Last weekend I sailed Gothenburg Lighthouses Solo Race 2022. 3rd edition!
Attendance was a bit lower this year, probably because it overlapped with the Swedish Distance Championship at Lerkil which pulled several local boats and crews.
Nevertheless, we had glorious conditions and wonderful sailing. Again!
Sun (at least half of the race), plenty of wind and, as a bonus, from the North East, ensuring flat water. A big plus when you need to rely on autopilot to steer under spinnaker.
Forecasts promised Northeasterly winds, strengthening around lunch time to a strong breeze in the later afternoon. Spinnaker starts are always tricky as timing is difficult and arriving at the start too early is a problem.
I decided to play safe, get some distance from the start line and ensure a deep angle. It turned out to be way too safe. I got stuck and started about 2 minutes late. Not gooood.
The first leg was fast and I caught up with the fleet and as I approached the rounding mark, doused the gennaker. I jibed and decided to play safe again and broad-reach to Vinga lighthouse, the next mark.
Now the wind really picked up, around 18kts gusting at 20kts. I knew I’d start planing and wasn’t sure how the AP would cope. But hey, bring it on.
Kite up, autopilot on, 120TWA, straight to the mark (Trubaduren lighthouse) and started planing at 12, 13 kts. Woohoo! Wet, fast and all worth it!
I broached twice, but here’s the thing with the J/80. There’s no drama. Release the sheet, bear off 30 degrees, trim and your set again.
Looking at the fleet behind getting smaller and the boats ahead getting bigger makes you smile, doesn’t?
At the rounding mark, down went the kite and got ready for the breeze I’d get straight on the nose.
Here is where the J/80 is at its worse. Especially alone. The AP is not precise enough and its “apparent wind” mode just too slow. I needed to hand steer all the time. Trimming the jib is impossible.
I saw the fleet behind catching up. And didn’t like it one bit.
Everytack to get through the straight across the archipelago was a nightmare and very difficult in the huge cockpit.
The only boat to really catch up and surpass me was Miabella, a Dehler 29. These things are really strong on this point of sail.
Finally, the last leg was a broad reach, but too tight to carry the asym. I left the Dehler 29 behind again and crossed the finish line.
Worth mentioning…at this point I started my journey home upwind with winds between 24 and 28kts. In case you are wondering, reefing jib and main didn’t make it a walk in the park.
Here the full results
Race page here