Full Swedish Podium at Nordic Championships
Text: Lars Linder. Pictures: Daniel Nordlund
On the 13th to 15th of September the F18 Nordic Championship took place in the waters off Nynäshamn, Stockholm, where 22 boats from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Estonia were represented.
It was a very windy regatta. On the first day there where many of capsizes and some boats had some problems and had to abandon one or more of the 3 races. On Saturday the wind calmed down a bit, but still it was great sailing with double trapeze in high speed around the course. 6 races where completed on Saturday which was a good thing because on Sunday there where gusts well over 30 knots making further racing too risky. Hence the positions on Saturday became the final result, with 9 races overall.
Young talents Rasmus Rosengren and Thomas Westergren (SWE) delivered top-level sailing throughout the championship with seven bullets, one second, and a “bad” 7th on nine sailed races. They became Nordic and Swedish Champions with the minimum possible score of 7 points (2 races did not count).
”We are extremely satisfied. It was tight racing throughout the championship and we had to push ourselves to the limit…” said Rasmus and Thomas.
“Our winning recipe was a good start, then sailing smart around the course since we weren’t always the fastest. At the same time, we dared to go for full throttle even when the wind was peaking and we have been able to use downwind sailing as a secret weapon.”
In second place came Fredrik Karlsson and Niklas Nordblom (SWE) with a very even serie with two bullets and a fourth place as their worst result and a net score of 13. Dahl and Fischer (SWE) finished third, Muikko and Eskola (FIN) 4th and Jager and Kolstad (NOR) finished 5th place. This Nordic Championship was also the Swedish Championship with the same three winners of both championships.
To conclude the regatta was tough, fair and a lot of fun both on the water and on land. Many thanks to Björn Holm and the fantastic Nynäshamns Sailing Club for organising the event.