Tjörn Runt 2021 aboard Rebellion

My ride at Tjörn Runt 2021 was aboard Rebellion. An Archambault Grand Surprise very active in local waters.

For a change, full crewed. Almost full crewed, anyway. A crew of 5, enough for the expected light conditions.

Yes, light air. Again. Story of my life.

In fairness only the first half of the race has been in very light conditions.

How did it played out?

A perfect downwind start on the pin side of the line, trying to exploit the little thermal flow of air close to land. In spite of a perfect execution, we were almost the slowest boat in the fastest class, including yachts up to 55ft. This meant sailing in air very disturbed by lots of huge kites above us.

For the next few hours, we alternated between frustration and burst of motivation. Frustration when the log showed 0 kn. Motivation when we reached the exhilarating speed of 2.5 kn. Make it 3 kn as we glided with the current.

Once the wind picked up and turned to the West in the early afternoon, a fantastic sailing day was about to play out.

From this point on it was fun sailing through the whole spectrum, from close-hauled fights for position, to code reaching, finally to downwind with the largest kite.

Considering that the crew never sailed together and some of us spent very little time on the boat, we handled it considerably well. A few fuck-ups are, of course, part and parcel of the experience. Like when the masthead asymmetric spinnaker was on the wrong halyard. Or when we hoisted the spi inside the furling code. However nothing major or dramatic. Real fun.

Thanks Rebellion for the ride!

We finished in 7th position in our class.

Here all published results. Tjörn Runt 2021 Results

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