Please select your home edition
Edition




Colligo Dux Standing Rigging featured on 59º North's SPICA in the 2021 Gotland Runt Offshore Race

by Colligo Marine 20 Jul 2021 21:50 PDT
2021 Gotland Runt Offshore Race © 59° North Sailing

"Having been an early-adopter of Colligo Dux with our first boat ARCTURUS I knew what we were getting into and was excited to learn from the mistake we made on that boat ten years ago and apply them to SPICA. Everything fit on the first try, the custom spreader ends were perfect and the rig 'set' after only a couple shakedown sails in Stockholm prior to the race start. Once we got her tuned up, the boat performed great. The rig got a lot of attention on the docks too among the other racing boats, especially having a high-tech rig on boat from 1977!..." - Andy Schell, founder of 59 degrees North Sailing

The Gotland Runt Offshore Race is the world's largest annual offshore race. It starts in the center of Stockholm, sails through the Stockholm Archipelago, round the island of Gotland to the finish at Sandhamn. The course is about 350 Nm and was first sailed 1937.

About the boat

Colligo Marine Synthetic Standing Rigging, Running Backstays, and our ELHF System are all featured on 59º North's SPICA. SPICA is a 1977 Norlin 34 'Special'. She's a one-off, built for the 1977 Gotland Runt Race in Sweden. The managing director of the shipyard where the Norlin's were built commissioned her. There were lots of Norlin 34's built, in two iterations, and her hull was based on the Mark 2. But her deck layout was unique - she had a racing style cockpit and flush foredeck and is the only one with this setup. The Norlin 34s back in the 70s were renowned offshore cruiser/racers and did well in the Gotland Runt, Fastnet and other European offshore races. She's a fin keel, skeg rudder, weighs about 12,000 pounds and has a masthead rig.

Future plans for the boat

Andy and his family plan to use the boat mainly in the Stockholm archipelago as their family cruising boat. They will occasionally race for fun, and the big Gotland Runt anytime that they can do it.

Long-term, Andy stated that he has aspirations for sailing her solo across the Atlantic. Andy explained that "With the boats at our business getting bigger (I'm now skipper of ICEBEAR, our Swan 59, which is HUGE) we wanted a small boat that would return us to our roots as simple, small boat sailors. We wanted to set an example that a cruising boat need not be big or complicated to have fun, big adventures on. And we wanted to get Axel [his son] out on the water as soon as possible! He sailed with us last summer for 3 weeks as a 2-month old!"

About the race and results

Gotland Runt Race is Northern Europe's biggest offshore race in the Baltic. Click here for more information on the race. It starts in central Stockholm and winds through the islands for the first 40 miles, before heading out into the open Baltic and sailing around the medieval island of Gotland, then back again to finish in the outer archipelago at Sandhamn. Traditionally this has been a huge race on the offshore calendar of major ocean racing teams. A lot of the Whitbread and Volvo boats using this as a training race, and still do.

"To come 7th place in our class (out of 34), with having never sailed the boat before with her new rig and sails, never sailed with the crew before as a group, and only hoisted the number 1 genoa literally on the starting line...it was awesome! We sailed the sh** out of that boat and had a blast doing it!" Andy explained.

More on the race results here!

Related Articles

Colligo Marine Spinnaker Furler
Top down style furlers are made for furling curved luff asymmetrical spinnaker sails Colligo Marine top down style furlers are made for furling curved luff asymmetrical spinnaker sails. Posted on 4 Mar
Colligo Marine Rope Clamps
Easy to install and can be removed and reinstalled to get the line length correct Colligo Marine Patented Torque Rope Clamps are easy to install and can be removed and reinstalled to get the line length correct. Not that any of us have ever gotten the line length wrong the first time! Posted on 12 Feb
Colligo Marine ELHF System
Extra lightweight Headsail Furling System Colligo Marine ELHF System is a game changer! This innovative system uses a low longitudinal stretch and torsionally stiff synthetic stay along with our clamp technology for end terminations. Posted on 5 Feb
Colligo Standing Rigging Terminals
Connect Synthetic Standing Rigging to conventional mast connections and turnbuckles Colligo Standing Rigging Terminals are designed to connect Synthetic Standing Rigging to conventional mast connections and turnbuckles, straight up using no line terminators. Posted on 15 Jan
Colligo Marine Furlers
Great performance and durability Colligo Marine® Furlers are unique in that they are all designed with maintenance free bearing systems, but they can all be taken apart and serviced if needed. Posted on 10 Dec 2022
Cheeky Tang Fittings by Colligo Marine
The "right" way to connect synthetic shrouds to your mast! The "right" way to connect synthetic shrouds to your mast! Colligo Marine's patented Cheeky Tang®? fittings are a simple & robust way to splice Colligo Dux rigging directly to the mast. Posted on 3 Dec 2022
Colligo Marine Spotlight - Guy Stevens
Guy runs Real World Cruising with his wife, Melissa Colligo Marine has had the pleasure of knowing and working with Guy for over the past 17 years. He is an avid sailor with experience as a marine surveyor, rigger, and 100 ton master. In other words, Guy knows his stuff about boating. Posted on 19 Nov 2022
Colligo Marine Snatch Blocks
Made with highly polished aluminum bodies and an attached soft shackle Colligo Soft Snatch Blocks are extremely lightweight and extremely strong static blocks for high load, low travel situations or low load, high travel situations. Posted on 5 Nov 2022
Colligo Marine Lifelines
There are so many benefits to using Dyneema synthetic lifelines Colligo™ Dux Lifelines are the strongest and toughest synthetic lifelines available! They are made from work hardened Dyneema SK-75 (Colligo Dux) in 5 mm diameter. Posted on 29 Oct 2022
Colligo Marine Standing Rigging Terminals
These fittings are made to make your life easier Colligo Standing Rigging Terminals are designed to connect Synthetic Standing Rigging to conventional mast connections and turnbuckles, straight up using no line terminators. Posted on 12 Oct 2022