Bengtskär Runt, NJK

This year the Espoo-Suursaari offshore race was replaced by Helsinki Two Star Bengtskär Runt. I went there adventuring in the middle of the night with my 4,9 meter RIB.

I read notes from the different two handed teams who attended the race and, whoa, it was challenging for me too. For me the RIB (safari) started from Hanko at 1:55 in the night and I arrived at the Bengtskär lighthouse about 1 hour later. It was nice to surf the waves with wind from behind. Checked the tracker and saw that the first boats were approaching. Had a snack to keep the energy up and picked both cameras and the drone ready for the show. When the first boat “Fuji” rounded the lighthouse I had the drone up and at the same time I could also take photos from the RIB. After 20 minutes flying I had to take the drone down. I have catched the drone several times in my hand but at this time the RIB was drifting in the wind and going up and down in the waves, so it took a little longer to get it down. Decided not to fly more as the wind was increasing.

After the first boat the sun was rising. It was bit of a magical feeling to see the sun rise about 15 minutes past 4 in the morning and at the same time more boats were coming to round the lighthouse, so I got some nice boat silhouettes with the sun behind the object. Wind was increasing and boats were passing and suddenly there was a perfect rainbow in Southwest. I moved my RIB to get the lighthouse under the rainbow and also managed to get one boat in a photo under the rainbow. I knew there was a heavy rain area approaching and I continued photographing until the rain was pouring down too much to keep the lens dry during photographing. I had also to drive back to Hanko in rain and this time against the wind and the increasing wind.

Last photo is taken at around 5:10 (Senja and Ipanema) and I started to drive back but noted it was impossible to drive direct to Morgonlandet because of the big and sharp waves, so I headed a little bit more East. After one hour I was at Morgonlandet and then about 45 minutes later back in Hanko at 7:00. I had no problems with getting cold or wet as I was wearing a dry suit, but sometimes during the way back the 4,9 meter RIB felt a little bit small although I was not scared any time during the trip. Well done by all sailors who attended. Please enjoy the few photos (34) I have in the slideshow below. These are all I have. The later arrived boats I was not able to picture.

Link to RESULTS

You can save photos from the slideshow and use them on your non-commercial social media pages, but please include link to this page: “Source: https://sailpix.fi/bengtskar-runt/”

High resolution photos are available, for private use 15€ and for commercial use 75€/photo.