Svea share the passion with young Swedish sailors - Hear from the crew

As we count down to Les Voiles de Saint Tropez where three J Class Teams - Svea, Rainbow and Hanuman - are set to race against each other, 
we recall meeting some of the younger crew during the Superyacht Cup Palma Richard Mille.

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Since they started their J Class campaign, and indeed before that on the other Swedish flagged programmes, the Svea co-owners have made it a fundamental aspect of their racing to bring on and develop young Swedish sailing talent, giving them the opportunity to train and race at the highest level on the powerful, beautiful J Class yachts while learning alongside some of the world’s best sailors.


Jenny Gustavsson has been with the Svea since the beginning. The J Class Association caught up with her in Palma just as they clinched the Superyacht Cup Palma Richard Mile title.


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She reported, “It is so nice to be back together with the team. Since Barcelona 2024 I have been sailing with the Rán 52. And I have been back home working.  I work in the building industry.  I'm a supervisor at a site building offices. I like working but I prefer sailing! Right now I can’t manage to sail full time, professionally. I have always worked and sailed or studied and sailed.”



“This year I sailed in the Caribbean with Rán. And now with Svea we just did the Superaycht Cup in Palma and the next stop is Saint-Tropez. It’s been so fun to be back on Svea it really feels like a family getting back together again.”

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“I'm on the Genoa team helping. We have a few new people on board this year but it still feels very calm on board. You need to get to know new people, it takes a little time to integrate them but they are good people.”

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Of their recent victories, Svea’s win at the J Class Barcelona Regatta, during the 27th America’s Cup event, was a high point.


“I think we are not quite at the level we were in Barcelona. We are still learning. We have a couple of manoeuvres left to do. We haven't done everything yet, but we're getting there.”


She explains how she joined Svea in the first place, “I came to Svea through an offshore programme - an offshore clinic in Sweden. We sailed a 36.7 boat. I didn't know about this before, but then Magnus Voxen called and asked if I wanted to join this team. That was like a dream come true.” 

And she vividly remembers her first ever sail on Svea.


“The first day was amazing. When we hoisted the main the first time, I could not believe it. Everything is so big on this boat. And even now it still feels big. It's not like you get used to it. It's a bit more normal now than it was the first time I went on board.”

But she thinks her first win was her standout memory. “The first race, the last day, when we won the first regatta here in Palma back in 2022. That was my best moment so far.”


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Ville Reischmann also joined Svea from a youth sailing program. “I've started out as most youngsters in the dinghy classes for the Optimist and Europe dinghy and transferred later on to big boat sailing up in the Stockholm area. I've done mostly bigger boats such as Farr 40s and performance 40 footers and other stuff. I got a chance to join this team through the KSS community. It is just a lovely thing and I am super super excited to be down here.
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“I had a chat during the Spring with Magnus Woxen and managed to get my hands on the project.”

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“The first day was almost overwhelming, a lot, slightly intimidating but also very nice to see how many more professional, more experienced guys, how happy they were to bring on board new guys and help them out to do as good a job as we can do.  I have learned so much, what haven't I learned? I think just respect for the boat, that's probably the biggest thing but also doing my small bits and my small tasks as good as possible. When your task shrinks a little bit with so many people on board I think the concentration goes up and the possibility of improving is better.”
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“I'm mostly on the bow and in charge of the chute and the SS up and down. It's quite a lot of stress obviously. I'm working with Patrick McMath and Mika and Anders Dahlko and a few other seasoned guys so I feel like I'm in good hands.”
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“I'm 22 at the moment. I am only on the race team and otherwise I'm doing some 12 Metre sailing this season and a performance 40 footer called Matador Atlas 44 and that's more or less the big project at the moment. And then some small stuff here and there, J/70s."

“I really do enjoy the variety and I think that's probably the best way to learn when sailing different boats and getting to know them. I'm sailing with different people as well.”
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“I want to be the absolute best sailor I can. I am trying to make a living but I'm doing my studies as well.  I'm doing a Bachelor in Economics at the same time.”