F-18 Raid World Championship 2022 in Saltsjöbaden, Sweden
F-18 Raid World Championship 2022 in Saltsjöbaden, Sweden – Day 1
by KSSS Club Aug 18 01:51 PDT
15-21 August 2022
F-18 Raid World Championship 2022 © KSSS
A day of sun, good winds, warm waves and hard rocks. In the morning, the water outside KSSS harbor in Saltsjöbaden looked smooth and shiny like a polished engine hood, the sun filtered through a light mist and the warm and humid air felt like a Turkish bath. Then the 29 focused teams launched their catamarans and glided out to the start of race 1.
The wind picked up, however, and the first long headwind out in the archipelago started. The field stretched out with the predicted favorites steadily increasing their lead. The Belgian team with Patrick Demesmaeker and Olivier Gagliani took a reassuring lead all the way to the finish line. Despite the perfect conditions, some teams found rocks underwater on the road and had to use the lunch brake for repairs. One team broke their spirits and had to retire, but they will be back tomorrow.
After lunch, race 2 started with a long headwind out towards the open sea and around one of the archipelago’s larger islands, Utö. The wind was steady and the tactical choices few, so this race turned out to be something of a drag race. And it was close all the way to the finish line. But first over was the Swedish team Jacob Lundqvist and Rasmus Rosengren.
Full results are available here.