Scandinavia’s largest regatta: ‘More like a cruising rally than a race’

Ben Lowings witnessed Scandinavia's largest cruising regatta in May and reports back for YM.

Cruising yachts in Scandinavia make a beeline for the Danish town of Skagen over every Ascension Day holiday in May. Nearly all of the entrants are production cruisers. This, along with the international fellowship, makes the event feel more like a cruising rally than a race.

Apart from the two years of Covid, the event has grown in popularity and since 1996 is Scandinavia’s biggest regatta. Most boats come from Norway, but Lars-Erik Wilhelmsen, the organiser, is encouraging British entries. The timing and location of the race mean it is perfect for UK yachts keen to explore this gateway to the Baltic.

In 2019 there were 276 entrants and they had to enforce a waiting list as Skagen’s small fishing harbour can only accommodate 250 boats, particularly now that the average-sized cruising yacht is even bigger.

The Skagen courses are unique. Sailors set off from three different starting points: Holmestrand, Norway; Marstrand, Sweden; and Hals, Denmark. They all converge on a sandspit where Danish territory peters out into the Skagerrak strait, and point their bows in the the direction of Skagen.

This year, there were 250 boats competing. The forecast included some Force 7 gusts. The seas tend to pile up quickly in westerlies, particularly where the Norwegian Trench ends and depths shelve up from 700m to 100m over about 15 miles.

This year, the yachts set out in calm seas but were overtaken in the middle of the night by 3m swells. The event has never been cancelled due to a forecast. Windy conditions in the 2022 and 2019 races meant that out of 276 entrants, only 25 finished. Lars-Erik Wilhelmsen underlines that by ‘windy’ he means 50-knot gusts.

Skagen is a picturesque port town that is considered exotic even by Danes due to its isolation from the rest of the country. Seasonal tourist events are hosted there. It’s a magnet for Norwegian, Swedish and Danish sailors. ‘It’s not a big offshore yacht community, rather mostly fishermen,’ Wilhelmsen explains.

Scandi synchronicity

Most entrants are Norwegian but they’re encouraging more Swedish and Danish entrants. To have a common goal but, in effect, three different races, with separate line honours and overall titles in each, emphasises the Scandinavian sense of togetherness and synchronicity.

Conditions might have been regarded as borderline this year. A lifebuoy overboard from one yacht transmitted a distress signal briefly. Later on, there was an actual MOB incident when a member of a short-handed crew became detached from their vessel, but was soon recovered. A radio call was cancelled within half an hour. One yacht that made it to Skagen was seen to have suffered bow damage.

Daniel Ingebretsen, who competed doublehanded with skipper Yngve Lonmo in the 30ft J/92 Jacobine, started in light winds at Holmestrand in the outer reaches of Oslofjord. Within hours, the wind had increased to 30 knots. ‘There were heavy conditions,’ Ingebretsen says, with the dry understatement that comes easily to Norwegians speaking English.

‘After eight hours, we were the smallest boat in the event. Almost half the fleet retired and turned back before Skagen.’ Their yacht went towards the west coast of Sweden then round a marker buoy before heading for Skagen. Ingebretsen and Lonmo changed over at the helm after an hour or two. ‘It was difficult getting sleep in between. The swell was quite big.

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Tough conditions

‘It was hard to tell the height from such a small boat but it might have been between 2-3m metres. The skipper said he had never been so cold,’ said Ingebretsen. He isn’t prone to exaggeration so you almost shiver when he tells you almost every wave went onboard and the water was most definitely cold. ‘If you maintain the boat, then it’s the people that go down first,’ he says, somewhat icily.

Ingebretsen is on the same page as the event organiser and agrees the race is an interesting model. They are good neighbourly countries. There’s an additional benefit in that alcohol and food are expensive in Norway and the balance of prices has shifted in their favour. Eight years ago the Norwegian and Danish currencies were about the same.

With a little divergence now, Ingebretsen remarks, Skagen is a good place for some shopping bargains. Don’t let the conditions of Skagen 2024 put you off, Ingebretsen tells me, appealing to British boats to cruise up to Norway, the North Sea and the Baltic. Lighthouses aren’t generally lit at this time of year because there’s hardly any hours of darkness. Regattas take place in full daylight all summer up here.

Also, within the skerries that surround the Norwegian coast, famously fictionally designed by Douglas Adams’ character Slartibartfast in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. ‘Water temperatures of 25°C are not unknown here,’ Ingebretsen says. ‘Saltwater coming up from the Atlantic current is contained and heated within the fjords and bays.’

Immune to the cold

An Englishman might take this assertion with some caution. Crossing Skagerrak in a sailing vessel at the same time as the yachts, but not racing, I was witness to these hardy Norwegians shaking off the cold.

On the way back to Norway we stopped for some sea-bathing. It looked far too cold for me to take a dip, but these robust Norsemen and women all jumped in and said it was actually warm. Mind you, what is the Norwegian word for ‘hot’? ‘Varm’…

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