Ludde Ingvall and CQS Team set new benchmark

by John Roberson on 4 Jul 2017 Ludde Ingvall and his all star team on the super maxi CQS have written a new page in the record books, setting a new fastest average speed for the AF Offshore Race, around Gotland Island.

CQS finished the race at 20:51:35 (local time) to beat the record previously held by Ludde in Nicorette. In order to create a new record Ludde and his team had to cross the finishing line by 21:19:25, and they did it with 27 minutes, 48 seconds to spare.

It had been touch and go all around the 350 nautical mile race track, with conditions and wind strength constantly changing, with the record looking easily achievable at times, and way beyond reach at others.

The team on CQS worked relentlessly to get the maximum out of the boat, reporting during the race, “the spinnaker staysail has just gone up, the CQS crew have now flown all bar the trisail during this race and some several times, 9 in total.”

Ludde and his crew finished 3 hours, 31 minutes, 25 seconds ahead of second placed Hyundai, another 100 foot super maxi, to achieve the line honours/record double.

As they approached the finishing line, Ludde handed the helm to his long time friend Ola Anstradsson “recognition of his logistical expertise, his pit work and watch captain brilliance and his cooking heroics.”

Once ashore the skipper commented, “I am super happy. The wind died, and we were stuck out at Alma for an hour and thought that we shouldn’t make it. But we were lucky and we could cross the finish line with twenty minutes to go,”

The race started in Stockholm on Sunday, with the course taking the fleet of more than 250 boats, down the eastern side of Gotland, back up the western side, and finishing in Sandhamn.