Silverrudder 2024

The fastest sailing time overall in the Silverrudder 2024 was achieved by the Dragonfly 40C Performance "Tripple Star," sailed by Jens Quorning (CEO), with a time of 21 hours and 51 minutes. 

Here is Jens' report after the Silverrudder race:

In terms of weather, this race was one of the most challenging in Silverrudder's history, due to the very difficult conditions with light, shifting winds and currents, as well as thick fog. In short, the race was largely decided just south of the Great Belt Bridge, where a significant later shift to easterly winds favored the boats that were positioned furthest east in the Great Belt. Many of the smaller boats, which could take the shorter route under the low bridge of the Great Belt, had to seek the longer route east under the high bridge. The weather was incredibly beautiful, with lots of sunshine followed by a full moon, but a dense fog settled over northern Funen at night, resulting in poor visibility, which challenged many participants. Little Belt, near the two bridges, as often before, was characterized by very little or sometimes no wind, combined with adverse currents, which were also very challenging. The race continued southward through the Little Belt with light easterly to northeasterly winds toward Helgenæs. Again, all boats in the lead group were challenged by a lack of wind near the land at Helgenæs, so those boats that had anticipated this and sailed in a wider arc around Helgenæs gained a significant advantage from this tactic. After Helgenæs, the wind shifted again to the east, resulting in upwind sailing in fresh winds all the way to the finish in Svendborg.

During the race, the boat performed fantastically— the Dragonfly 40 is an amazing boat to sail singlehanded. With the help of the 4 standard electric winches, the super-fast electric Code-O furler, and all lines within reach from the helm position, sail handling becomes a breeze, which was essential in the variable wind conditions. The large, calm, and stable DF40 also ensures that you conserve more physical energy, which is a big plus in a race like Silverrudder. This Dragonfly 40 once again proved that it sails very fast in light air due to its very tall rig, which stands 22.5 meters above the waterline, allowing for a large sail area. Despite the boat's powerful design, the cockpit layout makes sail handling easy for singlehanded sailing. 

A total of 21 multihulls participated in the race, with Dragonfly represented by 10 boats, from models 800, 25, 28, and 40. In both of the multihull classes, Multihull Large and Multihull Small, there were 3 Dragonflys in the top 5 in both races.

Thank you for a fantastic race, and we are happy to see this amount of Dragonfly owners participating in the Silverrudder. We look forward to join Silverrudder 2025. To find more information regarding the race you can click here.