Infos received from SWE F18 Chair Lars Linder
The race calendar in Sweden is still according to plan from the beginning of the year. All trainings and regattas quickly adopted the new normal with social distancing, online sailing instructions, changing clothes outdoor etc. and the Swedish F18 association decided to offer a 80% money back guarantee to all teams that withdraw from a regatta 2020 due to illness or Covid-19-like symptoms. But all this has been a cheap price to pay.
3 regattas have been sailed to date this year: The Spring roll end of April, the Saltsjöbadsregatta mid-May and the Spring Raid last week-end (which was a 3 day raid in the best possible F18 conditions in the Stockholm Archipelago).
Looking forward, good news received from the Swedish Sailing Federation that they approve up to 50 participants + Race Committe for sailing events, obviously on condition to carry out the event in a safe and responsible way.
For the Stockholm Archipelago Raid on the 20th to 23rd of August it means that all 25 registered teams from 6 countries are welcome. However, since some countries have travel restrictions to/from Sweden the expected number of teams might drop a little compared with previous years.
It also means there is a good chance for teams who would still like to enter the race to do so, subject to enter before the 1st of July to get the lower fee.
The Swedish Championship will take place in Stockholm 12-13th of September according to plan and the regatta season will close mid-October with the classic “Raid Noir”, probably the darkest and coldest F18 raid in the world, but always spectacular and memorable…
To sum up, a strange year with many pre-cautions before getting out on the water, but a good F18-year after all it looks like.