Ludde Ingvall’s distinctive super maxi CQS has arrived in European waters for a summer tour of races in places as divergent as Finland and Malta. The 98 foot boat, with which Ludde contested last year’s Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race, will leave Gosport, England, in the next few days for a delivery trip to Helsinki.
While in the Finnish capital, where the skipper grew up, CQS will contest the Alandia Surrsaari Race, a 168 nautical mile dash around Surrsaari Island, starting 9th June, a race for which he hold the course record, and has presented the trophy for first monohull, in honour of his late father.
From there the boat will travel to Stockholm to take part in the Gotland Runt, a 350 nautical mile race around Gotland, one of the classics of the northern European summer, which starts 2nd July.
CQS will then return to England where she will again be based in Gosport, and will compete in three of England’s premier sailing events, the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Channel Race, Cowes Week, and the Rolex Fastnet Race.
The Channel Race, which starts 22nd July is a short, 160 nautical mile, sprint around the English Channel, starting from Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
During the world famous Cowes Week regatta, CQS will join other maxi yachts in a three race “Triple Crown” series of races around the Solent.
The final event in the English part of the European Tour will be the Rolex Fastnet Race, the 605 nautical mile classic race from Cowes around the Fastnet Rock off the south west coast of Ireland, and back to finish in Plymouth. This is a race he was won in the past.
Ludde and the CQS team will finish their European Tour in the Mediterranean, taking part in Trieste’s Barcolana Race, and Malta’s Middle Seas Race. The Barcolana is a 15 nautical mile dash around the Bay of Trieste, which is claimed to be the bigger sailing race in the world, with thousands of boats taking part.
The Middle Seas Race starts and finishes in Malta’s Valletta Harbour, and is another of the world’s 600 nautical mile classics, alongside the Fastnet, Newport to Bermuda and Sydney to Hobart races. It takes the fleet of boats north around Sicily, followed by a spectacular round of the volcano Stromboli, before turning south around more islands, and back to Valletta.
– John Roberson
