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Finnish Championship 2023- Heavy weather

This years Finnish Championships were held in challenging weather. Both days saw winds on either side of the 13m/s upper limit, which caused many teams to drop out of the competition either due to mechanical failures or lack of training in the conditions. Out of the original 13 boats signed up, six participated in the seven races of the championships.

The name of the game was experience, and the masters of the conditions proved to be FIN-14 (Otto Reittilä & Anssi Muikku) with an impressive card of 1,1,1,(4),1,2,2. Silver was awarded to FIN-390 (Karri Heliö & Sakari Kalpio) and Bronze to FIN-11 (Ilkka Saura & Mark Lassfolk).

The Estonian team EST-049 (Siim Maivel & Kristjan Kookmaa) gave FIN-14 a run for their money on day two, but unfortunately their bad luck in the races of day one saw them finnish outside of the podium this time. Their speed upwind was impressive and the first place finishes in race four,six and seven are a testament to that, despite racing on a loan sail due to a rather large, crew sized, hole in their original one.

Congratulations to all the winners!

SM 2023 podium

Worlds 2023

Spirits Not Dampened by Rain at F18 World Championships

The 2023 F18 World Championships was arguably one of the most successful iterations for Team Finland ever. Held in Travemunde, North Germany, there were no less than five teams representing Finland present amongst the 100+ boats on the water.

Usually, the Finnish word “sisu” is not given out lightly, but in this case, all the Finnish teams certainly deserve to claim their share of sisu for competing in this event. All competitors had to endure multiple long days and delays on the water, as storms and rain clouds rolled through almost every day, causing large scale disruptions to the wind stability, which resulted in many hours under postponement on the water, in wetsuits that should have been renamed to soaking-suits.

In addition to the long delays and rain showers, competitors had to race against the best sailors in the world, in almost every weather condition imaginable, from light and shifty winds, to big breezes, and then when the big breeze died down, light winds and sloppy waves. All race areas presented incredibly tough challenges to competitors, with everyone agreeing it was difficult to predict and capitalise on any weather related strategy.

Of the five Finnish teams, two were mixed teams, which is an encouraging trend, and reflects the Finnish F18 Association’s positive attitude to warmly welcoming all interested sailors to try out the class, regardless of who they are.

Nina Tammisto and Tuomas Lötjönen had a challenging regatta that ultimately ended in great success. They had a strong performance in the qualifying races, but luck was not on their side.

Equipment failure of the spinnaker halyard in Race 1 meant they had to capsize to effect a repair, followed by an unfortunate nosedive in the final Qualifying race set them back. Despite their best efforts, the fleet at the World Championships was so competitive this year that incidents like this were incredibly difficult to overcome.

These two heavy results saw the team assigned to Silver fleet, but this did not cause them despair for long. A heroic effort saw Nina and Tuomas secure three bullets and a second in the Silver fleet racing, which catapulted the team to be overall winners in the 2023 F18 World Championships Silver fleet, and 50th overall!

Eppu Kärki and Janne Ylänne had a mixed regatta. The two legends returned to the F18 fleet this year after a bit of a hiatus, with this event being the first time Eppu had been sailing this year, and Janne was not far behind. The event was extra challenging for Janne who found himself crewing in this regatta, a position he is unfamiliar with as he usually is the skipper.
Despite this, they sailed valiantly and intelligently. It is commonly known that the decision to pull out of a race is often the hardest yet most intelligent decision one can make, and Eppu and Janne decided that on one particularly windy and unpredictable day, the risks were too high for the potential gain, and stayed ashore.
This was a wise decision as many boats suffered breakages and/or injuries, and despite not competing in a few races, the two still sailed well enough to secure 78th position overall, with many boats sitting behind them in the rankings.

During the regatta, Janne announced his plans to support the growth of the Finnish F18 class by making his boat available to interested newcomers, and helping coach them to help them advance in the rankings.

Ilkka Saura and Antti Laukkanen were the delicious filling in the Finnish Silver fleet sandwich, finishing in-between Nina and Eppu in 59th overall. All teams present were very dedicated and fast, with the many U flag and Black flag starts being proof of this.

Ilk noted that a major lesson was that in such a competitive fleet, even a single mistake or loss of concentration at mark rounding would cost several places that were very difficult to retake. But that is part of the pleasure in sailing at the Worlds!

The duo noticed the particular value in the regular training camps and weekly practice sessions in helping them prepare their boat, their bodies and their minds for the challenges of racing at such a high level. But more than that, the community spirit within the class made the regular training a pleasure to join, even for teams whose aspirations may not be so ambitious but are more looking for something fun and exciting to sail.

This year, there were two teams representing Finland in the Gold fleet. Anssi Muikku and Oliver Hartas were racing together with their own challenges to overcome. With barely any time sailing together as a team prior to the World Championships, and their only training regatta plagued with equipment failures, the odds seemed stacked against them.

In addition, Anssi was helming, a position he does not normally occupy in the F18, and there was also the issue of communication. Since Oliver is not a native Finn, the team language on board was English, posing another challenge to the ad-hoc team.

Despite this, Anssi steered a masterful regatta, pushing through the challenges and sailing intelligently to achieve their team goal of qualifying for the Gold fleet. Their regatta was largely trouble free with the exception of their final race, when a freak occurrence at the top mark saw the spinnaker halyard tangle and jam to such an extent that they had to retire from the race and cut the spinnaker halyard in order to drop the sail. Despite this, the team finished 32nd overall.

Finally, the father-daughter mixed team that proudly carried the Finnish flag at the front of the fleet; Mikko and Kirsikka Räisänen. This duo has long been one of the best teams Finland has produced, and this year it was no different. Overall they placed 25th, which is highly impressive given the incredibly high standard at this years World Championships.

Racing their Windrush Edge, the team displayed some incredible team dynamics and flexibility, exemplifying the fact that the best teams are ones that adapt, as oppose to those who sail by the numbers.

Never far away from the front runners, this team are certainly making their nation proud, and are a great example of what can be achieved by simply putting in the time on the water and sailing hard.

All in all, the Finnish teams sailed brilliantly and represented their country well. The next World Championships will be held in the holiday destination of Costa Brava, Spain, and all the members of the Finnish F18 Association are happy to help anyone who is interested in joining the fleet and making their way to this and any other of the tremendously enjoyable and exciting events.

-Oliver Hartas

Finnish Nationals 2022 completed, clear victory for Lion of Finland!

 

Our beloved F18 class competed again for the Finnish championship on September 17-18. in the early autumn weather with fifteen boats!

This time the first day offered less excitement on the water, as the wind conditions did not allow the starts to be run. Fleet tried to get wind on the legendary “beach leg” (read night out in the city), and succeeded, because five starts were successfully raced on Sunday.

The competition at the top was fierce, but in the end, with a clean series of five bullets, Lion of Finland FIN 5 helmed by Mikko Räisänen and crewed by Kirsikka Räisänen, secured the gold medal. They were followed by FIN 14, Otto Reittila and Anssi “always ready quick command backup” Muikku. The bronze was won by Australia’s gift to sailing, Oliver Hartas, FIN 141 at the helm, with Viktor Grandell as crew.

Foreign countries were represented by Estonia’s two crews, EST 049 Siim Maivel and Kristjan Kookmaa, and EST 2048, Keit Järve and Taavi Valter Taveter, the first of which finished in 7th place and the second in 14th place. Thank you for visiting!  Great to see that the F18 class is growing in Estonia again. Finnish sailors are more than thrilled to join the regattas in Estonia in the future!

Overall, we are pleased with the development of the class currently. The regatta attracted a fair amount of boats with a great mix of new and old teams. 2023 will be yet another exciting year with an even larger number of boats on the line. According to rumors, sailors hooked on the previous trial day may well end up participating 😉

More photos of the games taken by Waker boats at
https://waker.fi/news/

Images by Peter Flinkman / Waker boats

2021 Ranking tulokset

Kausi 2021 oli täynnä hyviä kisoja ja nyt ovat pistenikkarit saaneet laskennan loppuun.

Kovan taiston vei lopulta FIN-1337 ennen FIN-007 ja FIN-11. Hyvä tyypit!

Katseet siirtyvät kohti kauden päätöstapahtumaa ja kautta 2022. Nautitaan vielä keleistä, kovaa ajoa!

 

F18 ranking results 2021

Sponsorship deal with Rohje

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We are excited to announce that The Midnight Sun Raid will be sponsored by Rohje, a Finnish watch brand drawing inspiration from Nordic nature.

After getting in touch with the team at Rohje we quickly realized our core values align very well and immediately started planning ways to co-operate. The Formula 18 -class is known for having fun on and off the water so let’s welcome Rohje to the party!

The winners of the Raid will be awarded watches from the Rohje collection. Want one? Sign up to the Raid or visit https://www.rohje.com/

See you all in June!