KSSS Repeats as Swedish Sailing League Champion

 

(Västerås, Sweden)- With consistent sailing of an experienced crew, the KSSS Team (Royal Swedish YC) managed to take home the Allsvenskan gold racing in their fleet of match J/70 one-design sailboats. A second place in the last regatta of the series in Västerås was enough for the Stockholmers to take their fifth gold in six years!

Sailing for KSSS this weekend was skipper Hedvig Liljegren and crew of Carl Leuckfeld, Fredrik Liljegren and Niklas Edler.

"This was the plan from our club- go to Västerås and, hopefully, take home the gold! It has been a fantastic weekend, with a great event and great conditions. We sailed consistently, but also made some unnecessary mistakes," said Niklas Edler. "But it is a bit sad that we missed the victory in Västerås. We had a golden opportunity before the final race. But, were locked in at the start by Ö-vik, who got off to a flying start. Although we should have recovered well, we were having a debate on our boat and made some bad decisions. Had we stayed cool; we could have won. But, Halmstad sailing club are good sailors, it was a really good team that won."

Taking the silver in the overall standings was GKSS team. They were leading the series before the weekend, but a poor showing in the finale dropped them to second. The most amazing, rocket-like rise in the standings was, not surprisingly, the winners in the Västerås finale- Halmstad SS. Prior to the finale they were 5th overall and managed only a 10th in the previous regatta in Örnsköldsvik. Their impressive win in the finale vaulted them to the bronze step on the podium! Rounding out the top five were Hjuvik SS in fourth place and the newcomer Ekoln SC from Uppsala in fifth position.

Sailing for the Halmstad SS team were the experienced Hellekant family; three of them! On board were Christoffer, Rebecca, and Anders Hellekant. Their fourth was a close family friend- Petter Norrgren. They were an impressive team; this weekend, they won half of their races, e.g. eight out of 16 total! Coincidentally, KSSS had the same result.  For more Swedish J/70 Sailing League informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.

J’s Cruise Sweden’s Midsummer Solo Challenge

(Marstrand, Sweden)- Back in December 2017, a group of sailors gathered together and decided to create the Midsummer Solo Challenge, a 123.0nm race from Marstrand around the northwestern archipelago of Sweden.  Here is the report from Peter Gustafsson sailing the famous J/11 BLUR.SE.

“This year it felt like it was real.

The idea behind Midsummer Solo Challenge was formulated at a meeting in December 2017, and last year was a test of the format.

This year there were nearly 80 boats registered; including long-distance sailors from Estonia and Switzerland. And it also felt that the breadth of experience was larger, from those who never raced to those who have singlehanded for 35 years.

It also felt like everyone took the event as a personal challenge to finish. That it was not a race, but a personal challenge where everyone is following their own conditions and ambitions. In my report, it may sound like a contest, but it's just my way of fooling myself into pushing myself to the limit and doing the sailing challenge that is not really necessary.

Most boats arrived on Thursday and were seen at the pier in front of the famous Carlsten's fortress.

We had a nice dinner that evening that ended with a review of safety, rules and a solid weather briefing by Erik Nordborg.

The forecasts showed moderate southern winds during Friday, which would decrease during the afternoon/ evening to become very light and varied during the night. Saturday morning the wind would increase again from the east.

As last year, the boats were divided into classes based on LOA, where the smaller boats started first. It became a fast start with TWD of 130-150, and I took it carefully with the slightly smaller A3 spinnaker.

It was beautiful sailing between the islands and we made quick progress going north.

At Måseskär, the wind had eased a lot from the start of 7-8 m/s, and it seemed to be pure southerly up towards Lysekil, so I switched to A2 before I stepped north. Surprisingly, it was a smooth replacement, but still difficult.

Now, the wind rose again, and there was some gusts into the 9 m/s range. Suddenly, I had a hard time fetching the passage towards Islandsberg.  So, I had to take the A2 down after a couple of broaches, and then put it back up. That was very tiresome.

There were other ways through the archipelago, but I didn't feel at all sure about these. Here I should have done my homework, because I was not going to chance it with the big A2 (155 m2) in almost 10 m/s!

Then the southerly kicked in again going up to Lysekil. But, as the wind again got lighter, I passed many boats.

After rounding the top mark in the north, it was first upwind and then reaching as I headed back south. I had both Code 0 and J0, and I had a lot to do on the front deck. But, the wind increased and I went fast with just the jib. So, I decided to save on my strength. Even here, I felt a little worried about the right choice. Nevertheless, I didn't seem to lose anything to the boats behind which I always had on AIS tracking. I also had a look at my friend Jonas Dyberg on the J/88.se to see which choice he and others made.

After Hållö, the big A2-gennaker was up again. It kept me in the middle of the course when the wind had now started to back even further. When it died, I didn't want to be on any edge east or west. In fact, quite a few of the boats ahead had chosen to go further west, and there was certainly more power there for a while. But, not for long.

Very true, the wind died on the way into the Fjällbaka archipelago. I had actually intended to take the western approach to Testholmen, but then I saw that some boats had wind inside.

I switched to A3 spinnaker to be able to sail higher, and tossed my lot among those boats going up the inside to the east.

Also, I had some stops, getting becalmed in some place, but I came through quite OK.

After a while, I lost patience. The theory was that the weather would fill in from the south, so I put up the A3 again and switched to the J1, even though Ramskär was NNW from where we were.

And, thankfully, I found some type of wind that was extremely sheared (I sailed TWA 155 with gennaker). I had something that the others who were 5 km. to the east did not have. Here I passed the J/88.se.

Now, it was only two more boats that were ahead on the track. And, still a long way home.

But, just like last year, the wind died again. For a long time, I drove straight west with 0.8 knots current. Very frustrating. And, you didn't dare to sleep either.

Then a little wind filled in from the east, as promised. And, I could go from J0 to A3 at the approach to Väderöarna.

I tried to balance a desire to go further east into the archipelago and sail quickly south towards the next mark.

At Hållö, there was too much wind, and a little too tight angle for the gennaker. Up with the jib, which felt OK when it blew 6-7 m/s, but not when it got lighter on occasion.

I then got my Code Zero up and aimed straight at Trubaduren.

I really wanted to be the fastest boat around the track and watched the distance to the finish.

After Hätteberget, there was a short cross in to the bay at Strandverket. Good with wind, very hot and a wind that twisted between TWD 60 and 80 degrees.

In the end, I was the fastest around on my J/111 BLUR.SE, which everyone expected.

But, I am most satisfied with the fact that I sailed extremely actively throughout the race, I was good at decision-making when things happened with the weather and I tried to avoid big, tragic mistakes that would cost a lot of distance. It is a mental game, a physical game, a strategic game. It is tough!

I think we have managed to create a more intense and beautiful variant of the Silverrudder Race in Denmark and I hope that more will discover this form of sailing in the future. It's not as difficult as you think. And the feeling is also much better than you thought before you tried it.”

As a result, the J/111 BLUR.SE not only won overall, but also the “big boat” class. Winning the “Mid-size” class was Dyberg’s J/88 J/88.SE.  Watch the J/88.SE sailing video on YouTube  Here are J/111 BLUR.SE highlights from 2018   Follow the Midsummer Solo Race here on Facebook   For more Midsummer Solo sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

SFS Hunnebo Leads Swedish J/70 League

(Strängnäs, Sweden)- The first event of the Swedish J/70 Sailing League (the Allsvenskan) took place on the Lake of Strängnäs, about 40 miles west of Stockholm. During Friday and Saturday, Strängnäs offered nice racing conditions with a good wind of 4–6 m/s, mostly sunny, warm, and comfortable. But, on Sunday it was not possible to sail because there was never any wind.

“Strängnäs really showed its best side on Friday and Saturday with fantastic conditions. Sailing on a lake instead of out on the sea often gives more whimsical winds. Hunnebo mastered these best while Särö, who were newcomers to the Allsvenskan 2018, continued to impress,” said the regatta Chairman Isabelle Lindsten.

It was SFS Hunnebo that won the premiere round of the Allsvenskan that was settled this past weekend in Strängnäs. But, there’s was not an easy victory as they won on a tie-breaker over Särö Sailing Club at 23 points apiece.  The countback determined the win, with SFS Hunnebo’s six wins bettering Särö’s four wins in the twelve races each team sailed.

For the SFS Hunnebo team from Hunnebostrand, just over ten kilometers north of Gothenburg, it was their first major win in the Allsvenskan.  The team was comprised of Magnus Lundgren, Urban Lagnéus, Julia Edvardsson, Kajsa Mattsson and Peter Busck.

The win for SFS Hunnebo was not entirely unexpected. The victor’s winning skipper was Magnus Lundgren, he had the record for most race wins in a row while sailing for Gottskär SC in 2017, when he led his team to eight straight wins. Nevertheless, they were offered good competition from the Särö team (Tobias Bergqvist, Christian During, Björn Palmquist, and Lisa Rydbacken).

The competition amongst the top four was exceedingly close. While the win was determined on a tie-breaker, the Hjuviks BK sailing club was just two points back for the bronze, while the past champions KSSS took fourth place just another two points back; just five points separating the leaders from 4th place!

The Allsvenskan series sails four regattas and the next round is held in Limhamn in Malmö in two weeks (May 31-June 2). The third competition is in Örnsköldsvik from August 23rd–25th and the last is Västerås from September 13th to 15th.   Follow the Swedish J/70 Sailing League on Facebook here  For more Swedish J/70 Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Sweden Midsummer Solo Challenge a Success!

(Stockholm, Sweden)- Without a doubt, Swedish offshore sailor and entrepreneur extraordinaire, Peter Gustafsson, is always thinking, always dreaming, always innovating, wondering how to do things better in business as well as indulging in his favorite pastime- sailing his J/111 BLUR.SE.

Recently, Peter had yet another spasm of inspiration, commenting, “we have a crazy new side project, to start a solo archipelago race through Bohuslän. 125 nm with no rules.  We managed to fill 60 slots within 24 hours of announcing the race! 48 boats started, 15 finished (due to light winds and two nights at sea).  Nevertheless, the first edition of Midsummer Solo Challenge lived up to expectations. Remember, that far north in Scandinavia, it is “sunset twilight” all night long, the sun never fully sets!

Here is Peter’s commentary on the race from aboard his beloved J/111 BLUR.SE:

“How about 50 solo sailors completing a 125 nm course through one of the world's most beautiful archipelagos, in the middle of the light and warm Swedish summer night?

When the initiative was launched six months ago, the initial 50 spots filled up within 24 hours. We’ve seen the popularity of similar races, like the Danish Silverrudder, but a true archipelago race for solo sailors is something new.

On Thursday evening, 48 skippers met for a three course dinner and a weather briefing promising light to moderate winds from south... and lots of sunshine! Administration was kept to a minimum, and everyone just had to put a signature on a list to verify that they intended to take part.

A few of us had a final beer, but then everyone wandered off to their boats to prepare for the challenge ahead.

Friday morning, the mini class (boats from 18 to 25 feet) stated at 10:00 in 4-8 knots of wind from SW. With a mix of downwind sails set, the group set off to the north. As the second group started an hour later, the first wrestled with some major decisions; inshore through the small straights and through the picturesque fishing village of Gullholmen, or the westerly route close to Käringön and the landmark lighthouse of Måseskär. Inshore is shorter, but offshore you can catch a current pushing you north at 2 knots. One of many decisions to be made in the coming 24-48 hours.

Leif Jägerbrand in his Seascape 24, loved the conditions, took the shortest route and quickly extended his lead.

At 13:00 the bigger boats left Marstrand, trying to hunt down the smaller boats ahead. J/111 Blur with Peter Gustafsson was expected to be the fastest boat, and showed pace and set of offshore before hoisting his huge 155 sqm gennaker.

Late afternoon, the different classes started to mix, gybing through the islands ticking of Lysekil, Hållö, Smögen and many of the anchorages where people spend their summer vacation. It’s easy to spend 4-5 weeks cruising here and each night find a new amazing spot to anchor.  It was a strange feeling to cover the same distance in a day.

When the sun set, the leading boats were leaving Fjällbacka and aimed for the northern mark of Ramskär. The wind became even lighter, and some struggled to keep their boats going. It is always a special feeling to turn the boat around and sail towards the finish. But knowing it would be 15-30 hours of light upwind sailing and adverse current everyone understood the meaning of the word ”challenge”.

The first three boats, the Seascape 24, Jonas Dyberg in his J/88 and J/111 Blur stayed in the archipelago to avoid the current. Short tacking south, they reached the finish late afternoon. The smaller boats had a duel where the Seascape had to give in to the J/88 after leading the way for almost 30 hours. Blur crossed the line within the hour to post the fastest time around the course with 27 hours 35 minutes and 3 seconds.  Second was Dyberg’s J/88.

But that didn’t really matter. No winner was announced; no awards were handed out and the important thing was to prove to yourself that you could do it. And naturally to receive the t-shirts with ”FINISHER” printed at the back.

The three finishers had dinner, wondering if anyone else would make it. The wind had slowly died and many boats were parked with the finish in sight. Another bunch where anchored or drifting at Måseskär, as every attempt to get past just resulted in being pushed back by the current.

Would the skippers have the patience and endurance to hang in there and wait for the morning breeze? Later Saturday night, a few boats trickled in, managing to cross the line.  Early morning, a few more, and after 46 hours Staffan Cederlöf closed the gate in his red Compis 28 Retro Balloon.

All in all, 15 boats of the 48 that started, managed to complete the Midsummer Solo Challenge. And as always, it came down to grit and sheer will. It wouldn’t be surprising to see all of them, and quite a few more, back next year to challenge themselves again.

Enjoy this entertaining J/88 sailing video from Jonas Dyberg
https://youtu.be/GSTO0kPmqUU

The story and results in Swedish: http://www.blur.se/2018/06/11/midsummer-solo-challenge-2018/

For more information about the Midsummer Challenge Race- please contact Peter Gustafsson- M: +46 733 304000 / E: peter@blur.se Add to Flipboard Magazine.

KSSS Wins Swedish J/70 Sailing League

(Gottskär, Sweden)- The dramatic finale of Allsvenskan Sailing 2017 took place in Gottskär, Sweden.  Only after the twelfth and final round of racing was it clear that the KSSS held off the Cape Crow YC to win the season series for the Swedish J/70 Sailing League.

"Before the final race we did not look at our position. We knew it was tough and that we needed a good race. It blew quite a lot today.  Our tactic was to only make a good race, without stupid maneuvers," said KSSS Fredrik Bergström.

The last round of Allsvenskan offered tough conditions with a lot of rain and wind at the beginning, very light winds on Saturday and lots of winds on the last day- mostly up to 10 m/s. But, neither the KSSS nor the Cape Crow, which are the clubs that dominated this year's all-Swedish tournament, sailed well in the final event. On the other hand, the Sotefjord Sailing Company won nine of the twelve races to win the final regatta at Gottskär.

KSSS came to Gottskär as a favorite to sail home with the gold. However, after half of the twelve rounds were completed, they were far behind and at that time, Cape Crow was the possible league champion. But, KSS's young, good-natured skipper, 19-year-old Vilma Bobeck, and her crew of Fredrik Bergström, Patrik Erlandsson and Göran Bobeck made some changes in their tactics and completed the last six races with all top three finishes to seal the series win, despite finishing sixth in the regatta!

"We did not sail at our peak earlier this weekend. But, on Sunday when it blew much harder, we managed to keep it together, sail well and take advantage of big mistakes by our competitors. We also improved a lot during regatta because we have not sailed this format before and I have never sailed the J/70,” said KSSS’s Fredrik Bergström- an Olympic 470 sailor at the Rio Games.  Follow the Swedish J/70 Sailing League on Facebook here  For more Swedish J/70 Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Malmö Surprises Swedish J/70 Sailing League!

(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!

In 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.

J/111 BLUR.SE Wins Bohusracet- World’s Largest Double-handed Race

(Stockholm, Sweden)- Peter Gustafsson’s J/111 BLUR.SE sailed through the 8,000 island Bohus Archipelago in Sweden, taking on the best sailors in Scandinavia, to win the Bohusracet- reputed to be the world’s largest offshore double-handed race.  Here is Peter’s report:

There are some sailing venues that are more magical than others, and some races that you really want to came back and do again and again. And even compared to some exotic places and iconic races, I think that Bohusracet tops my list.

Why?  The recipe is easy:

1/3 Bohuslän. With over 8,000 islands, CNN Travel ranks this archipelago the seventh most beautiful natural wilderness area in the world. It’s easy to spend 5 weeks of vacation- or a lifetime - and never visit the same spot twice. And a race course that takes you through most of it in 24 hours is bound to have both beautiful scenery and navigational challenges.

1/3 Midsummer nights. When the sun sets at 10.30PM and rises at 04:00AM it's never really dark. And as the wind often drops, you tend to get close racing with other boats hunting for wind at 02:00AM. Unreal seeing the silhouettes of the crews whispering on the other boats.

1/3 Intense racing (or just an adventure). With over 150 boats, a 170 nm course and seven checkpoints, it tends to be an intense fight for the serious racers. And with just 2 on board there’s not much time for food or sleep. Others do the race to test their limits and to share the experience with a significant other or one of the youngsters in the family.

We hadn’t been able to do the race for a few years. last year we did the ÅF Offshore Race (Around Gotland double handed) and the year before that we focused on Fastnet Race.

So now we were eager to get another chance. In the past we’ve won our class several times and finished second over all twice. But this year we might get lucky in the weather lottery - with 6 hours separating the small boats starting Friday morning and us, in the fastest class, starting at 3PM.

The forecasts were unanimous: a big low over south-east Sweden would render a fast race with a puffy 20-30 knots from NE pushing all the boats out from the start in Uddevalla to Marstrand and the rounding to go north Friday evening.

The big talk before start was to use downwind sails or not, but that proved to be a non-issue at the starting area as it was blowing a solid 30 knots gusting 50. Mmmm…

We went with a full main and our shorthanded jib (a J3.5 with more shape and a reef) for the first short downwind leg, with plans for a deep reef after the first rounding. But we managed to keep it together by heading of in the gusts, easily doing 12-15 knots, and heading up in the lulls. This worked out nicely except for one occasions when we were supposed to go upwind for 500 meters to fetch a ”sprint prize” - not ideal in 52 knots of wind, but miraculously everything stayed in one piece. Others weren’t so lucky, and masts and sails were coming down all around.

So a great ”shakeout” with 150 nm to go. It couldn’t get worse?

And it didn’t. We extended the lead in our class, and after a few hours we managed to get the A5 up. Then managed to work through the downwind inventory before rounding the Hätteberget lighthouse with a healthy 15 minute lead on corrected before our main competitor, Norwegian "short-handed rock star” Elling Rishoff in a fine tuned First 40 Godevenner.

Close hauled, continuously changing between jib and J0 (big jib/small code set on a furler on the sprit) we sailed north into the sunset. As forecasted we we’re headed just north of Smögen, and the long beat towards Norway began. We were catching up with many of the smaller boats, and it was pretty magical passing just meters away in a serene archipelago.

We managed pretty OK, but we lost a few minutes here and there to First 40 Godevenner that had passed us just north of Smögen. On corrected time we were ok, but they seemed to have a slight advantage.

In the morning, the conditions became trickier. Several weather systems were fighting, and a NW breeze were filling in from the west. We got caught in the transition just before Strömstad and lost even more. Now we were 20 minutes behind on corrected, and couldn’t wait to get to the Tresteinerne lighthouse in Norway to get the chute up and go south again.

We rounded in a light northerly but we stayed west and the new breeze filled in nicely. We tried to as hard as possible and hunt pressure when possible. We slowly caught up with Godevenner, keeping track on them both on AIS and on the rounding reports.

At some point we thought it was impossible to catch them, but at the last mark it became clear; we were just 1.5 minutes behind on corrected with 35 minutes to go… We went for it and took every shortcut we could find, and kept the big A2 up as long as humanly possible (did the best takedown of the season at the exactly the right moment).

And we managed to beat them by 30 seconds. After 23 hours and 40 minutes that was a huge relief.

The smaller boats had managed to get around the course without any upwind work, and were favored by more wind during the day Friday. So they dominated the over-all list.

I guess we'll have to come back and try again…   Here’s a YouTube sailing video taken by Peter on BLUR.SE   For more J/111 BLUR.SE sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

KSSS Draws First Blood at Swedish J/70 Sailing League

(Strängnäs, Sweden)- The first of four events in the Swedish J/70 Sailing League took place in Strängnäs, where city-based sailing on the Ulvhällsfjärden Lake just below the cathedral provided an amazing landscape for the eighteen teams participating from across Sweden.  The organizing clubs- Strängnäs Segelsällskap and Ekerö Båtklubb- created a creating a memorable sailing event with short-course races along their picturesque waterfront.

“Since we have a sailing arena that is centrally located, it is a perfect way for us to create interest both for the sport of sailing and for the club. We aim to offer the sailors an urban sailing experience with beautiful scenery and an easily accessible race village," said Tommi Rotonen from Strängnäs Segelsällskap.  “Most importantly, each crew must consist of one person of each sex and at least one sailor under 25 years!”

Day One
The first day of racing was hot and produced very light winds on the lake below the cathedral in the center of Strängnäs.  The light winds permitted just three races to be sailed by each team.  Despite the light winds, the racing attracted a crowd along the town’s waterfront.  The ruling champions from the Cape Crow Yacht Club got off to a slow start and were sitting in eighth place.

Day Two
The second day offered perfect conditions- sunshine, winds around 5-7 m/s and tight city-front racing in front of hundreds of spectators - and unusually smooth sailing.  After ten of a total of 15 scheduled races, the champions from 2015- the KSSS team- were tied on points with Hjuvik and Trea, followed by the champion Cape Crow club.

“Strängnäs delivered another great day with fantastic sailing. The race track is close to land, which gives great spectator viewing, but also very difficult conditions," said Oscar Lundqvist from KSSS. "After a tremendous opening race with a penalty at the first start, we managed to win three of six races today. That means we are now leading overall, on a tie-breaker. Before tomorrow, we will try to minimize the mistakes and use our talented crew to beat our competitors!”

Day Three Finale
"Today, it was a little different scenario, with even more winds on the lake, shiftier, too! Before the final race, the starting point was clear; we had to get at least a 2nd to win overall,” said Oscar Lundqvist from KSSS. "We took the start of the last race, but got a bad track up to the first mark and rounded last!! After an incredible first leg downwind, we were up to second place and halfway up on the second windward leg, we were leading! Unfortunately, the last battle at the gate marks with Cape Crow made us take a penalty. Again, we were closest to the last puff and had to do our utmost to take second place in the race. Fortunately, everything went our way and we slipped over the finish line just a few centimeters before our competitors!!”

In the end, victory went to KSSS team of Jacob Lundqvist, Per Vickberg, Ida Svensson and Oscar Lundqvist.  Tied with them on points, but losing the tie-breaker was the Cape Crow YC team of Magnus Holmberg, Lasse Linger, Frida Magnusson and Axel Munkby.  Third was Hjuvik BK from Torslanda, who had 21-year-old Johanna Bergqvist at the helm this weekend; her teammates included Isabelle Bergqvist, Sten Bergqvist and Anders Höije.

The next round in Allsvenskan Sailing will be taking place in Ekerö, just outside of Stockholm, from June 9th to 11th.   Follow the Swedish J/70 sailing league on Facebook here   For more Swedish J/70 Sailing league information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/111 BLUR.SE Eclipses Tjorn Runt Race

(Tjorn, Sweden)- The J/111 BLUR.SE has been notorious for having fun, going fast and collecting a remarkable string of silverware over the past three seasons in European offshore circles sailing fully-crewed, singlehanded and doublehanded events.  Here is Peter Gustafsson’s latest adventure in the Tjorn Runt Race (an around the island of Tjorn) in Sweden.

“Tjörn Runt was a good opportunity to gather the gang again, and it was noticeable on the Friday training and in the bar of Kookaburra--- everyone was happy to be seen, and get together to sail again....

Besides, we liked the weather forecast. Light winds with the possibility of some downwind at sea suits us quite well. It is not that we need it, but with a gennaker so it is nice to be able to sail their angles at sea, rather than being forced to sail dead downwind in narrow straits or narrow fjords. It's more fun if everyone can sail their boats to 100%.

It was 3-4 m/s when we cruised out to the course, but when it was time for the start, it was completely dead. Both where we wanted to start, the far east at Stenungsön, but also down to the west side. It was just the boats in the middle with Edin Progressive, like the J/111 DACAPO that ran away from us.

When we finally got some wind, it was just time to start hunting down our leaders. After our start, went under Tjörnbron.  We know we go fast and have good boat handling. To take a chance on something different than all the others would too high a risk so early in the race.

We stretched our legs and went fast to Bratton, where we (and almost everyone else) took a route east to get around the island. Then, we went south on a long port tack board.

We were right in the bottom of the pressure that was on the east side and did not have much to gain from stepping up a notch to the west. Now it was just step hard on the gas and go south fast; our position in the middle along with the leading boats in our class felt quite ok.

We picked an experimental Code 1, which did not appear to work properly, and when we could change to our Code 0, we picked up the second J/111 DACAPO.  But, soon, they pulled out a whopping Code 1 and snatched away the lead from us again!!  We were not happy!

When the wind angles opened a bit again, we went to the A3 and could run on the rhumb line.  At this time, DACAPO sailing with her Code 1 had to go high to maintain good VMG. When we switched to our A2 monster running gennaker, we had an even better angle on DACAPO and the fleet, sailing lower and faster to lengthen our lead on them.

In fact, our distance over our competitors had become quite large and we had really managed to make the most of the transition engines.  It might seem luxurious with a big downwind wardrobe, but you pay the penalties fairly sharply in their SRS handicap numbers- since the rating are based on the fact that you can get 100% of each sail + making changes just in the right position.  In any case, our changing from J0 to C0 to A3 to A2 could not have gone any better.

At Dyrön, we had to make two gybes and managed to leap into third place on elapsed time.  Not bad!  And, we continued to build our distance on the boats behind us like the J/111 DACAPO.

We knew it was a conservative move, but we still thought it felt safe to run the rhumbline with our 105% jib. In retrospect, we could perhaps have gone faster on the flat gennaker- the J0, but that meant making a couple of changes.  But, if we had done it, we could have sailed a bit more aggressively for speed.

Nevertheless, we made it to Kälkerön in good shape relative to our competitors and we could now safely roll out the big Code 0 again and aim for the finish line.  We knew we had sailed well, and had beaten the boats we had an eye on!”

In the end, Gustafsson’s J/111 BLUR.SE won, beating her sistership home by 9 min 43 sec on corrected time.  Significantly, the J/111 sailed the course 2 min faster on elapsed time than the First 40, 5 min faster than the Ker 39, 5 min faster than an XP-44 and 35 min faster than an IMX 40!

According to Peter, “it was awesome fun to nail the big class against all good boats. We nailed the 40-foot class in 2009 with our J/109, and it was fun to nail the class again!” Sailing photo credits- Elisabeth Stensby  For more J/111 BLUR sailing information

The “Crow's” Become Swedish Sailing League Champions

(Gothenburg, Sweden)- The Swedish Sailing League held its grand finale last weekend in Göteborg. The overall winner was Cape Crow Yacht Club, the team performed consistently well in every regatta this season and the title was well deserved.  Kongelig Svenska Segelsällskapet (KSSS Royal Swedish YC) took 2nd and Ekolns Segelklubb was 3rd.  It was an exciting weekend racing in the area off Långedrag/Göteborg, with conditions ranging from flat calm to full on fresh breezes!

All weekend long, the KSSS Royal Swedish YC team was determined to repeat their championship title from 2015.  However, despite the fact they dominated the regatta, they still could not accumulate enough points over the Cape Crow YC team to pull off the overall win.

In the end, for the club from Hönö outside of Gothenburg, it was truly a team victory. They used 13 sailors in the season's four Acts and after the first weekend in Långedrag had a safe lead.  CCYC brought in Anna Östling for the final Act IV, who is currently ranked number one in the world in women's match racing tour, to be one of their top helms.

“I’m glad I got a chance here. The others in the team had set it up so well for us.  Going into the last round our team had a good lead, so for me it was just great to be a part of this awesome team,” Anna said after the victory.  “It has been an exciting weekend on the water off Långedrag with sometimes a lot of wind and sometimes no wind at all.”

Royal Swedish Yacht Club (KSSS), who were second in the overall series, were hoping to challenge for the overall victory.  Indeed, they sailed well all weekend and won the weekend's Act IV.  But, the Cape Crow team also sailed well and finished second in the regatta- where they always kept a watchful eye on the Royal Swedish Yacht Club.

“It has been very fun to meet the Royal Swedish Yacht Club. They had also mixed many different people into the team, just as we did,” said the Cape Crow sailing team after the race.

Royal Swedish Yacht Club skipper Mikael Lindqvist commented, “We are pleased with our performance, winning the fourth act and the way we won the regatta in the medal race. We did what we had to do, but it was not enough for overall victory this time, so we take our hats off to the ‘Crows’!”

Third place in the Allsvenskan was taken by Ekolns Sailing Club from Uppsala - i.e. one position worse than last year when they were second, very close behind Royal Swedish Yacht Club.  For more J/70 Swedish Sailing League information

Lindqvist Is Swedish J/70 GRUNDIG CUP Champion!

(Marstrand, Sweden)- The fleet of twenty-seven boats that sailed in the first Swedish GRUNDIG CUP J/70 Championship could not have been more blessed, with simply amazing sailing conditions all weekend.  The regatta started off sublimely, with relatively flat waters and 6-10 kts winds to get everyone warmed up.  Then, after a big frontal passage off the North Sea, the host club- Marstrand Segelsallskap- were able to treat the enthusiastic fleet to races offshore in absolutely epic conditions- big seas, bright sunny weather and 15-25 kts winds!

Showing everyone their extensive experience in sprit sportboats, it was Team ROCAD led by Mikael Lindqvist that won the regatta, posting four 1sts in his six race series to win with just 6 pts net (throwing out a 2nd!).  Taking the big deuce was the Brother’s Lundqvist taking most of the remaining 2nd places for a total of 10 pts.  After the first two boats, it was pretty clear that most teams were getting the feel for racing J/70 in the widely varying conditions, most living through “snakes & ladders” scorelines.  As a result, securing third place was Mathias Hermansson with 23 pts, fourth was Magnus Tyreman with 45 pts and fifth place went to Peter Bergman with 48 pts. 

A big “Thank You” goes to the amazing photographs taken by Dan Ljungsvik and to the Nordic J/70 series sponsor- GRUNDIG Sail Cup!   Check out the Marstrand SSS Facebook link here   And, here is the J/70 Sweden Facebook page   For more Swedish J/70 Championship sailing information

Cape Crow YC Leading J/70 Swedish Sailing League

(Malmo, Sweden)- Series leader Crow Cape Yacht Club from Gothenburg retained the lead in the Swedish J/70 Sailing League after winning Act III in Malmö this past weekend; they finished only two points ahead of the KSSS- the Royal Swedish Yacht Club from Stockholm. Third was Ekolns Sailing Club from Uppsala.

Sailing in their fleet of six identically matched J/70s, eighteen clubs sailed in Malmo, completing 14 races for each club over the three-day weekend. Cape Crow YC won nine of their 14 races and had only one race outside the top three! For the Royal Swedish Yacht Club, they also had nine wins in their scoreline, but were two points back from the Gothenburg team.

“We are very smooth, except at the end when there was a little bit of shakiness by our team in the last race. But, it is important to not have any bad races. The key is to not to be overly aggressive when it comes to tactical choices and maneuvers,” said the winning team from Hönö.  The CCYC crew consisted of Patrik Sturesson, Herman Andersson, Erik Malmberg, Måns Holmberg and Lovisa Karlsson.

Conditions have varied greatly over the weekend. But overall, Malmö had spectator-friendly sailing in winds from 4 m/s up to puffs of 10 m/s. There were times when the weather ranged from brilliant sunshine to pouring rain, so conditions were extremely challenging for all of the teams.

As a result of the standings from Act III in Malmo, the overall series leader continues to be Cape Crow YC with a 2nd in Motala, a 1st in Ekero and 1st in Malmo for grand total of 4 pts.  Holding on to a comfortable second place is KSSS with a 3-2-2 in those events for 7 pts.  Third overall in the series is Ekolns Segelklubb with a 4-6-3 for 13 pts.

The fourth and final race of the Swedish Sailing League takes place in Gothenburg from September 2nd to 4th.  Will the Cape Crow team continue their winning ways, or will they stumble and give it all away to KSSS?  Or, will the Ekolns crew step-up their game and finally win an event?  Follow along in two weeks time to find out with live SAP Tracking!   For more Swedish J/70 Sailing League information

Cape Crow YC Wins Tie-break In Swedish J/70 League Act II

(Ekerö, Stockholm, Sweden)- It was not easy sailing on Lake Malaren. The regatta was sailed in the country near Stockholm and the wind was very shifty and very puffy- ranging between three and eight m/s. At times the sun shone generously on Jungfrusund Marina that was hosting the event.  Thanks to the organizers, they had created a great setting and Jungfrusund Marina reminded one of a Volvo Ocean Race stop in miniature- with eateries, exhibitions and shopping. All credit to Ekerö Boat Club and Jungfrusund Race Week.

On the final leg of the Grand Finale race, the Cape Crow YC from Gothenburg salvaged victory from the jaws of defeat and, by beating KSSS (the Royal Swedish YC) by one point, managed to tie them on points for the overall regatta and win the tie-breaker!

On Friday, the Swedish J/70 Sailing League kicked off with great sailing- getting in eight races for each club.  The best team on Friday were the dinghy sailors from JKV (Kapp Västerås) with a 2-1-1 record.  Sailing an identical record was the Cape Crow YC team with a 1-2-1 to hold on to second on a tie-break at the end of the first day.

On Saturday, Ekerö continued to deliver good races with tough sailing and shifting winds. Saturday offered many races and happy sailors and organizers. At the end of the day, Cape Crow YC was leading KSSS by just two points.

“After a rough start on Saturday, with a false start and trawling the gennaker, we pulled off three bullets in a row. Now we are second overall and just two points behind the leader Cape Crow,” said KSSS skipper Niklas Edler.

On Sunday, more good breeze and very tight, tactical racing.  At the end of the preliminary rounds, it was KSSS in the lead by followed by Cape Crow YC.  “We are pleased with the race, it has proceeded well and we have gotten to know the J/70 better and better,” said Patrik Sturesson skipper for Cape Crow YC.  He continued to explain, “the Final race was exciting, we knew we were in with a good score and we could not lose second place, so it's nice to utilize our match racing skills. It was very fun!”

Real fun as it was for CCYC, it was not for the Royal Swedish Yacht Club - which, however, was satisfied with their weekend.  “We made a mistake at the start of the last race and had to catch up during the race to try to get to past our competitors. But, we did not, unfortunately, get past Cape Crow and, thus, we finished second on the tie-breaker them,” said KSSS skipper Niklas Edler.

At this stage, Cape Crow YC leads the overall series with a 1-2, followed by KSSS with a 3-2, in third is Segelsällskapet Kaparen with a 6-4, fourth is Ekolns Segelklubb with a 4-6 and fifth is Kullaviks Canoe & Sailing Club with a 1-12!

The Swedish J/70 League now takes a summer break and the two remaining races will be sailed in Malmö (12-14 August) before finishing in Gothenburg (2-4 September).   Sailing photo credits- Tommi Rotonen   For more Swedish J/70 Sailing League information

VINEYARD VINES Wins Tampa Series

Kullman’s NEW WAVE Wins Quantum Series #3
(Tampa, FL)- John and Molly Baxter’s Team VINEYARD VINES sailed a very consistent three-regatta series from December until last weekend to take the Quantum J/70 Winter Series in Tampa, Florida.  Hosted by the amazing volunteers at the Davis Island YC (the “sailingest sailing club in the south”), the fleet of forty-seven J/70s were treated to great sailing and over-the-top hospitality over the three weekends.  By finishing 6th in the final regatta at Act 3, the Baxter’s secured the overall series win.

The final event of the series held over the February 6th to 7th weekend saw some significant changes in the standing.  For starters, Marty Kullman’s NEW WAVE sailed a very strong, consistent regatta, posting a 5-1-4-2-2 to win comfortably with 14 pts.  The big impact on the regatta was the presence of two Fort Worth Boat Club teams that jumped onto the podium; both are familiar faces in J/Boats’ winner’s circles in the past having been J/80, J/24 and J/105 Midwinter and North American Champions.  Not surprisingly, Glenn Darden’s crew on HOSS figured things out fast on the race course, closing with two bullets to add to their scoreline of a 3-4-10 to finish with 19 pts and take second overall.  Their colleagues from FWBC, Bruno Pasquinelli’s STAMPEDE, started out with a bullet in race one and sailed a consistent series of 10-5-7-4 to finish with 27 pts to take the bronze.  Rounding out the top five was Dave Kerr’s USA 364 in 4th and yet another Texas team, Jay Lutz’s ZOUNDS HEARING, taking 5th place.

In the Corinthians Division, Rob Britts HOT MESS took the top spot, followed by Brian Elliott in B-SQUARED in second, John Arendshorts’s 20/20 in third Matt Braun’s E.L.E. in fourth and Chuck Millican’s ELUSIVE crew from Bermuda in fifth.  For more Quantum J/70 Winters Series sailing information