F-18 Raid World Championship 2022 at Saltsjöbaden, Sweden - Day 3
by KSSS Club 20 Aug 2022 06:35 BST
15-21 August 2022
F-18 Raid World Championship 2022 at Saltsjöbaden- Day 3 © KSSS
We were looking forward to a day of fast sailing and a long stretch from Sandhamn to Fejan in the north end of the Archipelago. But, the forecast didn't match reality. No wind. The first start was postponed and the race officer decided to tow the boats to the first checkpoint and shortened the course. The wind did come eventually, and it turned out to be a rather tricky race, where standings changed all the way.
At the top though, it was the same gang. First the Belgian team, Patrick Demesmaeker and Olivier Gagliani, second Fredrik Karlsson and Niklas Nordblom, who made a magnificent comeback after hitting rocks in race four on Thursday. On third place another couple of Swedes, Jakob Lundqvist and Rasmus Rosengren. So after five races Demesmaeker, Gagliani and Lundqvist, Rosengren shared equal points in the overall standing.
After lunch at the beautiful Rödlöga, a steady 8 knots south easterly wind prevailed and sent the racers on a long downwind stretch. Passing through the really narrow strait at Norrpada, where only one team had a casual encounter with the Swedish granite. It was a tight fight all the way to the finish line and we could really feel that the competitive temperature was rising. In third place was Demesmaeker, Gagliani, second the father and son Becker pairing from Holland. First were the young Swedes Lundqvist and Rosengren, which makes them overall leaders.
Saturday's forecasts says 20 to 26 knots of wind, but hey, we've heard that one before...