It’s grey out there and every day darker than the previous. Time to look back and wrap up!
The J/80 loves those zephyr-like winds, barely visible on the surface. 2023 was just the opposite. And yet we consistently performed with top results, often just short of a win. But we are steadily getting there!
We stayed true to the simplicity of the J/80 and rather than optimising, tuning and changing stuff aboard Veloce, we have put most of the time on the water.
We focused on speed, getting the most out of the boat and ourselves. Managing risks, letting go of mistakes until a later stage, communicating. And the results, not surprisingly, followed.
- Stora Oset: 1st doublehanded; 2nd total; Full report here
- Pater Noster Race: 1st doublehanded; 7th total; Full report here
- Midsummer Solo Challenge: 1st “small” class Full report here
- Gothenburg Lighthouses Solo Race: 4th place
- Robline Skagen Race: 2nd doublehanded Full report here
- Öckerö Shorthanded Race: 5th total Full report here
- Spring serie at KMS sailing club: 1th total with a serie 1, 1, 1, 3, 2
The best and most spectacular race for the season 2023 must be Pater Noster Race. Our first time, likely not the last one! A challenge from begin to end, plenty of boat-on-boat battles.
I loved Midsummer Solo Challenge this year. Somehow, everything felt right. Take-aways here 1) use all your sails and use them in their range 2) fresh food, rather than the usual dehydrated products, works best for me.
Biggest disappointment was Pantaenius Bohusracet. In spite of our “policy” never to give up a race, we felt that it was no longer safe to go through with it. We’ll be back!
Negatives? When it comes to instrumentation, it was madness! If you can name a potential problem, we had it. From heading alignment, wind direction offset lost daily, plotter doing its own thing, autopilot checking out, AIS not receiving GPS position, and so on it goes.