Sandön Slingshot 2025

Sandön Slingshot is an annual event hosted aboard Red Line, challenging participants to sail around the island of Gotska Sandön and return to the Stockholm Archipelago. The journey typically lasts about 30 hours.

This year, several friends from the boat club were invited. All experienced sailors with their own boats, but this time we would share the space onboard Red Line.

The weather forecast was not very promising, but except for a brief period around midnight, it was very sailable. Perhaps overconfident in our abilities, we decided to proceed with the trip. We left the port around 4 in the afternoon and were served the most delicious meal we have ever had onboard Red Line before we hoisted the sails and navigated our way out of the archipelago towards Gotska Sandön. The weather was varying to say the least. Rain was mixed with sun, double rainbows and Thunder as we worked our way through the Archipelago.

Anticipating the upcoming wind shift and increase in wind speed, we reefed down and entered the open sea. We took two hour shifts. One hour trimming the sails, and then one hour by the helm which was followed by three hours of rest. just before midnight it was my turn to have some rest. I noticed that one of my fellow sailors has already become seasick – not much to do than helping them with whatever they might need. The red cabin lights were already on for the night shift and I worked my way to the fore peak to get some sleep. I cuddled myself in between the sails and was really happy with the position. Right after midnight, the boat started to shake hard and the sails were flapping furiously.

Time to get up I guess.I tried to help Philip and Krister in any way I could, but apart from cheering and discussing – we could only trim the sails and hold on fast. After a few of these occurrences, my love for the self tacking jib has slowly decreased unless we are cruising the archipelago. As an addition, I have started to add a line that can adjust the position of the car and lock it in place to prevent flapping. With this setup – I have full control. However – this was not a part of the setup this day.

Battling the conditions, we continued towards Gotska Sandön. Speed was around around 8 knots topping at 12knots in the surfs. Given the conditions, sailing was hard but manageable. We could have reduced more sail area and possibly even deploy some lines to reduce speed. However we had two incapacitated crew members below puking their souls out. There is this golden rule i like that I learned while in flight school in my teens. If in doubt – turn around. We were hesitant to continue or not, but after a short discussion, with everyone on deck agreeing we decided to turn around. I like battling the weather, but I know that being seriously sea sick for 24 hours is no game.

Turning around became a challenge in itself. The first attempt resulted in a 360 turn continuing steadily on our previous course eastwards. Being a bit more prepared, the second time went better. Running downwind to start with after the turn towards the wind, we slowly adjusted our course towards Landsort. Conditions was slowly easing up, and for each 10 minute period, we could adjust our heading to be more favourable towards our destination back. It wasn’t until sunrise that we could re-engage the autopilot again, when I finally decided to head down to take a two hour nap, rest assured that my competent crew would handle anything thrown at us.

To be continued…