Line honours for Bols maxi in Accenture Round Gotland Race

The Super Maxi Bols receives line honours in the Accenture Round Gotland Race © Bols Super Maxi Media

Win secured but record denied due to disappointing weather conditions

The Bols super maxi has received line honours in one of Scandinavia’s highest profile sailing races, the Accenture Round Gotland Race, in a winning time of 32 hours, 39 minutes and 26 seconds.

The victory in the competition’s monohull category narrowly missed the record of 30 hours and 47 minutes set by Maxi Racer Nicorette in 1997 due to disappointing light winds and the challenge to beating to windward in the last 100 miles of the race.

The Bols super maxi is the world’s most modern monohull. Launched in early June, the state-of-the-art 93-foot boat is the cornerstone of a global brand campaign by the world’s oldest distiller Bols.

Starting on Sunday at midday, the Bols super maxi got off to a perfect start, leading the entire fleet as they sailed out of Sandhamn. Capable of covering more than 1,000km in a single 24-hour hour spell, the Bols super maxi really proved her speed abilities, staying in close proximity to the Trimarans, and even leading them at one point. Reality then hit the racers, as the wind died out but the crew worked hard to keep the speed in the light winds and the boat averaged a speed of 10,26 knots throughout the race.

Bols super maxi boat manager, Gordon Kay, was extremely pleased with the boat and crew’s performance and narrowly missing the record has made the team determined to come back and take the record next year: "We are pleased with victory but want the Gotland record – the disappointing winds made record taking impossible this year but we will be back next year to take it whatever the weather conditions”.

Round Gotland Race is one of the classic offshore races, with more than 250 participating yachts.

Stefan Laux, global Bols brand group director said: “There has been a lot of speculation about the new Bols super maxi at Gotland this year following their record-win at the Sjaelland Rundt in Denmark in June. Conditions in the Gotland race however, could not have been more different, and no records were broken. In the multihull category, the Trimaran HiQ which arrived a couple of hours before the Bols super maxi, also failed to take the multihull record set by the Trimaran Nokia I in 2002.

“Nevertheless, this is another excellent win for the Bols super maxi as it tours Europe this summer and in its bid to become the fastest boat in the world, breaking three world records: the 24 hour monohull record, the Transatlantic record and the Round-the-World Record.

“Our crew motto is ‘No Bols, No Glory’ and the team looks forward to its tour this summer and training for the 24-hour monohull record which we are determined will be a record win given more agreeable weather conditions. I would encourage anyone who is keen to support the crew to follow our progress on www.bolsmaxi.com”.