Martin Palsson SWE 401 Wins Swedish Nationals in Marstrand.

National Champions.. SWE 401 “Nono” Martin Palsson, Peter Lindh & Thomas Wallenfeldt.

The first weekend in August saw the Swedish National Championship take place in Marstrand (venue of last years Gold Cup) hosted by the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club (GKSS). Preparations for this championship were outstanding with a new tradition of “Wardscupen” (World Cup), a racing series run each Thursday and Saturday during July. This meant many teams had some serious racing miles under their belt which has proven to raise the level of competition so it was no surprise to see 22 boats on the start line for this top level regatta.

Tough conditions in Marstrand as teams prepare for Fridays races.

The event was scheduled over 3 days but as the forecast predicted very heavy winds on Saturday the race committee managed to complete 4 races during Friday with the wind average of 18kts, gusting up to 24kts. The Marstrand Fjord showed its best conditions with large waves and strong winds and despite top Corinthian helm Martin Palsson SWE 401 winning race 1 it was SWE 345 Jan Secher sailing with his top professional crew of Simon Fry and Richard Sydenham who won races 2 & 3 to back up their 2nd place in race 1. In race 4 it was local helm Hans Eckerstrom on SWE 354 who took line honours in “Maverick”.

As predicted Saturday was indeed cancelled with too much wind, but the sun was shining and many conversations and friendships were rekindled back at the Marina. Most teams enjoyed  a nice regatta dinner at “Johans” restaurant that evening followed by an early night in preparation for the final 2 races on Sunday.

Winners of Race 4 SWE 354 “Maverick” Hans Eckerstrom, Bjorn Smit & Douglas Jacobsson. (Finished 3rd overall).

On the final day although SWE 345 Jan Secher held a slender lead Martin Palsson and his well drilled Corinthian Team finished with back to back bullets to take overall victory on count back! It could not have been closer. With both SWE 345 & SWE 401 on 9 points, it was “Nono” SWE 401 counting 3 first places to “Miss Behaviour” SWE 345 two first places who took Gold..   Runner up helm Jan Secher told me “It was a fantastic experience and learning to sail with Stir-fry bought a whole new dimension to our performance”. Many congratulations Jan and to your team of Simon & Richard.

2nd overall SWE 345 Simon Fry, Jan Secher & Richard Sydenham receive their prizes from Oscar II (King of Sweden 1872-1907) 🙂

So the winners of the 2022 Swedish Nationals was once again SWE 401 “Nono” Martin Palsson, Peter Lindh & Thomas Wallenfeldt. As you can see below the winning crew enjoyed their Royal parade around the streets of Marstrand with Oscar II…

Martin, Peter & Thomas enjoying their moment of “Royalty” 🙂

A great time was had by all and another well run regatta by the GKSS…..

Higher, Faster, Longer……     Stavros.