2017 Chronicle #2 - Sweden and Kiel Week

To continue with our saga we took four days to drive from Zweibrucken (ZW) to Stockholm Sweden for our first regatta. The first day out of Zweibrucken we stopped at the Point Alpha DDR border museum which was at a section of the old East German border guarded by the US Army. There was a nice museum commemorating the US Army efforts. Sections of the border fence and watch towers were preserved for posterity. That evening we spent the night outside of Kassel and had a good German dinner but did not have time to go into the city.

On Tuesday, June 6 we drove to Sonderborg, Denmark to retrieve the boat. We then had two days driving through Sweden mostly in rain and a very cold wind to get to Stockholm. The weather was making us apprehensive but as we arrived in Stockholm the sun came out and the temperature improved. In Stockholm it was challenging to find a parking space for the car and boat but we managed to find a safe spot close to the hotel.

KSSS

KSSS is the Royal Swedish Yacht Club that is sponsoring our race and also the America’s cup challenger, Artemis. When we arrived at the club we had a warm reception and embarked on setting up the boat. The game plan was to be towed with another F18 to Sandhamn Island which is about 20 nautical miles away. We were not sure when the tow boat would arrive but had ourselves ready by mid-afternoon. We departed for the island around 7:30 and arrived shortly after 9:00 pm. Since the main restaurant stopped serving at 9:00 we were fortunate that friends had pre-ordered steak dinners for us.

Sandhamn Housing

We were hosted in a wonderful 150 year old house owned by an F-18 sailor (who even owns another island with a house on it). The other team staying in the house was the team that ended up winning the regatta which was a lot of fun. The island is very picturesque and was fun to visit.

Sandhamn Racing

On Saturday morning we attended the competitor’s meeting which was held in Swedish but afterwards the race officer gave us a private briefing in English. First race was scheduled for 11:30 for the nine F-18’s entered. There was also a large class of J-70 boats on the same race course. The wind was light so it took a long time to get to the race course. The R/C started punctually so we found ourselves about 10 minutes late for the start but they allowed boats to start up to 15 minutes late so we were off. We had already beaten two boats on the way out to the start line so our goal was to catch other boats in the building wind. Our boat speed was very good so on the first downwind leg we passed our first boat. We came close to catching two other boats but the race was over before we could. We ended in fifth place but felt good because we had very solid boat speed, especially on the downwind legs. The second race then started with about 10 kts of wind and continuing to increase. We had a great start to leeward of the entire fleet and then lead them around the two lap course to finish 1st. The final race of the day was in strong 12-14kts of wind and was more of a battle between the top three boats. At one time we were in third but moved up to second place for the finish. The downwind leg was a lot of fun with the good wind and short choppy seas. Surprisingly we were in first place at the end of the first day but there were four boats all capable of winning the regatta and within range point wise.

On Sunday races started earlier at 10:30 and the forecast was for the wind to keep building to 18kts. The first race we had a good start but our upwind boat speed was off a little probably because we had our daggerboards down too far for the increasing wind. Positions were changing at almost every mark and the fleet was much more competitive. We also went right once and ended up in a light wind area close to shore so we ended this race in 7th. By the second race the wind was over 15kts. Again we had a good start and this time had our boards up with good boat speed. We rounded the weather mark in second and held that position for the rest of the race. The final race was even windier around 16-18kts. It became challenging to thread our way through or around the large J-70 fleet at our high speeds. We ended this final race in third place. There was one throw out race for the series. The winner had totally missed the first race on Saturday but then sailed very consistently with all 1st’s or 2nd’s to win the regatta by a good margin of 5 point. We ended in 2nd but tied point wise with the 3rd place boat. We won under the tie breaker rules with more 2nd’s than the other boat.

Return Trip

The person towing us back to the mainland wanted to leave quickly so we had to clean up the house and be ready to tow. It was much windier than the trip over so the ride was interesting with the F18 being totally airborne on waves with our tow speed around 14 kts. The Swedes have figured out how to tow the boats at a high speed. Some boats were towed at over 20 kts. After we arrived back at KSSS we managed to pack our boat up using the late evening sun and left the boat there until Tuesday.

Stockholm

Monday was a designated tourist day for us to explore the city. Our hostel was a museum for us because each room was a converted cell in an 1800’s era prison that was in operation to the 1970’s. This was the first time I ever slept inside a museum.

We primarily walked the city to view the beautiful buildings and did a walking tour that provided some interesting facts about the growth and history of the city. There were some neat facts, such as why some of the windows were not real and painted (for tax reasons) as well as where the executioner lived in the city, and his punishment for not fulfilling his duty.

Ryan in front of our prison cell (hotel room)

Morrum

After driving 600 kilometers (375 miles), we stopped in a city called Morrum, staying in the Morrum River Lodge for the night. Morrum was known as a fishing town, primarily for salmon, and had many different buildings related to this. It had a beautiful river, a very green, lush environment that was fun to walk around in.

Wittensee

The next day, we got up early and went on the road to finish the trip. Another 600 kilometers later and we were in Wittensee, a small town 30 minutes west of the sailing center for Kiel Week where we have rented a nice apartment.

Kiel Week

We set up the boat our first day in Kiel but the wind was light so we did not go out to practice. On Friday the wind was very strong running from 24 kts with gusts to 30 kts but we still went out to practice even though none of the German F-18’s would go out. We had a challenging sail especially when one of the trapeze lines failed dropping Ryan into the water but luckily he managed to hang onto the boat. We got him back onboard though he swallowed a lot of the brackish Baltic Sea.

We have 20 F-18’s that showed up to race including 3 boats from Denmark, one Finnish boat, one Greek boat and the rest from Germany. The Greek boat is a former Olympian in the Tornado catamaran and a professional sailor sponsored by Red Bull.

The defending champion who has won 11 of the previous 13 Kiel Weeks was not present to race so it was an open field.

When we set up the boat we adjusted the spreader rake from 51 mm to 55 mm to account for our lighter crew weight of 312 pounds versus normally sailing around 330 lbs.

Kiel Week Race Day #1

The first day of racing was with good wind 12 – 22 kts. We were assigned to race course “C”. We set our mast rake back for the higher winds and our boat speed was good. We kept improving over the day with finishes of 9, 8 and 7. After racing we spent a good part of the evening changing out our forestay because the forecast for the next day was lighter wind. We found that we could not get the correct rake with the adjustable forestay that we had brought from San Diego.

Kiel Week Race Day #2

The wind was 8 – 11 kts. We had a great start and quickly jumped into second place and held it for the entire race finishing behind the Greek boat. The next two races were also good but we lost a few boats downwind and finished 5th and 4th. We were happy with the results for this day and the boat speed was very good with the mast rake set forward.

Kiel Week Race Day #3

Monday was the only day that was forecast to have light wind for this regatta. We sailed only one race in 6 to 8 kts of wind. We again had a good start and good boat speed off the starting line but struggled with where to go for the best wind. On the downwind legs we sailed higher than the other boats to get good boat speed but the VMG to the leeward gate was not good. We finished this race in 10th place so it became our throw-out race.

Kiel Week Race Day #4

We were excited for the good wind forecast of 10 – 14 kts and we were assigned to the “TV” course where the second race of the day was to be filmed and shown live at the Kiel Week festival. For the first race we had another great start and quickly jumped out on the fleet with great upwind wind boat speed. We rounded the first weather mark in 3rd place and were then flying down wind. We managed to pass the two leaders and rounded the leeward gate in 1st which was exciting. But we ended up being passed by the Finn who took 1st and the Greek boat who took 2nd. We finished with a 3rd which was a great start to the day. For the second race (which was filmed) we had another good start but had trouble finding the weather mark which resulted in us going significantly past the lay line. We rounded the mark in about 7th place. At one point we managed to move up to 3rd but then dropped to 5th at the finish. The last race of the series was designated a 4-lap race whereas all other races were 3-laps. We had a good start and rounded the weather mark in 2nd. We managed to hold that position until near the end when the Danish boat passed us at the finish so we finished 3rd. We were pleased with our day of racing!

Final results were posted later in the day and we finished in 6th place only 7 points out of second place. The 2nd -7thplace boats were very close in points.

Kiel Week Highlights Video:

http://www.kielerwoche.tv/2017/06/20/highlights-of-the-kieler-woche-2017-day-4/

Kiel Week Results:

https://kw2017.sapsailing.com/gwt/Home.html?#/regatta/overview/:eventId=4d3df446-43bc-46a1-9146-3e1caf6ed757&regattaId=KW2017%20Formula18

Kiel Week Race 7-10 Replays:

https://kw2017.sapsailing.com/gwt/Home.html?#/regatta/races/:eventId=4d3df446-43bc-46a1-9146-3e1caf6ed757&regattaId=KW2017%20Formula18

Next Events

Unfortunately the Surrendorf Cup that we were planning on racing was canceled. We stayed in Kiel through Monday morning to do some practice sails and enjoy Kiel Week’s numerous entertainment options. Then we headed towards Copenhagen for the World Championships.

Steve on board German Navy Frigate for Kiel Week