Race Village

I visited the Race Village over the weekend. That is a very temporary name given to the area around Wasahamnen on Royal Djurgården before the start of the annual offshore race Gotland Runt. More than 200 yachts took part this year. Little did they know what would come. The race got under way on Sunday, and within the first 24 hours more than 150 of the participants had called it a day because of a sudden change in the weather. One crew had to be rescued with the help of a helicopter, because of the strong winds and high waves. The first boat to make it all the way was one of the catamaran boats, the Allegra, you can see it to the left on my second photo. You can see the rest of my photos in my Race Village album.

Yachts

A few more images from the start of the offshore race, Gotland Runt. This time taken in the portrait mode. I had a hard time getting what I call clean shots, but I got a few. Four hundred yachts took part in the race this year. The first Gotland Runt took place back in the 1930s. After leaving Stockholm they sail down to, and then around the big island Gotland, before turning back towards the finising line at Sandhamn. It usually takes 48 hours, depending on the weather, of course. I made an album called Setting Sail for the photos I snapped from Fjällgatan. I might add more photos to it later as I have several unedited photos on my hard drive.

Ensamseglare

Swedish word of the day. Ensamseglare. Spotted and photographed from the Årsta bridge in Stockholm a few days ago.

Sailing

During the Summer, chances are that there will be some sort of regatta in the port city, Nynäshamn. On this day, it looked like it was a bunch of kids out on the Fagerviken bay, either learning to sail or competing. I snapped this from the picturesque Strandvägen road while out on another longish eBike ride on the new Gazelle.

Sail boats

Sailing in Sweden. Very popular this time of the year. More facts here. Spotted these three boats while walking down the picturesque Strandvägen road in Nynäshamn recently.

Boating on the North Sea

It was a nice day for boating. The sailboat in the first photo calls Germany home. The power boat is local, not sure about the brig,(?) in the third photo, but that would be my favorite of the three. All three spotted from the Dalarö harbour.

Observations at the beach

It's getting colder. But the sun is still warming us up a few hours every day. I had to put on the tuque on yesterdays bike ride down to the beach where I met Ulla and Nils Olofsson from Brandbergen. I told them about my blog but Nils already knew about it. Behind them you can see an approaching sailboat and behind that the former mine layer HMS Visborg, today a command ship for the 4th Naval Warfare Flotilla. Next photo shows a Combat Boat 90 heading home to the 1st Marine Regiment at the Berga base. If you remember I visited the regiment a few months ago. I shot the big panorama from one of the jetty's. As you can see the beach is empty. Quite a difference from my summer panorama from July where you could identify a few hundred people!

Sailing towards Dalarö

A sail boat on the bay close to Höggarn (a nature reserve), in Sandemar. In the background, and just south of Dalarö you can see the old stone sconce, Dalarö Skans. The fortification was built back in 1656 when Karl X Gustaf was king. The military left the island in 1854. Today you can visit the Inn for a meal and listen to some live music and watch the boats sail by. I walked out to the cliffs and stayed for about one hour shooting boats and talking to a couple that I met.

Xpeedio II

Sailing is very popular pastime in Sweden, although the season is very short. There are a few big regattas every summer. This boat the Xpeedio II raced in the Gotland Runt last year. Shot this on a visit to Årsta brygga.