ROUND GOTLAND - updated report

Bob Fisher has his finger on the pulse in Sandhamn

1730 - GoreTex dismasts

Magnus Olsson’s Open 60 trimaran, Gore-Tex, was dismasted while lying third in class in the Gant Gotland Runt.

Skipper Olsson explained what had happened: "It was when we were a boat’s length away from the turning mark at Gunnarstenarna, the forestay appeared to have given way and the mast began to topple slowly aft. We are not certain of exactly what failed.’

The wing mast is not broken and the crew were energetically trying to salvage all they could in the way of sails and rigging. Gore-Tex was drifting slowly with the wind on a flat sea and there was no cause for concern, according to Olsson.

1700 - Academy loses the lead

Knut Frostad and his crew lost the lead they held from the Sandhamn start of the Gant Gotland Race when they opted to go to leeward of the low island of Huvudskar while Klabbe Nylof’s HiQ went to seaward. There was more breeze where HiQ went and by the time they emerged at Uto, beyond the southern extremity of the island, HiQ was two minutes in front.

All the while they were sailing within sight of one another; Huvudskar is very low lying; and the effect on Frostad and his crew appears more far reaching. Soon after starting the starboard tack beat to the mark at Salvorev, Nylof had taken HiQ to a three minute lead.

Nylof indicated that if conditions remain the same as at present, HiQ could better 24 hours for the race despite it having been extended this year by 30 miles. The race record was set by Nokia in 2002 of 24 hours 40 minutes, an average speed of 13.58 knots.

1600 - IMS favourite retires

All set to win the Swedish IMS Championship with his IMX-40 Imagine Peter Rudback found to his cost the result of failing to read the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions properly. He did not realise that the method of redressing an infringement for hitting the inner limit of the starting line was to make penalty turns, believing instead that he would have to accept a five percent time penalty.

As Imagine approached the start, Rudback’s chosen helmsman, Micke Lindkvist, misjudged the gap between the inner distance mark and a boat to leeward and just scraped the inflatable orange buoy. Another boat called “Protest” and the die was cast. Rudback was sure that the heavier penalty was in force and carried on as far as the Almagrundet light tower.

Only when he had reached this mark of the course did he discover that he could, and should, have taken penalty turns for the infringement of the Racing Rules of Sailing. He also realised that a five percent time penalty would be far too much to overcome in the races for Imagine to have any chance of winning - this championship makes two races out of the Gant Gotland Runt by taking the time of each boat at the Faro light as a short offshore race and allowing them to continue immediately on the full race (the long offshore race) - so he retired the boat from the races and returned to Sandhamn.

If only he had fully comprehended the conditions governing the championship, he might well have been the winner, but like many before him, he failed to read the small print.