J/121 wins Gotland Runt Race
by J/Boats 17 Jul 2021 15:21 BST
3-5 July 2021
Gotland Runt Race © Royal Swedish Yacht Club
Gotland Runt is the world's largest annual offshore race and since the start in 1937 it has attracted sailors from around the world, especially boats from the Baltic countries.
In the later years there has been hundreds of boats on the start line in central Stockholm, Sweden. After a cancelled race in 2020 due to the pandemic, the interest has been tremendous this year, and the first 200 spots were filled in a matter of minutes.
Gotland Runt is a truly unique offshore sailing race. The spectacular start in the city is followed by an intense inshore race through the archipelago's narrow straits and countless skerries. Then the course stretches out into the Baltic Sea, to finish after 352.0 NM in the legendary Swedish sailing port Sandhamn. The race runs according to ORCi, SRS (Swedish Respit System) and this year will premiere a Swedish Championship for Two Person Mixed Offshore.
"We are extremely happy to see such profound interest in Gotland Runt" says Håkan Andersson, race director.
In the end, winning the SRS Doublehanded Class in convincing fashion by 48 minutes on handicap was Fredrik Rydin and Johan Tuvstedt from KSSS sailing on their J/121 Jolene! According to Fredrik, "it was a fantastic experience and a dream coming true for me! Jolene performed excellently in the light conditions. She is just a superb offshore shorthanded racer!" Read their in-depth report about their experiences below in the J/Community section.
In the SRS A Division were wildly divergent types of sailboats, from an enormous 100-foot custom sloop to a Swan 77 all carbon racer, a Volvo 70 all the way down to the smallest boats in class- the trio of J/111s. Living up to their reputations as "giant killers", the J/111s as a group sailed a fantastic race, nearly matching their colleagues exploits in the J/121.
While the 100-footer and 77-footer took 1st and second, both benefitting from gigantically tall sloop rigs which were a big advantage going around islands (as they would not get blanketed by them), the J/111s went 3-4-5! Incredible! Top J/111 was German Patrick Schmidt's Piranha, followed by two Swedish teams, Mikael Ljunggren's Valentina and Anders Frisk's C.A.G.
Find more information here...