Silverrudder 2022: Baller start, counter-current, doldrums finish, and why it was still magical

In the early years, the Silverrudder 2022 was once known as the "Ironman of the Sea". That was perhaps a little over the top. Today the slogan is just "Challenge of the Sea". For Niels Ove Henriksen, however, the solo around Funen must have felt like a never-ending test. The skipper of "Chantal", a cosy and sturdy Elvstrøm Coronet 38, was the last to cross the line. Sunday morning was already dawning.

His time: 45 hours, 9 minutes, 18 seconds. That corresponds to an average of around three knots. But that is ultimately irrelevant in this race, which captivates amateurs and professionals alike. The Silverrudder is about arriving, about the experience - about taking a few unforgettable miles with you into the long autumn and winter. And the largest single-handed regatta in the world offered plenty of that.

"It's simply a magical race," said Silverrudder veteran and long-distance enthusiast Mathias Müller von Blumencron as he took a few hours' rest after crossing the finish line and reviewed his race. This time, the Hamburg native, who is used to winning, had "only" managed third place in the highly competitive class of keelboats up to 40 feet, after being clearly in the lead for the first quarter of the course with his Class 40 "Red". However, this did not diminish his enthusiasm for this year's regatta in the slightest.

He describes the appeal as follows: "It's an obstacle course sprint around Funen, the likes of which you won't find anywhere else in the north. You're alone, there's wind, sometimes more, you have to keep clear of your competitors and the shore is always looming. You have very little time for manoeuvres, and if something goes wrong, you can very quickly end up lying on the rocks or on the beach. You have to find the balance between risk, i.e. speed, and caution in order to arrive."

This year, the eleventh edition of the long-established cult event, which inspires cruising sailors as well as regatta cracks, shipyard bosses and designers, young and old, the challenge lay in the repeatedly changing weather windows. Still glowing from the recent impressions, Mathias Müller von Blumencron described how he experienced the race:

"The race was marvellous. It started with a lot of wind, so even setting the main is a challenge, because you need a few minutes undisturbed, against the wind, and that's not so easy in this narrow fairway off Svendborg. We then shot out of the sound and headed north, with the wind decreasing and the weather clearing. We had a wonderful evening atmosphere at the northern tip of Funen. And after Middelfart we had a spi ride in several stages to Lyø. There was everything, lots of manoeuvres, lots of tricky situations. You hardly got a chance to eat, hardly ever had a moment to relax. That's how exhausted you are at the finish, but also full of moments of happiness."

Three Dehler 30s in first to third place in the class up to 30 feet- wow!

Andreas Deubel, former Mini-Transat participant and competing on his Dehler 30 od "Crazyboats.de", had the following answer to the question of whether the Silverrudder 2022 was nice or tough: "It was both - nice and tough!" He sailed the entire race distance within striking distance of two sister ships and was constantly challenged. He only let "François", his autopilot, take the helm on the approach to Fredericia - only to reach for the tiller again a few minutes later. He was still in third place in his group.

After the comparatively easy passage from Middelfart due to the pushing current, the Dehler 30 formation got down to business: "With the A2 (the largest gennaker, the ed.) and 27 knots of wind through the night and the island world of the Danish South Sea". No wonder, Deubel, Max Gurgel, who won the class, and Martin Kringel outdistanced the entire competition, including the Aeolos P30 "Beast" of Jan Hansen, who was deprived of the autopilot for long stretches due to electronic problems.

Three Dehler 30 ods in first, second and third place - that was a demonstration of power in the class of keelboats up to 30 feet. No less remarkable, however, was the fourth place of the Czech Milan Kolacek on a Seascape 27, who won the European Championship in the one-design class organised by Silverrudder. Less than four minutes separated him from Martin Kringel in third place. Uros Krasevac, who made a veritable debut in the Protos mini 6.50 class this season, also impressed with sixth place and the runner-up European Championship title in the Seascape/First 27 SE.

Marlene Brudek: The first female finisher sails First 27 SE

Among the women, Marlene Brudek was the first to cross the finish line after 24:52:48 hours, in 27th place in the same group. During the gruelling standing sail in front of the bridge in Svendborg, shortly before the finish, she said: "I didn't sleep, but I'm fit and I'm fine." Equipped only with a small gennaker, she was in a slow-motion race with other boats in her class right to the end. Cirkeline Catrine Skovgaard Andersen from Denmark was the second woman to cross the finish line in 34th place with her X-79 "Spiff" after 25:50:06 hours.

In the group of large multihulls, last year's winner Jan Andersen on the Marlin 33 "Black Marlin" and Jens Quorning with his Dragonfly One-Off 28 "Dragonfire" fought the expected duel, from which Quorning arrived with a sailed time of 15:25:40 almost exactly one hour ahead of Andersen. He was therefore First Ship Home, and not for the first time.

This year's Silverrudder had it all in terms of weather and challenges: strong winds and calm alternated and challenged the sailors. At the start, it was so choppy in the narrow fields that some had to abort due to breakage ( to our report from yesterday please click here)

Self-build "Remy": the first scratches in the wooden hull even before the start

Jan von der Bank and his self-built "Rémy" also did not survive the race unscathed despite all the caution, but started with a scratch. In the narrow field of competitors before the start, von der Bank was pushed against the shipyard wall by the wind and current. The wooden hull got "a few scratches, which I have already painted over today, but which mean a lot of work again," he reported.

Later, the former Contender champion was also challenged: "The race was really demanding. Lots of wind and current at the start, then a long lull and more wind than forecast during the night at around 25 knots." And therefore also more wind than he had ever experienced with his boat in the few months since completion. "But 'Rémy' coped well with it all," he says. Even he, who was travelling without a spinnaker, had a hard time with the calm and counter-current. After a good 22 hours, he came 16th in his group at the finish of his first, but - as he says - not last Silverrudder with "Rémy".

Jan Reimer, who circumnavigated Funen once again with his X332 "Just", also reports a rather wild night with lots of wind and waves from Fredericia to Lyø. "And then there was this banging around with silt slides in the counter-current. That's really challenging. People who haven't done it that often think they're almost there when they reach Lyø."

But as is so often the case, the Svenborgsund was merciless again on Saturday morning as the boats came in in increasing numbers: Around three knots of counter-current and hardly any wind caused pretty much every sailor to park up at the edge of the current a few hundred metres before the finish and sail backwards. In the afternoon, a thunderstorm came along and there was no wind.

Most of the soloists had already had a tough test of patience the day before. The Great Belt Bridge was an agonisingly long sight for most of them. "I tried for five hours with my Hiddensee to get through the bridge and then gave up," said one of the participants.

"There are people who overreach themselves because they think they have to go through with it. That's a difficult decision. I just had bad luck today that I was in the way," says Thomas Hunfeld, who had to give up the race with his SunFast 3200 "Moneypenny" just before the finish. He was in the way of the ferry and had to start the engine - safety first. The many boats that came into similar difficulties off the Svendborg Bridge and in the sound raised the question for him, "whether this can be changed: If the conditions become so difficult for most that there is a risk of something happening?"

Presumably the magic of the race, which Mathias Müller von Blumencron raved about, will leave all the hardship, all the sweat, all the nerves that the Silverrudder 2022 has cost in its wake in a flash. Co-organiser and speaker Philip Cossen said in a video before Fynshoved that he was guaranteed not to sleep - that's how fantastic it is to sail into the night. On his Dehler 36, he took 16th place in the keelboat class up to 40 feet.