The Royal Swedish Yacht Club activities

THE ROYAL SWEDISH YACHT CLUB (KSSS) ACTIVITIES

Thank you for the past seven years!

Dear member, last year saw the America’s Cup, victories in Allsvenskan [the Swedish champion’s league] and the Champion of Champions competition; investments and flourishing activities for children and young people – to name but a few! After seven exciting years as the chair of KSSS – the best task one could possibly ask for in Swedish, maybe even international sailing – allow me to say thank you.

KSSS is one of the world’s leading yacht clubs. We provide opportunities for all ages, all abilities and almost all types of sailing. This is something we are proud of and will continue to build upon. A summary of the most important events of 2017 will now follow.

Competitive sailing and training

• The America’s Cup set sail from Bermuda, with KSSS being one of six clubs represented by Torbjörn Törnqvist’s

Artemis Racing. After a tight challenger final, the Swedish team saw New Zealand go further and easily defeat the

USA in the final. Sweden has never been as close to winning the America’s Cup, and the club is very thankful and proud of the efforts made by Artemis Racing in our name.

In addition, KSSS had a fully Swedish squad in the Youth

America’s Cup that was held alongside the main AC in

Bermuda. The team finished in an honourable fourth place amidst the stiffest competition. • Once more, we beat the record of the number of people in our training activities, and we successfully met the target in our five-year plan – having at least 300 active training participants by 2017. The club’s comprehensive investments over recent years, into the facilities in Saltsjöbaden and Ranängen in Djursholm, plus a team of incredibly talented coaches, means KSSS now offers perhaps the best training facilities in Sweden. • After the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, KSSS has now set course for Tokyo 2020 with a new elite squad. Our Olympians put on a good display immediately, with Anton

Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergström in 470, bringing home a World Championship silver. Fifth place in the World

Championships went to Jesper Stålheim in Laser, as well as a victory in the Laser Radial World Championships for Josefin Olsson. Furthermore, Julia Gross and Hanna

Klinga came an honourable fourth place in the 49erFX

European Championship. The future looks bright! • During the year, KSSS brought home seven Swedish Championship golds. It is worth noting is that in the Swedish

Championships, our elite sailors either did not have a category, or simply did not take part. In the Champion of Champions competition, our 470 men were handed a wildcard, so they showed their gratitude by winning the competition after a dramatic final. • KSSS won Allsvenskan for the second time in three years.

This means that this KSSS will be sailing in the Champions

League and North Stream Race 2018. • Internationally, KSSS sailors reaped the rewards, and we participated in most of the large regattas held throug-

hout the year, including different superyacht regattas in the Mediterranean Sea and Caribbean. I would like to particularly mention Patrik Forsgren and Pro4u as our international medallists. Once again, they led the way, winning gold in the European Offshore Championship in

ORCi. • Our Optimist dinghy sailors showed why they are

Sweden’s best Optimist fleet, by taking six of the ten first-place positions in the Optimist national qualifiers for places in the Nordic, European and World Championships.

Events and camps

• The ÅF Offshore Race/Gotland Runt celebrated its 80th anniversary. For the seventh time, the race started in

Stockholm. 252 boats registered, an increase of around 10 per cent compared to the previous year. Imperiet was the victor, with Paul Nord as skipper. Ludde Ingvall with

CQS broke his own course record that he has held with

Nicorette for many years. The competition was a huge success, publicly, commercially and in the media coverage. However, the most important thing was the increase in the number of participants. This shows that the event attracts new sailors at a time when other sailing events are losing them. • This year, the Sandhamn Regatta faced varying winds and included both a large classic class as well as the Swedish

Championship in Laser Master. • The Olympic Class Regatta attracted 520 dinghies and their accompanying sailors, parents and support crews. It is Sweden’s biggest dinghy regatta and at KSSS, we are proud of how this event has grown to what it is today. This is thanks to the fantastic input from volunteers and the

KSSS office. They have turned this into competitive sailing for all sailors in the Nordic countries and from the Baltic region. • Once more, our camps were incredibly popular. Registration opened at midnight on New Year’s Eve and after 90 minutes we had already received around 250 applications. Usually, approximately 500 registrations are received in the first 24 hours! If you want to guarantee a place, you need to be ready and quick off the mark at midnight. • Throughout the year, over 1,000 young people took part in camps and training activities. We are particularly proud and pleased with the comprehensive work with fundamental values, and increased efforts into training our leaders over recent years. • There was good participation in our sailing groups. The committee is also working with planning for both the Viking Meet and the NAS group in the coming two years. • The Club Committee started the year by arranging the

Royal Clubs’ Party, with England as host country. The

Vinterträdgården event sold out, and guests were entertained by artists such as Sven-Bertil Taube – whose family has been close to the association for almost 100 years. The rest of the year has since been filled with the customary member meetings and sailors, such as the regatta dinner at ÅFOR, a members mingle at Klubbarnas Klubb, and a social evening with our regattas.

Facilities, staff and economy

• The new KSSS club director Stefan Rahm took office. Stefan comes from a solid sailor background, and has arrived from the role as director of the Swedish Sailing Federation. • As mentioned on several occasions, KSSS has put the previous five-year plan into action, and has since established a new strategic plan for the coming five years. This is important, as it determines where the priorities should lie – especially regarding finance. One important overarching target is to get more sailors to participate for longer periods; or to rephrase the Swedish Sailing Federation’s motto: “As many as possible, for as long as possible”. • Building work began on a new centrally located service house on Lökholmen. This means that the children will no longer need to traipse up to the old house in the forest (which was already there back in my day in the 1970s). A welcome upgrade. • Construction of a new service house also began in Sandhamn, to offer our members and other harbour guests even better service. The building will be complete by summer 2018 and will offer laundry facilities, as well as showers and toilets. • Finally, Telegrafholmen has seen the late delivery of the harbour. This will open up more options for our boating guests in 2018. • Over the past seven years we have invested approximately

MSEK 30 into our facilities, without needing to borrow a single krona. • So, we can say finances are in good shape. Through successive improvement of revenue and costs, we have been able to set aside what was needed to make the recent investments into our facilities. The comprehensive KSSS balance sheet requires constant maintenance.

Thank you!

I would like to conclude by taking the opportunity to express my gratitude. After seven years as chair, it is time for me to pass the baton to new powers.

If we look back at what has been achieved over the past seven years, there are several things I believe that we as an association can be particularly proud of:

• Improvement of our camp activities: through systematic recruitment work and courses on boat handling and values, our current camps are exceptional – this is clear from our evaluations. The association hosts over 1,000 children and young people at camps and training events each year, and so we have the important task of maintaining and developing their interest in sailing. • Investments into our facilities: as mentioned, KSSS has invested around SEK 30 million over the past seven years, without borrowing a single krona. This has resulted in a new club house in Ranängen, and in Saltis we have refurbished Sjövillan, extended and renovated the harbour, constructed a new regatta harbour and refurbished the changing rooms. At Sandhamn, we have invested in more jetties and built a service house. After ten years of project planning, Telegrafholmen is now complete with a service house and a new harbour for KSSS. We have built a new

service house at Lökholmen, replaced the entire HVAC system and renovated the yard. • The above investments have been possible thanks to the association’s strong finances and generous donations from members, thank you! Speaking of finances, I would also like to emphasise the quality improvement achieved with financial management and accounting over the past years. • KSSS and its members have won almost everything there is to be won, such as Olympic golds, the Fastnet Race, Mini

Maxi World Championship, Champion of Champions,

Allsvenskan Segling and countless Swedish, European and World Championship medals – to name but a few. It is especially exciting to know we have an incredibly effective optimist dinghy organisation. As for our elite sailors, thanks to special fund-raisers we have been able to support them with almost SEK 18 million over the past seven years. • During this period, KSSS was named one of the world’s top ten sailing associations in two books/articles published on the subject

The election committee have presented my cousin Patrik Salén as their proposal for new chair. After having spent most of my adult sailing career together with him in both Dragon and offshore racing, as well as having seen him in the role as chair of the KSSS Fleet Sailing Committee over the past six years, I know he will do an outstanding job as chair of the Association.

Being the chair of KSSS has been both a pleasure and a privilege. One thing that has made these seven years fantastic is having been able to meet competitive sailors of all forms, camp participants, treasury staff, coaches, active parents, Olympic medallists, leaders and instructors; international sailing clubs, harbour supervisors, sailors in the America’s Cup and every single person who has stood by KSSS, taking the rough with the smooth. And so we have been able to get a lot done!

I would like to thank all volunteers in the association. You are the foundations of KSSS. Particular thanks go to all board members over these seven years for their incredible motivation and desire to move the association forward. Furthermore, I would like to thank our treasury and all its staff past and present – you do a fantastic job. Another thank you goes to my family, who have allowed me to invest so much time into KSSS over the years.

Finally, I would like to thank all you members, not just for reading all of this, but because all 5,700 of you make KSSS what it is today – one of the world’s leading yacht clubs!

Staffan Salén Chairman

Now it is the first time for me in my role as committee chair to summarise the season that has passed. I have been reminded of the wealth of activities that have taken place in the various areas of the club, as well as the large number of sailors, coaches and parents who have participated.

It is incredibly satisfying to see that most of the goals set by the TC almost five years ago have now been met – and we are left with excellent foundations to continue building upon. This would not have been possible without the excellent participation of our fantastic volunteers, skilled coaches and Anders Bengtsson who has held the operations together and led the training activities forwards.

The season kicked off as planned, and as usual the enthusiastic optimist sailors were the first to set sail in spring, closely followed by the laser sailors and other dinghies and keelboats. Many dinghy sailors took part in the SSF Easter camps in Båstad, or at the optimist training meets and the regatta on Lake Garda in northern Italy.

Spring and early summer are intense periods for most classes as they get started with training after the winter break. Training was interspersed with competitions around Sweden.

KSSS currently offers regular training for the Optimist, Laser Standard/Radial/4.7, Moth/Wasp, F18, J70 and Express. Seeing all this activity at evenings and weekends in the harbour’s waters is fantastic.

In May, the Optimist class took part in the national qualifiers, where the combined results determine who will compete in the summer championships. KSSS sailors were incredibly successful. When the results were tallied, Calle Lagerberg was the clear winner of the qualification round, winning a place in the year’s Optimist World Championship in Thailand. Yet another sailor from the club qualified for the World Championships – Melker Brenton who displayed high-level stable sailing throughout the qualifiers.

Five of seven KSSS sailors qualified for the European Championships in Bulgaria: Hugo Liljegren, Alexander Baudin, Oscar Lövgren, Lova Forssén and Sofia Levin Håkansson, and several sailors qualified for the Nordic Championships organised in Estonia.

The traditional JSM for all Swedish junior classes was arranged for the weekend just before Midsummer. The events were held at Ekoln in Uppsala. KSSS sailors fought valiantly in the changing winds. It is great to see our talented KSSS sailors bring home many medals from this championship, including two golds won by Hanna Maurer for Laser 4.7, and Ludde Lindqvist who won the men’s Laser Radial. In 2018, the JSM will take place on Baggen, with KSSS as organisers. We hope our sailors will continue to be so successful. We are in a good position as we are in our home waters.

Via team Artemis, KSSS received an invitation for two sailors and one coach to participate in the America’s Cup Endeavour regatta organised in Bermuda alongside the America’s Cup. Hedvig Liljegren and Rasmus Granzin were chosen to participate in the Regatta, and coach Ton Thörn followed to support the sailors on their adventure. After some training at home in a borrowed BIC, it was time to depart. In many ways, it was an unforgettable adventure. The possibility of experiencing the America’s Cup so close is a dream that few of us can fulfil. The regatta also offered many new elements, such as an obstacle course (!) and capsizing during ongoing races were new factors that gave an excellent dimension to the sailing...

The Swedish Sailing Federation arranged the Junior Cup in Marstrand at the beginning of July. The format involves short matches in C55s provided and KSSS had several junior teams on site. It was delightful to see the KSSS team of Tindra Forssén, Lova Forssén and Sissel Engdahl bring home the prestigious victory.

In the middle of August, KSSS organised a Swedish Laser Championship in Sandhamn. It had been a while since a large dinghy regatta had taken place there, so this was an interesting and insightful event in many ways. The boats, trailers and accessories were transported to the sailors’ lodgings in Lökholmen by barge. The waters outside Sandhamn offered the sailors fantastic sailing conditions, and an enjoyable “after sail” – where tired, satisfied sailors returned home after activities concluded. Once more, Niklas Edler became Swedish Laser Master, we are starting to lose track of how many times he has won this...

Throughout the year, some of the club’s Laser juniors have been out and felt a little international competition in different championships, including Laser Radial Youth World Championships in Medemblik, the Netherlands and Laser 4.7-WC that took place in Nieuwpoort, Belgium. Laser 4.7WC was an educational and very windy regatta. The majority realised that there was a lot to practise before the coming championship. It has been a good experience for the sailors to be able to sail as part of the huge line-up where 4.7s gather for the international championships. It is encouraging to see our young and “hungry” sailors take the chance to participate in the international regattas organised throughout the summer months. They are able to see how they fare against international competition, and also be inspired ahead of training sessions.

The end of August saw the Swedish Championship for Laser Standard and Radial, as well as the class championship for 4.7 in Kalmar. Many of the club’s sailors were on location. Jesper Stålheim showed fine sailing in the standard class, and brought home Swedish Championship gold. Many of the sailors performed well, and in 4.7, all sailors on the podium came from KSSS! Hanna Maurer took first place, followed by Tindra Forssén and Hedvig Liljegren.

August saw the premier of the Stockholm Cup/DM for Optimist in Ranängen. This was the first big challenge for the clubhouse and facilities at Ranängen. The event both on land and water was incredibly successful for the 70 optimist sailors who took part. Many thanks to all officials under the leadership of Jon Anrell who organised this.

Shortly afterwards it was time for the second regional qualifier of the year for the Optimist dinghy sailors in Eskilstuna. The regional qualifier is important for our young sailors. For many of them it is their first big competition. The organisers were lucky with the weather and could organise excellent sailing. The number of participants in this competition is increasing, which bodes well for the future. Of the 80-ish participants, around 30 came from KSSS.

A large portion of the autumn involved team sailing for our Optimist dinghy sailors. Team sailing is highly appreciated and enriching for the sailors, as it involves many manoeuvres and complicated rules to analyse together with the coaches.

Together with the Swedish Optimist Dinghy Association, KSSS organised a combined team sailing camp and Team DM for the region’s club as part of the preparations for the year’s Swedish Team Championships in Hjuvik. Five KSSS teams participated in the Swedish Team Championships, and after two intensive days of sailing in fresh winds, KSSS team 1

won Swedish Championship gold. Huge congratulations to Rasmus Granzin, Calle Lagerberg, Hugo Liljegren and Lova Forssén. Other teams fought well and will make new efforts in the coming year.

Lova Forssén and Hugo Liljgren were two KSSS sailors chosen for the Swedish team for the European Team Championships that take place on Lake Ledro in northern Italy each year. The Swedish team sailed fantastically under the leadership of Emil Malmström and won gold.

As tradition dictates, in the first weekend of October it was time for the KSSS OCR. For many classes, this forms the autumn’s final regatta in Sweden. Once more, there were many visiting sailors from Finland and Norway meaning that for the second year running around 500 boats had registered for the different classes. Unfortunately, the entire Baggenfjärd was glassy throughout the Saturday, meaning no sailing could start. Nevertheless, spirits were high, and it was all go in the Sjövillan café and Båth’s shop. Sunday offered completely different conditions. There was a cold northerly wind of 8-12 m/s, meaning fantastic sailing for those who could handle their boats. Many of the classes successfully completed four sailings in the fresh winds. As leader of the sailing on one of the five courses, I can safely say that sailing in such conditions is a tough sport, and the sailors I met were absolute champs who put up a good fight and do their best, despite the severe conditions. In summary, I feel that this is a fantastic way for sailors and officials to celebrate the end of the season.

The year also saw an increase in the number of collaborations with other Stockholm clubs, and different types of training for Optimist and Laser. These gatherings have been fruitful. The sailors have made new training friends, and the coaches have been able to expand their networks and as a result, support and inspire each other.

KSSS has also started a rewarding collaboration with sailing schools that primarily arrange different types of summer camp. “Jolleskoj” takes place in Saltsjöbaden, run by Stefan Mälstad – a fantastic introduction for many children. Stefan then encourages the children to continue training with KSSS. There are also collaborations with Sandhamns Seglarskola and more.

Together with the club’s camps, the collaborations mean that for the second autumn running we have seen around 100 Optimist sailors in training. This is vital for us to be able to build proper groups in the future, on all levels. It is clear that a well-functioning organisation for young sailors forms the foundations of continued development.

The number of children, juniors and adults to train under the club is increasing each year – which is very positive. When we add up all the classes with training activities, the total number of sailors in training is around 300.

The year has seen an explosion of the Moth and Wasp “flying boats”; spectacular sailing, in addition to a great deal of swimming and crashing. Following the development of new and established dinghy classes, multihull boats and keelboats is great fun. The increased number of sailors and boats who need space in our harbours is raising the demands on those involved, especially our facilities and the club’s material. Many of the issues that arise are pleasant problems, but there is always room for improvement.

We are now looking forwards and, at time of writing, the next five-year strategy is falling into place. One of our important targets for the coming period is to encourage more crew

boats and crews into training. We will also continue to build upon the wonderful team spirit of TEAM KSSS amongst sailors, parents and coaches at training and competitions. This is clear in the harbours of Saltsjöbaden and Ranängen, and when we are out at camps and regattas around Sweden and Europe.

We look forward to 2018, and will continue to work to set the course for an exciting and successful year.

Finally, many thanks to all of you for taking so much time and commitment into training activities and the competitions we organise. Without you, we would never have achieved the results we have. I am already looking forward to the forthcoming work with JSM 2018 – and more – with you all. THANK YOU!

Fredrik Liljegren Chair, Training Committee

The Training Committee plans and operates competitive sailing in dinghy, board and multihulled classes, and manages its related matters. One of the Training Committee’s duties is to take care of matters related to the development of the Club’s elite sailors.

The Fleet Sailing Committee (BKK) has clear and enthusiastic focus on all forms of fleet sailing, particularly with keelboats and multihulls in all arenas where KSSS is the organiser. Most of all, we try to focus on a few high-quality recurring regattas; always in combination with clear social overtones that will hopefully attract more people to competitive sailing organised by KSSS.

In 2017, BKK oversaw six returning regattas and one more (Sandhamn Open), in collaboration with the Offshore Racing Committee. We welcomed around 280 boats in eight different classes to these BKK regattas, and an estimated 800 sailors took part. These sailors and BKK/KSSS gratefully received support from at least 70 officials. It feels like yet another a good season and we are grateful for the sailors’ participation and the officials’ indispensable effort and enthusiasm! Here is a summary of the past year.

Vårrullen

This spring, both sailors and officials broke the ice in Vårrullen, together with the three fastest classes, F18, J70 and Far East 28. Cool weather, sun and changing winds created the conditions. A creative team of officials wanted to challenge the sailors and put on five traditional races, ending with a dry start for double points in the final race. The masters of the sailing, weather and courses in each class were:

F18: Once more victory for Fredrik Karlsson from KSSS, this time ahead of Simon Skog followed by Lars Linder – both KSSS boats.

J70: Reine Svensson from ESK beat the KSSS boats “Tyra” (M. Tyreman and more) and then “Buckau” (M.Woxén and more).

FE28: KSSS sailor Andreas Emmoth beat Hans Broman from TäBK, followed by Göran Wiking from LBS.

BKK would once more like to thank the special official “Team Gedda”, with Johan Qviberg at the front, as they stepped up for the club and the sailors. A wonderful start to the season for the sailors and officials alike!

The Saltsjöbads Regatta

The Express, Neptunkryssare and Folkbåt classes sailed in this KSSS classic from 1915 under light winds and glorious sunshine. This year the Saltsjöbads regatta coincided with the 75th anniversary of the Svenska Folkbåtsförbund, and on the Saturday night, everybody gathered for a pleasant mingle together with the competition organiser of the Saltsjöbads Regatta, Jörgen Sundelin and KSSS chair Staffan Salén. Results-wise, it is worth noting that in the Neptune-class – with nine squads on the course – “Sjöfröken II” with Göran Haglund as skipper sailed ardently and won four of the five races. In second place was Staffan Eklund’s “New Life”, whilst third place was taken by Richard Holmlund and “Passepartout”. In the Express class, the line-up also included nine boats, and it developed into a thrilling showdown between Kristoffer Harmark’s “Skumpan” and Maria Movin’s “700”. Kristoffer Harmark and crew made the best of it, beating “700”, with “Burkan” steered by Andreas Carlsson in third place. The Folkbåt class also provided some even sailing. The line-up – the weekend’s biggest – comprised eleven boats. It wasn’t until the fifth and final race that “Hugolina” with skipper Hobbe Wärnegård could secure first place, ahead of Ola Zetterberg’s “Amanda”. Third place went to “Grådask” steered by Åke Ljungqvist.

The Sandhamn Regatta (SR)

For the fifth year in a row, we continued with the “new” format for the Sandhamn regatta as a returning annual Championship Regatta at the start of August, and for the third year running, together with a classic regatta. This year, the regatta celebrated its 120th anniversary and there was an especially large difference in the size of the boats. The smallest competed for the Swedish championship in Laser Master, alongside the classic boats from 9 to 23 metres long, in different archipelago courses.

The Laser Master class attracted 110 boats to the start, and after the logistics exercise from Stavsnäs, the Laser gang arrived in Lökholmen, which formed their base for the three days. All boats lined up in Lökholmen, with many participants living, eating and socialising on the KSSS island. Two classes sailed – Standard and Radial, in different age categories – from 35 years to 65+. The Swedish Laser Championship took place over two days, starting on the Friday with a good breeze, and the Saturday with somewhat lighter winds. After six races, KSSS sailor Niklas Edler won Laser Standard, beating GKSS sailor Tomas Nordqvist. Anders Mattson (BiKSS) won the Radial class, beating Björn Sandberg (JKV).

In the Classic class, 25 classic beauties were at the start, but there was only one representative from outside of Sweden – “Haj” from Finland. The Classic courses changed smoothly during the regatta, starting on the Thursday at Kanholmsfjärden, with a good breeze of 8–10 m/s. On day two, the competition organisers took the sailors beyond the islands, and on the final day a course along Gråskärsfjärden was tested in very light winds. There was good variation of both weather and courses. The boats to particularly triumph in the varying conditions were the winners SK 95 “Marga”, with skipper Mia Widstrand, the 5er “Rödnäbban” (J. Gustavsson) and SK40 “Rival” in third place.

We also found a new and appreciated main partner for the regatta in Blue Water Group, as well as a partner arrangement with the Arcus group who put on excellent drinks during the after sail. We would also like to express our thanks to our own Training Committee and Laser Association for their good collaboration, in addition to the Scandinavian Yacht Trust (SCYT) and Sail Yacht Society (SYS) for the classic boats.

A final big thank you to all the competition leaders, under the excellent supervision of Tomas Lund, alongside the 30 officials who supported the regatta.

Indian Heat (previously the Autumn Cup)

We would like to offer some larger and faster SRS boats (with SRS ratings >1.00 and +30 feet) an enjoyable autumn round-up. We trialled the format in 2016, and have now decided to make this tradition under the regatta name “Indian Heat” (with an Indian summer in mind, and the hope for pleasing autumn weather). This year also saw light winds that tested the patients of sailors and sailing leadership. However, we all know it is “like for like”. On the Saturday, “Pro4U” led the way with two of a possible two spikes. Despite worse numbers, they were even able to take Line Honour in their second race. The third race had to be postponed because of prevailing winds. Sunday picked up where Saturday had left off, and four real spikes were won by Forsgren and crew. The islanders from Runmarö sailing in “Rush” were not quite as consistent, but often reached good speeds both with and against the winds, and posed a threat in each

race, then settling in second place. KSSS sailor Anders Åhman came a clear third, and was the best X-35 of the starting three, and taking an overall regatta third place.

This year we also head the pleasure of welcoming two new partners to KSSS and the regatta – title sponsors, TMF Group who were the title sponsors for the regatta and Sjövillan; with a delightful and welcoming sponsored breakfast, after sail and wonderful goodie bags. We also had the pleasure of the Aruba company acting as partner, treating the sailors to breakfast on the Saturday and WiFi all weekend. Special thanks go to sailing leader Robban Ohlsson, who ran the regatta in his usual professional and positive manner – an inspiration to the other officials who participated. Special thanks go to the Neith and Tim at the KSSS office for their support working with our partners and sailors, and for guaranteeing the overall quality of the regatta.

The October Cup

The new collaboration between Sune Carlsson’s Boat Yard and KSSS entered its second year alongside the traditional October Cup. The cup attracted Expresses and J70s once more, in addition to a clear rise in participants from the Star Boat class. A total of 56 boats were at the starting line. The Stars were the largest class with 25 boats, and there was good international representation with participants from Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and USA. The Star Boat class was won by KSSS sailor and Olympian Anton Dahlberg, with Fritiof Kleen manning the boat on loan from Leffe Carlsson. They beat the Dutch Thomas Alert and Killian Weise. Danes Bo Selko and Rasmus Knude came in third. Amongst the Expresses’ 16-squad-strong line-up, TRASS skipper Joakim Rodebäck and team in “X-ray” dominated – three race victories of six possible. “Solskensgossarna” from KSSS with Richard Gustring & Co came second. Olle Heimersson came third, with “Seaflex”. 13 boats gathered at the start of the J/70 class. Most successful was Patrik Forsgren, KSSS who won with eleven net points and consequently secured a sport in the KSSS Allsvenska team 2018. The KSSS sailors Anders Rosenberg in “Dynamant” took silver with 16 points, and Magnus Woxén in “Buckau” took bronze with 17 points.

In accordance with tradition and in good order, Leffe Carlsson put on a German-inspired Oktoberfest in the yard on Saturday evening with beer, sausage and sauerkraut. The atmosphere was electric, and the foreign squads could see just how a competition should be arranged, both on land and at sea.

KSSS would like to thank Sune Carlsson’s boat yard and Leffe Carlsson for the invitation to collaborate in the October Cup this year. After a number of improvements, we are delighted to continue this collaboration to keep this cult end of season regatta moving on with the times.

Club Championship

Since 2013, we have invited all members to the end-of-season club championship at KSSS, which aims to attract large and small, young and old KSSS sailors with all levels of experience. Eleven teams participated this year (and approximately 40 participants) and Anders Karén was kind enough to take responsibility for this year’s Club Championship competition. As usual, sailing took place in the club’s own C55 in inshore waters and short duels. Those not sailing were the judges, course mappers, coffee makers or those chatting on the jetties. Back on dry land we were taken care of by club master Thomas Furuskog and team.

How did it go? After the preliminary rounds, the six best teams went through to the final race. Lukas Bergman and Stefan Löhr were victorious in the final, and are now Club Champions. In second place came Tom and Daniel Whitmore, followed by Martin Wigforss/Knut Leukfeld in third place.

We would like to welcome you all to next year’s CC: Saturday 13/10 2018.

Allsvenskan

BKK has the privilege to be responsible for the KSSS Allsvenskan [Swedish champion’s league] team: the much-appreciated competitive sailing initiative from the Swedish Sailing Federation. This year, Allsvenskan included four sailing rounds in different places in Sweden, and took place in the J70 boats provided. KSSS results have been excellent. In the first year – 2015 – we took first place, and last year we took the just as attractive silver place. This year’s KSSS team was particularly talented and a good mixture of ages and genders. The first and second sailing rounds were won by KSSS, with the club coming second in the third round, so we were relatively well-prepared for the final round. We onlookers felt the fourth round was a little too nerve-racking, but finally Vilma Bobeck managed to bring home a KSSS victory

in Allsvenskan taking sixth place in Gottskär. We would like to congratulate this year’s team of Oscar & Jacob Lundqvist, Ida Svensson, Per Vickberg, Niklas Edler, Julia Gross, Martin Wigforss, Fredrik Appelberg, Mikael Lindqvist, Mathias Hermansson, Linnea Floser, Christoffer Haas, Vilma Bobeck, Fredrik Bergström, Göran Bobeck and Patrik Erlandsson.

We would also like to thank Skarpa for their support to KSSS throughout the season.

Team Race

The team race format is not so common for keelboats in Sweden – it is more common for dinghy classes such as optimist. Hence, we are pleased to note that Stockholm’s Gamla Stan Yacht Association (GSYS) has taken up the initiative and has invited KSSS to both participate in their annual international team race in May as well as the national team races in October. At the GSYS International Team Race, we met with several large international clubs such as NYYC, Costa Smerlanda, Royal Yacht Squadron and Royal Thames Yacht Club – as well as GSYS. After three glorious days of competitive sailing along the Stockholm current, Costa Smeralda took home victory once more. The KSSS team with P. Bergman/T. Gross & Co landed in fourth place. At the national events later in October, the KSSS team (with Johan Rockström as captain) was unfortunately met with strong competition, and the competition was won by the Stockholm Yacht Club. After KSSS victories in both 2015 and 2016, the club has humbly loaned the trophy to one of our sister clubs until next year.

Finally, we have noted that many KSSS members have fought hard and shown their fleet racing skills, both in Sweden and internationally.

At BKK we have very much appreciated being entrusted with the responsibility for fleet racing at KSSS throughout the year. We are hoping for tributes and comments from you all about how we can continue to secure KSSS’ place as Sweden’s best coordinator of fleet racing and we hope that many of you would also like to join our group of officials: “We want you!” This will be my last BKK report, after many stimulating years at the BKK helm. I am handing over to Johan Rockström, and I know that KSSS fleet racing has a bright future, safe in the hands of Johan’s skills and enthusiasm for our sport, together with the rest of the fleet racing committee.

Patrik Salén Chair, Fleet Sailing Committee

The Fleet Sailing Committee plans and conducts fleet racing in the skerries of keelboats and handles issues in conjunction to the area. The Committee collaborates with other clubs both in Sweden and abroad and with the Government agencies who oversee fleet sailing.

This year, the Committee has once more included a mix of elite sailors and first-class international officials, all of whom made great enthusiastic contributions to the Committee’s work.

The Offshore Racing Committee organised and hosted five regattas in 2017: the Sandhamn Open, ÅF Inshore Race, ÅF Offshore Race, “Kräftgången” in collaboration with Stockholm Yacht Club’s “Kräftkör” and ”Höstmix”.

As tradition dictates, the Sandhamn Open is the first large sailing event of the year in Sandhamn. In recent years, the format has been fine-tuned to be able to offer first-class fleet racing for one-design classes (in collaboration with the fleet sailing committee), and a warmup for ORCi and SRS sailors on challenging offshore courses. Something new for this year was that only the SRS boats sailed the long offshore course, starting Friday evening and concluding around Saturday lunchtime. The ORCi sailors competed for two days with crossing/lane courses in the waters outside of Sandhamn. A total of 62 boats were at the starting line, split into five classes. The result lists were topped by nothing but well-known sailors. Grand Soleil 42 Spirit (Lars Bergqvist) won SRS after a stable series where their “worst” result had been third place. Unsurprisingly, Team Pro4U (Patrik Forsgren) were victorious in the ORCi. The 3-1-1-1-1-1 series showed that they are the boats to be reckoned with in the ORCi. Winners in the single design classes were Leif Dahl F18, Tom Löfsted J/70 and Martin Strandberg Far East 28R.

This year was the 80th anniversary of the ÅF Offshore Race/Round Gotland Race. 42 boats participated on a course that stretched from Visby, via Ölands Norra Grund and then south/east of Gotland, finishing in Sandhamn. This year’s edition of the ÅF Offshore Race may not have quite reached the participation record at the start of the 1990s, when 500 boats cast off from Sandhamn. At the same time, the boats are now significantly larger than they were 25 years ago. There was no doubt just as many – if not more – sailors starting within the Stockholm waters in 2017. 239 boats lined up at the start – a new record in a steadily rising trend since the start was moved into Stockholm city. After the light winds at the start, things quickly accelerated and the fleet was forced to battle both hard winds and rough seas all the way down to Hoburgen. This somewhat uncomfortable journey only defeated 27 boats. The overall winner of the ÅF Offshore Race 2017 and victor of SRS A was Arcona 380 Imperiet II (Paul Nord). SRS Big Boat and ORCi A were won by Estonian Cookson 50 Furiosa (Rolf Relander). SRS B and ORCi B were won by Pro4U (Patrik Forsgren), SES C was won by Scampin Boj-Boj (Peter Forslund) who was also the best in IOR Classic Boat, out of 14 starters. Sunfast 3600 Groovie (Martin Dubois / Noel Barkelius) were victorious in the SRS Double Handed. SRS Multi-hull was won by SeaCart 30 Cremefraes (Janne Riihelä). For the fourth year running, Ballad (Patrik Salén) won the Classic class. Ludde Ingval beat his 20-year-old course record in the supermaxi CQS, and the new record for catamarans is 11.11 knots.

As usual, the ÅF Inshore Race took place the day before the ÅF Offshore Race, starting at Fjäderholmarna, with the finish line within the Stockholm waters. Once 45 boats completed the ÅFIR, Richard Isby was the winner with the credit-worthy one-off boat Mithril.

The traditional “Kräftkör” took place at the end of August, led by Stockholm’s Yacht Club. 40 boats competed from Saltsjöbaden out to Sandhamn where a crayfish spread

had been put on for all to enjoy. The following day, KSSS arranged the “Kräftgången”, starting in Sandhamn and finishing in the Kanholmsfjärd. 26 boats participated in both races, with SK 95 Marga (Mia Widstrand) the overall victor.

And finally, KSSS organised the east coast’s first genuine mixed double handed sailing. The Höstmix (autumn mix) was a short distance sail, with focus on the surrounding events. 15 boats with both experienced and novice sailors competed in the waters around Saltsjöbaden and Ingaröfjärden, and participated in a successful and enjoyable dinner. Once again, Mithril with Richard Isby and Inger Swing topped the podium. 2017 has been a very successful year for KSSS and HKK. The number of foreign participants in ÅFOR continues to increase, and we are now seeing more women at sea. We have tested some new concepts with both the Höstmix and IOR Classic classes in the ÅFOR. Throughout the year, the committee has worked with other KSSS committees as well as the Swedish Sailing Federation and the Swedish Offshore Racing Association. The fantastic contributions made by the group of officials to our activities and the herculean efforts from the office continue to be a KSSS strength. We confidently look forward to 2018.

Fredrik Wallenberg Chair, Offshore Racing Committee The main purpose of the Offshore Racing Committee is to promote and develop offshore racing within KSSS and conduct first-class international events.