Pater Noster Race 2024

I made no secret that Pater Noster Race has been the most fun race last year, in spite of not being double-handed. Pater Noster Race 2024 just confirmed it. (Last year report here)

Fair weather and t-shirt sailing with plenty of downwind clearly help.

We set off on Friday evening with prospects of a windless 5 hours ear-busting engine ride to Skärhamn. But luck was on our side. The breeze held up and we reached under autopilot all the way, shifting between 3 and 6kn.

No two weather forecasts would predict the same wind direction on Saturday, race day. But they all agreed on little wind and big shifts during the day.

We started mid-morning and mid-fleet, with about 20 boats to hunt and 20 to hunt us. In light SO wind and flat water, we had brilliant conditions and overtook about 5 yachts on leg 1.

After the first rounding, we sailed upwind in the same light conditions where the J/80 really shines. As Johan, co-skipper, has a great hand at the helm, he took over steering. Sailing against the northerly current, we kept the East side of the course, protected by the archipelago. The strategy paid out and we sailed by another group of about 5 boats.

As we entered inshore waters, somebody turned off the fan. With no wind, we fought to keep some speed. Any speed, in any direction, really. Frustratingly, we realised that boats behind were still approaching and when the wind would come back, the fight would be fierce.

When the sea breeze finally filled from the West, we stayed at its edge and managed not to be overtaken by any boat to the next rounding. Magic feeling. Flat waters just a few boat lengths ahead and a shimmering creased surface behind and under the boat.

Next, with the wind picking up at about 12/14kn we knew we no longer were competitive upwind double-handed and a short waterline. No margin for mistakes any longer. A few sailed past us and others came close.

Then came the last glorious leg. A long downwind stretch all the way to the finish line in Stenungsund. Fantastic semi-planing conditions where we could keep up with bigger boats, but not really carry as high as they would.

Could have we done worse? Sure, plenty.

Could have we done better?

Probably, the one single biggest mistake was to sail the last downwind leg under light air spinnaker. We did not expect the breeze to carry so long inland and shied away from a sail change during the upwind leg. With hindsight, we could have sailed higher, more aggressively and with better/flatter shape. Funny, it was the same lesson we learnt (apparently not) at Pater Noster Race 2023.

Unfortunately we couldn’t join the after-sail. We turned around, plugged in the autopilot and had a magnificent ride back home!

We “really” finished 2nd in the double-handed class and 8th total. Vameom, a FarEast28r, flew by us close to the finish winning the class and total. As it turned out on Monday evening, Vameom hit the buoy at the last rounding and, in the excitement, forgot to take a 360 penalty. They reported it to the committee, but could not protest against themselves. For the sake of fairness they decided to retire, giving us an upgraded 1st place in class and 7th total.

An eloge to the sportsmanship and honesty of this team who really sets the bar high for themselves and all of us.

Pater Noster Race results here.

Skipper	SRS	Boat	Name	class	Total place	Class place
Bertil Rohlén BKSS	1,014	X-332	X3M	2	1	1
Anders Dahlsjö LBS	1,045	Dominant105	LadyGodiva	3	2	1
Per Lindell SSSÖ	1,026	ArchambaultA31	Ping	2	3	2
Jesper Folkesson XSS	1,035	Xp33	Vindrus	3	4	2
Lars Niklasson Vänersborgs SS	1	Dominant95		2	5	3
Claes Hellström KMS	1,026	First36.7	ZiggeFirst	2	6	4
Federico Garofalo SSSÖ	0,949	J/80	Veloce	SH	7	1
Anton Larsson STSS	1,012	X-99	eXile	2	8	5
mats andersson LDSS	0,902	Express	GalX	1	9	1
Jonas Granhed LDSS	0,965	Smaragd	Elma	2	10	6
Gunnar Höglind Lysekil SS Gullmar	1,037	Melges24	Jacuzzi	3	11	3
Richard Bergman LSSG	1,08	Finnflyer 36	Xo	3	12	4
John Hansson TJSS	0,954	Smaragd	Malvina	2	13	7
Martin Tommysson Väners	1,027	Luffe37	Pinklady	2	14	8
Lars Hammar TJSS	0,872	H-båt	TjörnsDäck	1	15	2
Björn Wahlström STSS	0,917	IOD	Imagineyellow	1	16	3
Eric Segerlind SSVÄ	0,948	Smaragd	Lova	2	17	9
Göran Johnsson SSVÄ	0,94	CB66Racer	regatta.nu	SH	18	2
Evan Thorsson STSS	1,039	Gambler38	Cheetah	3	19	5
Bo Callenberg LSSG	0,936	X-302		1	20	4
Roger Ahlqvist SSFram	1,074	Archambault35	Jigy	3	21	6
Thord Lyrstrand STSS	0,917	IOD	Trätälja	1	22	5
Joakim Axelsson STSS	0,881	Cumulus	VildaVilja	1	23	6
Urban Ristorp STSS	0,917	IOD	Eir	1	24	7
Magnus Berglund STSS	0,917	IOD	Langeline	1	25	8
David Selvert HKS	0,916	maxiracer	Eldvatten	1	26	9
Nils Amundin STSS	0,955	Melges20	Bebbeloba	2	27	10
Lennart Hansson STSS	0,939	Omega30	Mareld	1	28	10
Peter Lundgren STSS	1,077	Sunfast3600	LaPrimera	3	29	7
Linus Lindblom LDSS	0,956	Smaragd	SlowlyGonzales	2	30	11
Staffan Cederlöf Stss	0.839	Compis28	RetroBallon	SH	31	3
Eivor Knutsson STSS	0,917	IOD	Huttetu	1	32	11
Robin Johannesson STSS	0,917	IOD	JeannieM	1	33	12
Niklas Engblom SSSÖ	1.022	First36.7	Tess	SH	34	4
Lars Johansson LDSS	0,917	IOD	Songes	1	35	13
Hans Johansson STSS	1,198	Xp44	BlueS	3	36	8
Fredric Nilsson STSS	1,088	IMX38	Mind the X	3	37	9
Anders Kuikka GYC	0,991	Xp33	CoquetteIV	SH	38	5
Henrik Nordqvist KMS	0,754	Triss	NorlinVaiana	1	39	14
Manfred Bergkvist BKSS	0,89	NF	Megalomi	SH	40	6
Oscar Slaattelia TJSS	0,913	Comfort32	Kråkan	1	41	15
Andréas Sundström GKSS	0,842	Vindö30	Malou	1	42	16
Reine Larsson STSS	0,917	IOD	Grace	1	DNC
Mikael Ekbrand KMS Nordön	0,905	NF	Magda	1	DNF
Ulf Andreasson KMS	1,049	Fareast28R	Vameom	SH	RET

Results published on Sailarena