F-18 Raid World Championship 2022 at Saltsjöbaden, Sweden - Day 4
by KSSS Club 20 Aug 2022 17:15 BST
15-21 August 2022
F-18 Raid Worlds - Stockholm Archipelago Raid 2022 Day 4 © Henrik Trygg
On Saturday we were treated with true action sailing. The expected hard and gusty breeze did really kick in and send the racers off in a smoking downwind start.
We saw speeds in the 20 knot range and knowing that any minor mistake would cause a crash made the sailors fully focused. After the down wind leg came a short upwind and after that a long hard beam reach in about 20 knots of wind with gusts at 28. You could see expressions of utter joy shifting to fear and back again in the faces of the sailors.
It is very tight at the top, but the Swedish team Lundqvist, Rosengren took the lead early and the Belgians Demesmaeker, Gagliani were further down the line, but during the race showed a unique capacity to work their way up in the field. Despite the hard and gusty winds, there was no severe breakages or incidents. Actually it was more dramatic during the night when a squall hit the harbour at Fejan.
A F18 catamaran that was moored by one of the safety RIBs was lofted by the almost 50 knots wind and tipped over and pulled the RIB with it, and both landed upside down on the quay. Miraculously none of the boats were damaged and they could serve in the race on Saturday.
Back to the race. On the way towards the finish at Nässlingen was another screaming beam reach and when team Lunqvist, Rosengren suffered a minor technical problem, which caused a capsize and Demesmaeker, Gagliani and two other teams could pass.
The Australians Burvill, Skewes also made a decent race and the top three before the last day of racing now looks like this:
1. Patrick Demesmaeker,Olivier Gagliani Belgien 202 points
2. Jakob Lundqvist, Rasmus Rosengren Sverige 196 points
3. Brett Burvill, Bailey Skewes Australien 179 points
Full results here...
Due to increasing wind no more races were sailed on Saturday.