Raid Revenge @Stockholm archipelago: Bundock-Van Leeuwen 1st

Photo: LovesTrandell.com – Report by Jeroen Van Leeuwen——-
“To have a clearer view on how hard is this Raid, picture this: Its blowing 20 knts. The spinnaker is up. I’m in the back footstrap. Spi sheet in my mouth, Gps in one hand, Ipad in the other, a Rock in front of you……. And the bloody helm wants to know if we have to go above or below……?????? And all this in the first 5 minutes of the race!!!

Over the weekend we participated in the RaidRevenge (www.raidrevenge.com) in the Swedish Archipelago.
Such a great adventure!
A totally different race format to what we are used to.
Instead of just rounding some marks, we had to navigate our way along waypoints, islands, rocks and big channel markers and in the mean time you have to find your way through the shallow rocky area as fast as you can.
Racing in the Swedish archipelago pushes you to the maximum to find your quickest way! A way that gives you a choice between the shortest and the safest route. It all comes down to navigation, an aspect which was totally new to us, course racers! But ….. We managed to get through, with a simple GPS (for the bearing and distance) and an Ipad which gave us a overview of all the islands and rocks, (above and under the water surface) we survived without any damage!!

Apart from the racing, youre sailing along one of the most beautiful spots on earth and the total serenity is just incredible!
Over night we stayed in some of those particulair scandinavian cabins, no running water and the toilet is a 1 sqre mtr shed built on top of a hole in the ground. Back to basics!
The organisation took care for the catering of some big swedisch dudes, a few Dutchies and Finnish, a Greek and an Aussie! After a 10 hour sail food becomes your nr 1 need. The big breakfasts, the BBQ and a beer or two were just what we needed!
According to the locals you have do the scandinavian tradition: the sauna! With the thought of 40 naked Swedish guys in a hot wooden hut we passed on this one..

Conclusion: the Raid Revenge is a low cost challenging fun race for every F18 sailor!
We were treated to the great Swedish hospitality!

An incredible experience that I didn’t want to miss, See you next year Sweden!”
Jeroen——–