For 450 solo sailors, it is safe to say that there was only one important date today: the online registration for the Silverrudder 2018 at 5 p.m.
The topic had already been circulating on social media a few days earlier. Today, however, it was initially calm. Everyone waited too eagerly for the decisive moment - only to send cheers as soon as it worked.
It was foreseeable that it would go quickly - but so quickly? The first 300 starting places for the regattas were gone after just 15 minutes. At 5:31 p.m. the counter was already showing 432 registrations. At 5:52 p.m., when the limit had long been exceeded, many of those who had arrived late continued to report cheerfully. Which seems to make sense: Because a start authorization only becomes binding after receipt of the entry fee. So you can still do something.
All the more so because some skippers have reported several times out of nervousness or to be on the safe side. Until the lists have been cleaned up and the transfers have been confirmed, things can still shift. What is foreseeable, however, is that the upper limit of 450 sailors, which has been increased by almost ten percent - the absolute maximum that is possible in Svendborg - will probably be reached in the end.
Its exceptional international position as the world's largest single-handed race, established as early as the third year of the event, is no longer to be taken from the silver rudder for years, if not decades.
If you want to get in the mood for the regatta after the stress of reporting has subsided: Here is a very worth seeing Silverrudder video from Seascape: