ICOYC News

KSSS Returns to Offshore Racing

The Gotland Runt Regatta sails again — with an eye on the 2022 edition

 

This year’s edition of the Gotland Runt Offshore Race was just as good as everyone had hoped it would be. After a year of COVID-19 pandemic, no race in 2020, and a great deal of uncertainty around this year’s edition, the Royal Swedish Yacht Club (Kungliga Svenska Segel Sallskapet/KSSS) and all very hard-working officials were finally able to find a solution to be able to race.

It did not turn out exactly as before, but with two starting days, the starter field was spread out enough to meet the authorities’ regulations, and many sailors did not think that the quality of the race itself was significantly affected.

The ORCi, Classic, Shorthanded, and Multihulls started on Saturday and all full-crew SRS-classes started on Sunday.

The race itself was also special in many ways. We are not completely used to the easterly wind that blew during the first days and even though it created an exciting upwind out of the archipelago, it was a lot of sailing near rhumb-line with focus on speed. With the 2019 race still fresh in many memories, when winds reached over 20 m/s, the winds in this year’s race were much more modest, fluctuating between northeast and southeast at 2 to 6 m/s.

Then, there was the weather, which really contributed to fantastic sailing. Most sailors were able to wear shorts all night and only put on jackets because it got a little damp after dark. Despite the light winds, it was a relatively fast race, as the boats sailed an overall short distance and got up to good speeds when reaching even in light air.

The 2021 Gotland Runt was a success given the present circumstances, and we are looking forward to meeting all sailors and the public to the 2022 Gotland Runt, hopefully without any remaining COVID restrictions.

Next year we will welcome you to our traditional Race Village, normally visited by more than 100,000 people, in KSSS’s new guest harbour located at Djurgården in central Stockholm.