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(Mariehamn, Finland)- Of all the sailing leagues in Europe, perhaps it was the Scandinavian countries that were affected the most by the effects of the pandemic and the "social distancing" guidelines issued by their respective countries. With the most "open", and no doubt riskiest, policies, only Sweden managed to sail more than two events. In the case of Finland, their league managers could only pull off a single event before the rising and setting sun all but disappeared in regions of the Arctic Circle! Nevertheless, the dozen teams from across Finland enjoyed an exhausting twenty races over two days.
Fast out-of-the-blocks was Esbo Segelförening (ESF) winning five of their first nine races on the first day! They were never challenged after that opening gambit, handling winning the event despite averaging 4.5 pts in their last four races. As a result, ESF was declared champion of the Finnish Sailing League 2020. "We’re feeling great. We’ve been training for this for a couple of years on the J/70, and this year we managed to sail much more consistent races”, said ESF skipper Lucas Karlemo. His crew consisted of Victor Mesterton, Anton Eklund, and Emil Lindblom.
The silver medals were awarded to the regatta host Åländska Segelsällskapet (ÅSS 1), their team consisted of skipper Daniel Mattsson, Mathias Dahlman, Staffan Lindberg, and Jasper Karlsson. Amazingly, despite 15 podium finishes out of 20 races, they still could not close the gap on ESF!Earning the bronze medal in a very tightly fought battle was Brändö Seglare (BS 2). It was not until the final race that skipper Ville Korhonen and his crew of Edi Bremer, Tusse Tallberg, and Jari Bremer overcame the strong challenge from the team sailing for Nylandska Jaktklubben; only beating them by one point! Sailing Photo credits: Pepe Korteniemi / Suomen Purjehdusliiga 2020 For more Finnish J/70 Sailing League regatta informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.
(Helsinki, Finland)- The Finnish J/70 Sailing League, like all the others in Europe, also created an abbreviated series of events due to pandemic restrictions. In their case, they created a two-event qualifier in September over successive weekends, with the finale taking place in the first weekend of October. Recognizing that a lot of Finland is above the Arctic Circle, it's a good thing they've enjoyed remarkably great, warm weather within the rapidly diminishing daylight in the early fall! Nevertheless, the Finnish sailors were extremely enthusiastic to get a chance to get back out on the water in September. 
In the first regatta, hosted in Naantali, Finland, they managed to pull off a 17-race series for the dozen teams from across Finland. Winning that event was Alandska Segelsallskapet team, posting all podium finishes- winning 7 races along the way. Second was the Esbo Segelforening Team with 36 points, also winning 7 races but having to include a few "send it down the mineshaft" finishes. Third was Nylandska Jaktklubben with 46 points. The second event took place at Kulosaari Brando. The fleet was blessed with remarkable conditions, 60s F, blowing 10-17 kts all weekend, and sunny! A rare thing for fall sailing in Finland! Winning that event was Nyländska Jaktklubben, followed by Brändö Seglare in second, and Åländska Segelsällskapet in third place. The top six, including Mariehamns Seglarförening, Wasa Segelförening and Turku Yacht Club have all qualified to sail the finale in October. "We had time to experience all possible weather during the weekend. We had good competition in sunny weather. We have to go to the finals quite humble, because there are tough Teams and the conditions in Mariehamn," reflected the winning skipper- Thomas Hallberg. Their team consisted of Hallberg, Juhana Rintala, Robert Nyberg and Christoffer Silén. The team has experience in both offshore and Olympic classes. 
The BS 2 team, that includes Ville Korhonen and Edvard Bremer, represent the younger, talented generation of sailors. In 2019, the duo won World Championship silver in the International 29ers Under 19 years of age!"We are happy with our weekend sailing. It felt good to do well in the home club competition. We expect a tough race and cold weather from the finals," laughed both Korhonen and Bremer. For more Finnish J/70 Sailing League informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.
