The Round Gotland Race, formally know as the AF Offshore Race, has traditionally started and ended at the Royal Swedish Yacht Club outstation at Sandhamn, but recently has been starting in Stockholm. 218 vessels across at least 9 classes would pass south of our marina, head out to sea, and turn south to Gotland, then return north to finish at Sandhamn.
We watched the racers leave from our berth at Wasahamnen, then ran the tender out to catch up with the fleet. Afterwards, we toured around the Stockholm canals, passing through a lock to reach the large freshwater lake system west of the city center.
Below are trip highlights from June 30th, 2019 in Stockholm, Sweden. Click any image for a larger view, or click the position to view the location on a map. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.
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AIS
Position: 59°19.57’N, 18°5.56’E
The screenshot from our chartplotter shows the AIS targets from boats in the SRS C class as they prepare to start the Round Gotland Race. Dirona is moored at the upper right, at the end of the blue line.
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Oppet Hav
Position: 59°19.57’N, 18°5.56’E
All recreational traffic through the channel opposite our marina was prohibited for several hours during Round Gotland Race start to prevent interference with the racers. This Combat Boat 90 prototype water jet owned by charter company Oppet Hav guarded the channel off our berth. If you didn’t know about the race and had plans to head out from the marina, as several boats tried to do, you’d be pretty unhappy to learn you couldn’t proceed for several hours.
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Race Start
Position: 59°19.57’N, 18°5.56’E
Some of the 40 boats in the smallest of the three SRS classes, SRS C, underway beneath the cliffs of Sodermalm at the start of the Round Gotland Race.
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ClubSwan 50
Position: 59°19.57’N, 18°5.56’E
ClubSwan 50 Class boats setting off in the Round Gotland Race.
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Giraffe
Position: 59°19.16’N, 18°6.11’E
About three hours after the Round Gotland Race began, once all the classes had started, the channel was opened to pleasure craft traffic and we took off in the tender to catch up to the fleet. We passed this old crane on the island of Beckholmen painted creatively to look like a giraffe.
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Classic Sloops
Position: 59°19.21’N, 18°7.48’E
Classic wooden sloops underway just outside Stockholm.
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Britt
Position: 59°19.59’N, 18°10.76’E
As we were chasing the Round Gotland Race fleet, we passed a familiar-looking boat with a Netherlands flag and realized it was Artnautica 58 Britt of Harlingen. We’d met owner Rob Westermann and toured Britt while we were in Harlingen in early 2018. Rob and his wife were on their way to Stockholm—we said a brief hello and continued on to catch the fleet.
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Foiling Powerboat
Position: 59°21.71’N, 18°17.61’E
We’ve seen plenty of foiling sailboats, but never a foiling powerboat. This craft had no discernible name, so we’re not sure who designed and built it. The craft is impressively fast, even with a very small outboard.
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Loko
Position: 59°21.84’N, 18°17.61’E
Waves from a couple of crew members on board Loko of St. Petersburg as we pass through the Round Gotland Race fleet. Loko finished 10th out of the 19 in the ORCi B class.
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Passing
Position: 59°21.94’N, 18°17.29’E
ORCi B class Karukera make a close pass of ClubSwan 50 class Zanoza.
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HiQ
Position: 59°22.12’N, 18°19.09’E
Overall race winner HiQ working through traffic in the Round Gotland Race. The Volvo Ocean 65 set a new race record, completing the 352.1 nm course at an average speed of 13.01 knots.
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Fleet
Position: 59°21.78’N, 18°22.51’E
Looking back to some of the 218 vessels that started the 2019 Round Gotland Race. We had a great time watching both the start and catching up with the fleet. We sure love having such a capable tender.
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Cruise Ferries
Position: 59°20.79’N, 18°7.97’E
Checking out the cruise ferry terminal back at Stockholm, with three Tallink Silja Line ferries in port.
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Djurgardsbrunnskanalen
Position: 59°19.68’N, 18°8.37’E
Passing along the north side of Djurgarden, the island where our marina is, through the narrow and shallow canal Djurgardsbrunnskanalen. Stockholm is spread over 14 islands with 57 bridges connecting them all.
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Sirishov
Position: 59°19.88’N, 18°6.48’E
The villa Sirishov, dating from the 1760s, on the north side of the island of Djurgarden. Behind is 30m tall Bredablick Tower in the outdoor museum Skansen.
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Predator
Position: 59°19.87’N, 18°5.64’E
A Predator 447-R moored at Stockholm. The boat comes with twin 1650HP Mercury Racing 700 engines and must really smoke. We saw this engine at the Miami Boat Show, next to a Mercury Racing 1750HP engine.
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4×400
Position: 59°19.86’N, 18°5.49’E
It’s starting to look like Florida with 1,600 HP of Mercury racing engines on the back of this Anytec boat. It’s not quite the most extreme we’ve seen—in Florida we saw a 53ft center-console with 2,508 HP.
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Wheeeeee!
Position: 59°19.41’N, 18°5.67’E
One of the swing rides at the amusement park Grona Lund just south of our marina.
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Aaaaaaah!
Position: 59°19.40’N, 18°5.64’E
Riders on an attraction at the Grona Lund amusement park looking pretty excited just before their carriage tips forward and around a 180-degree bend.
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Danvikshem
Position: 59°19.29’N, 18°6.45’E
Danvikshem (Danvik’s Hospital), founded in 1551, is Sweden’s oldest still-active state-formed foundation. Their current building was erected in the early 18th-century.
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Elite Hotel
Position: 59°18.91’N, 18°6.42’E
Elite Hotel Marina Tower, built in a renovated historic waterfront mill building.
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Danvikskanalen
Position: 59°18.87’N, 18°6.35’E
Heading down the Danvikskanalen. We’ll be passing through here in Dirona on our way to the Gota Canal four weeks from now.
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Apartments
Position: 59°18.52’N, 18°5.95’E
Attractive apartments in the modern planned suburb of Hammarby Sjostad along Danvikskanalen.
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Luma
Position: 59°18.44’N, 18°5.76’E
Fabulous restaurant with a view atop the old Luma lightbulb factory. The factory is now luxury apartments with this striking restaurant up top.
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Ducklings
Position: 59°18.29’N, 18°6.16’E
We see lots of ducklings and other baby birds this time of year in the Baltic.
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Goteborg
Position: 59°18.23’N, 18°6.35’E
Patrons spilling out on the steps to enjoy the sun at the Restaurant Goteborg at the head of the Sickla canal.
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Hammarbyslussen
Position: 59°18.21’N, 18°4.74’E
Passing through the lock Hammarbyslussen to reach the freshwater lake system that extends west of Stockholm.
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Eriksdals Motorboat Club
Position: 59°18.20’N, 18°4.37’E
Eriksdals Motorboat Club, just inside Hammarbyslussen, one of many marinas in the lakes.
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Loopen
Position: 59°18.79’N, 18°2.00’E
Patrons enjoying the warm and sunny weather lakeside at Loopen.
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Wooden Boats
Position: 59°19.20’N, 18°2.00’E
Dozens of beautifully-maintained wooden boats along Palsundet.
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Gamla Stan
Position: 59°19.30’N, 18°2.87’E
View to the old town, Gamla Stan, from the west.
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Munchenbryggeriet
Position: 59°19.30’N, 18°2.87’E
Munchenbryggeriet, a historic brewery and landmark building in Stockholm, is now an event and conference center.
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No Entry
Position: 59°19.41’N, 18°3.60’E
We were planning to head back to Dirona through the locks shown on our charts adjacent to Gamla Stan, but the entire area is under construction and now blocked off for the next several years. We had to return back the way we came.
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Lock Fee
Position: 59°18.20’N, 18°4.75’E
Jennifer paying our lock fee at Hammarbyslussen on the outbound journey through.
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Click the travel log icon on the left to see these locations on a map, with the complete log of our cruise.
On the map page, clicking on a camera or text icon will display a picture and/or log entry for that location, and clicking on the smaller icons along the route will display latitude, longitude and other navigation data for that location. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps. |
The foiling powerboat you have taken a picture of looks like the Candela. Its even electric!
candelaspeedboat.com
That’s it Hans! Very interesting boat. Just as planing boats broke the speed limits of displacement hulls, foiling craft have wildly better power to speed ratios than planing craft. When sailboats can do 50 kts in moderate wind, it’s really a different world. The foiling power boat concept has been around for a long time with Boeing doing foiling ferries back in the mid 80s but modern high speed foil control systems make them much more practical. I’m super excited about what is possible with power foiling designs where speed really matters like law enforcement and military applications and, of course, the recreational market could be even bigger.
Thanks for the reference to Candlespeedboat.com. I love what they have produced.