Monday, September 4, 2017

Malmö Surprises Swedish J/70 Sailing League!

J/70 Malmo sailing team (Jönköping, Sweden)- The third round of Allsvenskan Sailing (the Swedish J/70 Sailing League) was settled this past weekend on Munksjön in central Jönköping. And surprisingly, it was Malmö SS that took home victory, only one point ahead of the heavy regatta favorites-  KSSS (the Royal Swedish YC).

“This feels fantastic. We managed to get together a team just two days before starting,” says Per-Håkan Persson from the Malmö SS team.  That is even more of a shocker for the rest of the Swedish sailing league crews!  In other words, the Malmo crew were a pretty talented collection of sailors.  However, do know the team are excellent J/24 sailors that have raced “mano-a-mano” against the world’s best J/24 competitors for years!

There was no question the Malmo team upset the status quo that saw KSSS and the 2016 Champion Cape Crow YC from Gothenburg fighting for their lives to figure out how to stay in front of the Malmo SS team!  Nevertheless, the Malmo SS team won no less than seven races in the total of thirteen races sailed!!  Impressive, to say the least against the firepower assembled by their erstwhile competitors at KSSS and CCYC!

J/70 Swedish sailorsIn the end, Malmo won by just one point over the powerful KSSS team that had finally gotten their momentum going, winning five of their last six races! They were the only team to even have a “snowballs chance in hell” of succeeding to overcome the fast-sailing Malmo team.  Third was Cape Crow YC’s notoriously fast team that somehow had a hard time sailing on the lake in Jönköping.

As a result, the overall season series has one more event to close out the season finale.  Currently, after three events in Strangnas, Ekero, and Jonkoping, the KSSS have posted a 1-1-2 for an almost unassailable lead for the 2017 Swedish Sailing League series.  Three points back are their arch-rivals, the Cape Crow YC that have a 2-2-3 for 7 pts total.  A long way back in third place is Hjuviks BK team with a 3-13-4 for 20 pts total.  However, that means it has become a battle royale for the final spot on the podium for the season series!  Just 2 pts back in 4th is Ornskoldsviks SS with 22 pts and in 5th place is the rapidly ascending Malmo SS with an outrageous 17-6-1 for 24 pts.  However, don’t discount the fact that sitting in the hunt just 1 pt further back in 6th is Ekoln SK with a 14-3-8 for 25 pts.

Watch some of the race-by-race action of the Swedish J/70 Sailing League on Facebook here (it is all commentary in Swedish):
https://www.facebook.com/allsvenskansegling/videos/2003785933239210/
https://www.facebook.com/allsvenskansegling/videos/2003795436571593/
https://www.facebook.com/allsvenskansegling/videos/2003998443217959/
https://www.facebook.com/allsvenskansegling/videos/2004216026529534/
https://www.facebook.com/allsvenskansegling/videos/2004251383192665/

Follow the Swedish J/70 Sailing League on Facebook here   For more Swedish J/70 Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.