The Stockholm Raid – a breathtaking experience.
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The Kona Raid in Stockholm the 17th. and 18th. of July goes into the history as one of the most spectacular races ever. The 20 invited sailors (limited to 20 for security reasons) had the time of their life, navigating through the beautiful Stockholm archipelago – with several stops at remote islands.
The race started out at Bullandoe near Stockholm, and the schedule for the first day was 4 separate intervals heading out to the outer islands. Light conditions to begin with, but steadily increasing throughout the day. The day included a good variety of conditions, with winds increasing to 15 knots – and the route called for all angles of sail, including a long upwind leg
to the finish in Sandhamn. Rickard Almquist and Patrice Belbeoch where fighting it out in the front, but the fleet was surprisingly close together – considering the distance sailed.
Again, the Kona proved its versatility, and it was amazing to see how even the various sail sizes compared in speed. There was literally no difference between a light weight (5.8) and a heavy weight (9.0) in all conditions.
The beauty of this unique event was the social atmosphere and the share pleasure of navigating through some of the most fascinating landscape on the planet. The competitors camped over night at Sandhamn and what could be better than a BB’Q dinner and a few beers after a very physical day.
The second day started off with a breakfast buffet on the beach. It was a nice sunny day, and the wind had picked up during the night, and was gusting to 21 knots. The first interval was a race around the island. Interesting format, as it force all angles – and the sailors were in for some exhilarating long reaching and downwind legs in the emergent sea breeze. The two next intervals were demanding upwind legs in wind speeds from 21 to 34 knots, which definitely took its toll on the competitors. At that point – with gusts up to 38 knots – the organizers called it a day due to security reasons, and all competitors were ferried back to the starting point for a nice dinner and prize giving. Patrice Belbeoch ran away with the big trophy – but only just. Rikard Almquist finished second - one point behind, with Bjorn Holm – the current leader of the World ranking in a close third.
Patrice Belbeoch;
What a fantastic race, and I’m really happy about my result. To my surprise I managed to get some good results that first day in very light and tricky conditions, but it was a hard fight with the ex Swedish course race guys like Rikard, Joachim, Sven and Bjorn. The organization was very professional – so my big thanks to all the people that put in all the hard work to make this happen.
Mats Nilsson;
We had two unbelievable days of sailing –in all kind of conditions. It was my first race in 15 years, but to my relief I spotted other veterans in the fleet, which was very nice. The board was a big surprise to me. It felt better and better as the wind increased and it was amazingly easy to control even in big chops. I believe the Kona can be a very good catalyst to get young people into windsurfing. Many thanks to the organizers. It is heaps of work to arrange an event like this –things we sailors don’t even think about. I will definitely be back for the next years Raid.
The Kona Phuket Raid
The vast success of the Stockholm Raid has initiated a second one, this time around the beautiful Phuket Island in Southern Thailand. The race will be hosted by the very experienced Eastern Windsurfing Club, which also organized the 2006 Kona Worlds in Thailand. The dates are 15th. to 20th. of January 2008 and the number of competitors has been limited to 40 – at first come first serve bases. More info about the Phuket Raid will be published in the next Kona Newsletter. Results
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