And they’re off! Bergen yacht race underway

TWENTY yachts have now left Bergen on their race to Shetland, with people able to track their progress online.

Although yachts are expected to start arriving in Lerwick tomorrow (Thursday), variable wind conditions mean arrival times are hard to predict at this early stage.

The Bergen-Shetland race is an annual event which sees a number of international yachts cross the North Sea.

The largest yacht in this year’s race, the 76′ Enderpearl has been first to arrive in Lerwick on a couple of previous occasions.

Her crossing in 2025 took 26 hours, 28 minutes and eight seconds.

However there is competition in the largest yacht class with 52′ Haspa Hamburg being the early arrival in 2022 with a crossing time of 23 hours and 23 minutes.

This year, the first time entrant from Sweden, 55’ Luft, is also expected to provide a competitive edge.

These largest yachts rarely win the race overall though, as there is a handicapping system which adjusts the crossing time by a factor of the yacht’s capability to even the field across all sizes of yacht.

There is a Shetland boat in the race, which is named Swiftwind and led by James Anderson, with Roger Goudie and Richard Fraser also onboard.

The record crossing time was set back in 2000 with yacht Wolfie’s Toy using just 16 hours on the homeward leg back to Bergen.