small boat // BIG ADVENTURE!
Synopsis
Join Andy in the Baltic on his own boat SPICA, a custom Norlin 34 built especially for Gotland Runt in 1977, and race round the island of Gotland! This iconic offshore race is the biggest in the Baltic and annually attracts boats big and small from all over the world. Volvo Ocean Race teams typically use this as a training race, and in the past all the big maxis from the Whitbread era have taken part too.
By next summer SPICA will be tricked out for racing - all new Colligo synthetic rigging, new racing sails from Chesapeake Sailmakers, and upgraded running rigging will have us looking sharp and sailing FAST! She’s a small boat, but SPICA represents Andy & Mia’s roots as small, simple boat sailors, and we can’t wait to get the new boat offshore.
Andy will be skippering this race with a mate TBD, and we’ll have 4 crew spots available. It’s cozy aboard SPICA, but there are indeed bunks for everyone to stay aboard before, during and after the race.
Read more about the race from the KSSS official site. Click here.
The Route
The race starts in downtown central Stockholm and is a huge spectacle. The fleet zigzags through the myriad islands, rocks and skerries of the archipelago before heading offshore and around the medieval island of Gotland and it’s walled city of Visby. After rounding the island the race finishes at the KSSS homebase in Sandhamn, one of the spectacular islands in the outer Stockholm archipelago.
Spica
SPICA is a 1977 Norlin 34, designed and built in Sweden, that Mia & I bought at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when we realized Axel needed a boat to sail on, and that the amazing Stockholm archipelago is in our backyard! She’s a one-off version of the popular and successful Norlin 34 Mk2 hull, built especially for the 1977 Gotland Runt race and made for the managing director of the boatyard where she was built. At 34 feet long, she’s sleek and fast, and 6’5” deep keep, flush foredeck and racing cockpit, yet with a comfortable (if not cozy) interior typical of the IOR era. More info and photos to come as Mia & I sail her!
