After four days and 8 races in everything from tough conditions to light winds the Belgian team Demesmaeker/Gagliani broke the 10-year Swedish win streak since Bundock/Leeuwen won in 2011. And what an achievement that was after a catastrophic start hitting a rock with their Akurra in race one and droping the jib in race two. After that the Belgians where unstopable with one second place and the rest bullets, ending on 176 points.

The phenomenal Swedish raid experts Karlsson / Nordblom did everything right until the last day and seemed to have their 4th consecutive win within reach, but had a bad day in the light winds. After finishing 10th in the 7th race they only had a few points lead over the Belgians and lost it in the last race, 3 points behind overall. Previous years they have more than once won the raid in the last race by only a few points, but this time margins where not on their side.

The Finnish-French team Nieminen / Backes came 3rd overall after a very solid performance in all winds. They managed to avoid all the rocks with a handheld GPS (not mounted) which meant that Olivier Backes had to sail much of the race with only one hand. For sure they can sail even faster with a hands-free navigation solution.

In the mixed class Antman/Wetterling (SWE) took the lead the first day. But the Danes Hedmann Jensen/Wyon (DEN) where going faster for every day and after a 3rd place overall in race 7 they where beyond reach for the Swedes finishing on a very fine 12th place overall.

The Noordzij father and son (NED) did not manage to defend their first place they had after four races and they ended on a forth place overall.

On 5th Place the former Raid World Champion Dahl and crew Bredberg (SWE) just managed to beat the other Swedish raid specialists Linder/Brunnberg (6th place) after a bold route choice in race 7 that made them pass many teams.

All teams are to be congratulated for great sailing, good sportsmanship and making it to the finish. Welcome back next year to the F18 Raid World Championship.

The westerly breeze with winds from 15-25 knots made the first day super fast. The winners of the first leg Noordzij (NED) father and son where flying the 34 Nautical miles sailed in 2.07 at an average speed of 16 knots, while navigating.

Leg 1 was mainly gennaker runs for one and a half hour and then a were fast reach with the wind from the side. Leg 2 started with a long downwind to Björkskär and then an even longer upwind to the first base camp Nässlingen.

The local raid champs Karlsson / Nordblom had a very good day and offered the tourists the locals in Sandhamn a show when the capsized in a very narrow straight just before the finish line, blocking the passenger ferry Cinderella for a while.

FIN36 Nieminen (FIN) / Backes (FRA) are on third, despite a 3p penalty. They are sailing incredibly fast and stable in the hard conditions. Team USA Stroebel / Leuck are also sailing very fast and are on 7th overall which is quite an achievement in a totally unknown archipelago with so many rocks.

BEL1 Demesmaeker/ Gagliani had a terrible start. First they hit a rock really hard and destroyed both daggers in the first race. After some unorthodox boat care during the lunch stop they managed to get to start of leg two. But in the second race they where in the lead, but lost the jib and had to sail the boat as an a-cat loosing many places.

A couple of more boats did not finish and Tengbom / Engstrand has had to retire from the raid unfortunately.

Day two will be slightly lighter winds, more like 15-20 knots, with lots of gennaker runs to the base camp Fejan.

4 days to start of the 21st consecutive raid in the Stockholm Archipelago and the first foreign teams have arrived in Stockholm. 22 teams with some of the best F18 sailors from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, France, USA and Sweden will participate this year, despite some late cancellations due to Covid travel restrictions and quarantine rules. No less than 9 different F18 models will be sailed including some brand new designs and earlier models.

The high pressure with hot air that parked over the Scandinavian peninsula for over a month in June / July feels long gone this rainy and windy August night. However the sea temperature is still up and and the weather forecast is quite uncertain.

What is certain though is that the Race Committe is prepared, the Base Camps are ready and the 66 Check Points (bouys, light houses, islands, rocks etc) are set waiting to be rounded. The course will be in the middle and northern parts of the archipelago, an area of about 50 km * 100 km.

The name of the game is that teams will be briefed during dinner about the CP’s that will be used during the 2-3 races the following day. They can then prepare their navigation, study different options and short cuts and make their strategy and plan for the next day. Typically 3 to 5 CP’s are used each race and the sailed distance each day is from about 40 Nm and up. The winning concept is to have reasonably good boat speed while making the right navigational choices, dodge the rocks to keep the boat in one piece and to eat and drink to get the energy to keep going to the finish line.

Safety equipment includes VHF, GPS, knives, towing lines, paddles, flares and spares on each boat and all sailors wear a dry or wetsuit, floating aid and sometimes helmet and a Personal Locator Beacon.

The spirit of the raid is as much about the adventure and nature as it is about the sport. Being far out in the wilderness in places that you would not normally go to in these small, super fast catamarans or any boat is exhilarating. The changing scenery as you leave Stockholm behind and move from islands covered with woods to the outer bare rocks and skerries inhabited by seals and sea birds is amazing. And after a sauna, a good dinner and drink or a glass of wine the party is on before it is time to hit the sack. Repeat times four.

This year will be no exception!

I just received the wonderful news from the President of the International F18 Association that the Stockholm Archipelago Raid has been granted the Raid World Championship in 2022!

The F18 Raid World Championship is the long distance discipline of F18 sailing. In addition to boat speed and endurance the top teams must also be good at navigation to find all the check points and to avoid the underwater rocks on the way. The first F18 Raid World Championship took place during the Stockholm Archipelago Raid 2017.

The plan is to host the event 4 days on the 18th-21st of August 2022, but since we have not received confirmation from all base camps the dates are yet to be confirmed.

The check points, base camps, saunas, dinners and number of races will be similar to a normal year and the ambition is to keep the nice atmosphere between sailors, even if the stakes are higher. The usual cap of 30 teams will be removed, but since there will not be beds for more than 30 teams some teams might have to sleep in their on tent or on the floor.

Vikingarnas Sailing Society, where teams will park their cars, register, measure and set up their boats and where the price cermony and regatta dinner will take place is in central Stockholm. It’s an exceptional club with lots of space in a spectacular and central location, very convenient for media, friends and family as well as public spectators.

Now we look forward to make this year’s edition awesome and a great tune up for both sailors and the race organisation for the World Championship in 2022.

On behalf of the Swedish F18 Association

Lars Linder

The level of competition is going to be very high. Will a Swedish team win again for the 10th consecutive time since Darren Bundock and Jeroen van Leeuwen won in 2011? One week after registration started 26 teams from eight countries signed up. The teams are from Sweden (13), Germany (3), UK (2), Denmark (1), Finland (3), France (1), Belgium (2) and the Netherlands (1).

Karlsson/Nordblom (SWE) are sailing to defend their three consecutive wins from the last years. Chased by Demesmaeker/Thery (BEL) who have finished second several times and could have made it to the top last year hadn’t their navigation equipment failed them. Ad and Maarten Noordzij (NED) came 4th in 2020 after breaking a daggerboard on the last day, for sure aiming to get on the podium. The raid veteran William Sunnucks, who win the raid in 2014 and came 2nd in the raid worlds in 2017, will also be a contender of the gold. The F18 Raid World Champion Leff Dahl is back, this time with Niklas Bredberg.

3 mixed teams are registered To date. The team Hedman Jensen/Wyon (DEN) are back to defend their victory in the mixed class in 2019. Antman/Wetterling (SWE) who has sailed the raid many times will not give the mixed class trophy away easily. From the UK the Sturm couple are joining.

3 Finnish teams are joining, most of which has sailed the raid before. So have some of the 3 German teams. Olivier Gagliani (BEL) who sailed the “old” Archipelago Raid 3 times with Yves Bourgnon is back and sails with Charles Hainneville (FRA) who sailes Flying Phantom and other multihulls.

The youth team Rehman Linder/Forhaug, who was the youngest team to sail the raid ever in 2018, are have become stronger (silver medalist in the Swedish Championship in 2020) and might challenge the top teams, in particularly in strong winds.

We look forward to welcome these and more teams the the Stockholm Archipelago Raid 2021.

Registrations for the Stockholm Archipelago Raid 2021 has begun. There is a cap of 30 teams for safety and logistical reasons. Are you ready to join the adventure?

The base for the event will be KSSS at Saltsjöbaden (1) and the base camps will be Nässlingen (3), Fejan (2) and Lökholmen (4). The race area covers 3000 square kilometres of wilderness with eagles, seals and other wild life just outside the capital of Stockholm. Race course area for the raid 2021

The base camps offer great places to beach the cats (or leave them in the water at Fejan), sauna, restaurant and enough beds or mattresses for all sailors to get a good nights sleep. They are also ideally situated in beautiful places in the archipelago and the alternative courses are endless and each day courses can be optimized for the wind and wave conditions.

Base camp Nässlingen

Base camp Fejan

Base camp Sandhamn/Lökholmen

Welcome to Stockholm in August!

The planning of the Stockholm Archipelago Raid 2021 has been going on for some time and the dates and some base camps are now set! It will take place from the 19th to the 22nd of August with start and finish in Stockholm. Pencil it into your calendar and stay tuned.

In 2020 we were very lucky that the raid was right in the middle of the Covid19 spring outbrake and the second wave in the fall. 15 registered teams still had to bail out, but 20 teams from 4 countries finally made it to start.

The pandemic will not be over by August 2021, but that the situation will most likely be so much better that it will be possible to organize the event with international participation. Probably with similar pre-cautions that we made in 2020 to be on the safe side.

The race course will, as always, go far into the wilderness of the outer archipelago where seals, eagels and other birds and wild life will be our company. There will be plenty of sailing and long distances covered each day, breath taking views, broken dagger boards, nice food and drinks and a possibility to charge the batteries at night.

The registration will start on the 1st of April and a maximum of 30 boats can attend for logistical and safety reasons. I will be there. Will you?

/Lars Linder
Swedish F18 association

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