Another superb performance from our client Jonas Hallberg aboard his JPK 1050 Hinden, who has just won the 2026 Silverrudder in the Medium monohull category, breaking the race record by 45 minutes! He achieved this against a large and highly competitive field, including a 35-foot prototype with a canting keel and wing mast, which finished a mere five minutes behind him at the finish line. The whole JPK team congratulates Jonas on this latest victory to add to our JPK 1050’s list of achievements, and we’re handing over to him to tell us all about his race (a fascinating report which you can read below) !
Silverrudder is an annual solo race around the Danish island of Funen, starting and finishing in Svendborg. It takes place close to the autumn equinox. Every year, all 450 available places are regularly filled within just a few hours of registration opening.
The fleet starts in seven groups: two multihull groups and five monohull groups. There is no rating system; boats are grouped by length alone. The JPK 10.50 competes in the Medium group, which is open to boats up to 35 feet and is regularly the largest group, with around 120 entries.
This year, gusty south-westerly winds of 20–30 knots were forecast. As a result, only 320 of the 443 registered boats from 15 different nations started the race, and ultimately just 250 boats crossed the finish line.
The start off Svendborg is already the first major challenge. The channel is extremely narrow, with very little room between the buoys, competing boats and the risk of running aground. This year, we also had currents and very gusty winds. I was therefore very relieved to be the third boat to make it safely out of Svendborgsund.
The next leg was a reaching run under A5 towards the Great Belt Bridge. This brought the second exciting decision: would the rig fit beneath the western part of the bridge, with its stated clearance of 18 metres? Taking this route saves around two nautical miles compared with going under the higher eastern bridge.
From there, we continued on an open upwind reach towards the northern tip of Funen, with the wind already reaching 25 knots. Shortly before the northern tip, I put a reef in the mainsail and prepared for the rough beat along the north coast of Funen.
At this point, only my strongest competitor, Kim on Cahos, was ahead of me by about 1.5 nautical miles. Cahos is an extreme custom-built 35-footer with a canting keel and a rotating rig.
The wind continued to build, with gusts exceeding 30 knots. I tacked as close to the shore as possible to escape the steep waves and the strongest gusts. I managed to pick up several wind shifts well, which allowed me to overtake Kim before the entrance to the Little Belt on the north-western side of Funen.
This is another bottleneck on the course. The route winds in an S-shape through a narrow but deep channel, passing two bridges and the town of Middelfart. In many editions, boats end up drifting here in very light winds against the current, waiting for the others to catch up.
This year, however, the current was in our favour, and the wind was strong enough to keep blowing at around 10 knots even inside the Little Belt. Normally, you try to creep around the corners and shallow areas. This time, we could make relatively comfortable progress along the edges of the deep channel.
Around midnight, we had crossed the Little Belt. The wind had increased significantly again, and the first gusts of 25 knots forced me to put again a reef in the mainsail.
Kim was behind me, but he had switched off his AIS, so I had no accurate idea of how far back he was.
During the beat, I caught up with Wolfram on Black Maggie, the fastest monohull in this year’s race. She is a custom-built 40-foot carbon boat, also equipped with a canting keel. He was now only about 400 metres ahead of me, and I knew that as long as I stayed close to him, Kim would not be able to catch me.
We continued on an upwind reach at around 60 degrees TWA. This is where the JPK really excels. With gusts again approaching 30 knots, I was making 9–10 knots of boat speed and steadily closing the gap to Wolfram. Just before we could turn east, I even managed to briefly overtake him to leeward.
The final 25 nautical miles took us back towards Svendborg, weaving between small islands and shallow areas at around 90–100 degrees TWA. I was actually glad that the gusts were still reaching 30 knots, as this stopped me from getting any crazy ideas about setting the J0. The approach to Svendborg leaves very little room for error, with numerous shallow patches and unlit navigation marks.
Gradually, I began to realise that I might not only win the race but also break the existing course record, which had stood since 2021.
And that is exactly what happened.
With a time of 17 hours, 47 minutes and 11 seconds, I improved the record by almost 45 minutes.
This time, the roles were reversed. Kim crossed the finish line about five minutes after me. Back in 2021, I had been sailing my JPK 10.30 and could only watch as Jan Hansen crossed the finish line a few hundred metres ahead of me, setting the previous course record.
That made this victory all the more satisfying.
It was the perfect ending to an incredible first season with my new JPK 10.50. And to top it all off, my father joined me in Svendborg for the first time this year. I was at least as happy for him as I was for myself.
A dramatic edition of Silverrudder
This year’s Silverrudder was eventful and, at times, dramatic.
During the pre-start period, a Danish competitor suffered a heart attack. His life was saved thanks to an extremely swift rescue from the water.
Then, around midnight off the northern coast of Funen, another serious incident occurred. A sailor competing on a Seascape 18 went overboard and was dragged through the water behind his boat, still attached to it by his safety tether. He was eventually rescued by helicopter, thanks solely to the VHF radio he was carrying in his lifejacket and the tracker on his boat, which made it possible to locate him. He was more than one hour in the water….
