middle archipelago, through the “paradise bay” of Finnhamn before reaching base camp Nässlingen. The Sauna there is great and cold beer was supplied by the local bakery/brewery at Ingmarsö that also served an excellent dinner and breakfast.

Day 4

Again a windy forecast with 20-30 kots of wind from the SW, meaning mainly upwind sailing to get back to the finish in Saltsjöbaden. The start was downwind however with a 20 minutes gennaker run before turning south and start a long leg with many tacks in increasing winds. After a short lunch break at a beach at Stavsnäs the final race was on. One hour upwind followed by a one hour reach in speeds sometimes exceeding 20 knots. One boat dismasted and had to be towed. And one of the safety boats had an engine stop and also had to be towed by a third safety boat. Fortunately the Race Committee boat could continue to the finish just in time to lay the finish line.

It was a tired, but very happy crowd that gathered for the price ceremony while waiting for the luggage and spare parts to get back to port. And even if only a few teams got the medals all teams, who fought and battled to get to the finish line of each leg, felt like winners. 

 

For results, check points list and maps see here.

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