Going south. Way south.

Status update

I just received some wonderful news from the Swedish Sailing Federation. The way they interpret the new Covid-19 guidelines from the Swedish authorities is that the Stockholm Archipelago Raid will be allowed to have 50 competitors, i.e. excluding the Race Committee. The Notice of Race will be updated accordingly and published at a later stage together with a Covid-19 safety plan based on the risk assessment and mitigations.

For the time being there are 27 teams who has said that they would like to come as long as it will be possible. They are from from the following 7 countries NOR (2), FIN (2), DEN (1), BEL (1), NED (2), GER (3) and SWE (16). Since there are still travel restrictions to or from Sweden from some of these countries a few foreign teams are uncertain if they will be able to come in the end.

What this means

All teams that have signed up to date shall pay the entry fee prior to the 1st of July (if they haven’t already) if they want to be certain to claim their place and to get the “early bird fee”. After the 1stof July the entry fee increases by 2000 SEK. 

The special reimbursement rules due to the pandemic applies (see NoR)

1.      If a non-Swedish team has paid the entry fee but is not able to participate due to special rules due to Covid-19 that prevents the team from travelling (closed borders, quarantine-rules etc) the whole amount minus bank fees will be reimbursed. 
Important: If the situation is such that you would like to come, but only if your National authorities changes the current rules regarding travelling to/from Sweden, then you shall contact me and explain the situation prior to paying the entry fee.

2.      If a sailor has symptoms that can be suspected Covid-19 (cough, fever, difficulty breathing, runny or blocked nose, sore throat, headache, nausea, muscle or joint pain) he/she is not allowed to participate and shall immediately (on the same day) inform the event organisation. The entry fee minus 2000 SEK will be reimbursed.

The plan

The planning for the event will be much easier from now on and as soon as possible after the 1st of July I will confirm the number of beds needed, how big the race organisation need to be, how many security boats will be needed etc.  Since we are fewer teams than usual there might be beds for most teams even if we have to spread out and be fewer in each room.

This year we plan to go south. Far south. The preliminary base camps for Thursday and Friday will be Rånö in the Southern Archipelago. Depending on the weather we might go to the beaches of Askö or round the inhabited island Öja (Landsort) which we did last in the raid in 2012. Or, if the winds are to strong we can sail further north, sheltered by the islands Utö, Ornö etc. On the third night we will stay at Lökholmen which is an iconic venue for all sailors and perfectly situated both for the 3rd and 4th days of sailing. We had a very nice 3 days practice raid this weekend in the waters around Sandhamn and it was an awesome experience with 10-18 knots of warm winds, amazing sailing and amazing food outdoors on the rocks. See the Swedish F18 association facebook page or the Relive track from one leg for inspiration. Thanks to Gustaf Dyrssen and Fredrik Karlsson for organizing, now we know for sure that raid sailing is both possible, safe and fun also during a pandemic.

Best regards

Lars Linder