
Matrisen leading at GVA Marstrand. FC: Dan Ljungsvik/ MBBR
Winner of the Baltic Circuit Award 2014 is Swedish Matrisen Sailing Team. Winning their class at the GVA Big Boat Race in Marstrand and a 3rd at ÅF Offshore Race, they are the most successful team around the Baltic. The team has competed on a more organized level since 2007. Co-Skipper Robert Szabó is also the managing director and owner of Matrisen AB (ltd), an accounting business with more 200 professionals. That's where their name comes from.
Their first campaign was in the ORCi class with an X37, and the first ever regatta was in fact Maior Cup in Kiel, Germany. After winning there in 2007 they came back in 2008 and were lucky again. Managing to lift the team up to a good Swedish national level, winning numerous regattas in the Stockholm area, they finally went first place in the ORCi and IRC Swedish Championships. An encouraging start for the team of colleagues!
2009 they decided to give the one design world a try and ended up in racing an X35. After winning Gotland Runt, today called ÅF Offshore Race, the Mediterranean came into focus: Copa del Rey in Mallorca, the X35 Worlds in Scarlino, Italy, Primo Cup in Monaco. Not all the southern regattas were sailed successfully, but back in Sweden they won the Swedish X35 cup twice and some other local regattas. However, in 2013 it was time for something else and the Farr 30 was acquired and a new team with Martin Strandberg at the helm was being formed.
GVA Big Boat Race
It's a new Swedish highly competitive coastal race, with top boats from the Swedish west coast and Norway.
The race is sailed according to Swedish handicap rules SRS that normally gives an advantage for a family type of boats. Thus a disadvantage for smaller and more race oriented boats like the Farr 30.