Sophie Luther diary

The new Pindar recruit describes her experience to date in the Volvo Baltic Race

It’s pretty daunting, being the only girl here. I know it sounds like fun all the way, being out here and sailing in an event like this, but sometimes it’s pretty hard and lonely. Even getting on a plane and flying to Kiel, not knowing where I was going to stay or who I was going to sail with was a pretty big thing. But I’m not complaining! My experience is growing every day and this is a completely new level for me.

I have been with the Avant crew for a week now and they have been very encouraging. I started this event sailing with the part Croatian, part Swedish team on AV-Teknik on the leg from Kiel to Warnemunde in former East Germany. It was windy and cold and luckily downwind most of the way, but I still enjoyed it even though a lot of the time I didn’t understand what was being said.

When we arrived in Warnemunde I met up with Mikkael Lundh and his crew from Avant and Mikke said I could sail on their boat up to Sandhamn, if I wanted to, so of course I said 'yes, please'. Lots of the crew on Mikke’s boat are young like me and trying to develop their big boat skills, so I thought it would be good fun as well as good experience.

We started in a flat calm on Sunday and floated around until Monday by which time we were all pretty tired. To make up for the inactively in the non-existent breeze, the crew demolished most of the 16 Hawaiian-style pizzas, which Johan Wigforss, one of Sweden's top Laser sailors and in charge of Avant's food - had brought on board. Unfortunately this was our food for the race and most of it had disappeared with still most of the leg across to Sandhamn still to go.

After six spinnaker peels during the night, which we were all up on deck for, we finished on Tuesday afternoon one minute 30 seconds behind JMS our closest enemy. We had sailed so hard we were like walking zombies. It was nice to pack up our boat and walk through the sandy forest of Sandhamn to our two crew houses, where we practically passed out with tiredness. It was a welcome change to be clean, not salty and to sleep in a bed.

After my offshore trial, Mikke said I could stay on board Avant for the rest of the Volvo Baltic Race so now I have a lot to live up to.

We started the inshore race off Sandhamn in true America’s Cup style, getting ahead and covering JMS right to end of the race, short tacking up the narrow harbour. This was pretty hard as we had to constantly transfer our water ballast from side to side and the engine and pump were screaming.

But it was worth the effort and winning our fight for third place we retired to the bar to celebrate. The party continued late with all the crews and it was a decidedly dusty Avant that motored our VO60 to Stockholm where hundreds of people were waiting on the dockside to greet us in



That evening, our sponsors threw a party for all the crew and friends at a top Stckholm night club, so we got to let our hair down. On Friday our boat, along with all the others in the race, was on show as we finished off all our shoreside jobs. We had a BBQ in the evening and then went to bed early. We’ve still got one offshore race and three windward/leeward races to do, so it’s far from over.

So here I am back in Sandhamn having just got in after motoring our mighty Avant back through the beautiful archipelago from Stockholm to Sandhamn. It’s stunning here. I don’t think I’ve ever been so where quite so beautiful. Everywhere you look there are little wooden summerhouses with boats moored against the rocks nearby. But the water is cold, very cold even in comparison with the UK. And it’s not salty either: which is why it freezes so easily here in the winter.

That’s been my hectic week with Avant so far. Lots and lots of hard work, some stressful racing and no sleep, followed by a big night out. I’m looking forward to the Round Gotland Race tomorrow. Actually I’m quite nervous. It’s the last offshore race and we’ve got to beat JMS to come third overall. It’s really important.

I’ll let you know what happens every day!