Six SeaCarts for Round Gotland

Including Anna Drougge's all-female team

Six SeaCart 30s will be on the line for Sunday’s start of the 430 nm Round Gotland Race. 218 boats will be taking the start line of the race. Havet (the Sea) has an all female crew skippered by two time Volvo Ocean Race sailor Anna Drougge, by far the most experienced lady offshore sailor in Sweden.

-"We are expecting very light winds during the race," says Drougge, "pretty much like last year. We might be looking at 60-70 hours and not the less than 40 hours that are within reach if the wind blows throughout."



"Six Sea Carts in a major offshore race is hopefully a trend," says Calle Hennix, the man behind the all-carbon fibre Sea Cart 30 trimarans (read our interview with Hennix here). "We seem to attract top sailors from F18, Tornado, J/80 and J/105 as well as from the bigger boats. They share a common wish to sail offshore and inshore under a strict and very competitive one design rule. We provide that in a vey fast vessel."

The Swedish lady SeaCart 30 Havet (the Sea), prepared during Saturday in light winds outside the Stockholm sailing centre in Sandhamn. Dougge sails with former J-80 world champion Tinta Arvefors/Nystedt, Eva Holmström, Boel Bengtsson and Isa Mungsgård.

- The male crews are four persons, but we need the weight and the strength of the fifth person as well, says Drugge. We’ve been training and racing since Eastern. We suffer a bit as the wind picks up since the boat asks for big muscles to handle the main and the gennakers. The boys are stronger, but we just try to be a bit smarter and more technical, Drougge smiles, possibly looking for her first verall victory in the Sea Cart 30.

The SeaCarts are all equipped with a positioning device and can be spotted anytime during the Round Gotland Race on http://www.livetracker.se/ .