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Archipelago Raid
Extreme Race of the 100.000 islands - 30.Juli - 03. August 2007
www.archipelagoraid.com - Übersicht
Day 5: August 3 2007
Finish of extreme event through the spectacular Archipelago islands
The 7th edition of the Archipelago Raid won by French Nissan Hobiecat team
The Archipelago Raid, the extreme race through the 100,000 islands of the
Archipelago region, finished today with the French team of Jean Christophe
Mourniac/Franck Citeau clinching victory in what has been an exciting and
drama filled event. In a tight fought battle between the French, Team Thule
(Mathias Almstedt/Martin Strandberg SWE) one of the local Swedish teams and
the F18 European Champions, Yamaha Red (Mischa Heemskerk/Bastiaan Tentji
NED) it was the French that finally secured victory having completed a solid
and consistent event.
The Archipelago Raid is notorious for the range of conditions it throws at
the sailors, the magnificent landscape that the competitors must navigate
and the obstacles that stand in their way. And this year was no different -
there were two dismastings, a near sinking and numerous collisions with
rocks causing significant daggerboard issues for the teams as well as broken
gennaker poles and ripped sails. The victory for the French was even more
significant as they have never competed in the event before so also win the
rookies prize.
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But the event is an extreme race through one of the world¹s most fascinating
wonders and provided some world-class sailing. Olympic medallists lined up
next to Americas Cup sailors and Raid rookies were pushing the old timers to
the limit. At every stage of the event there were personal battles being
fought as sailors were trying to indextain their speed, navigate and make the
right tactical decisions. The German Nissan team sailed a great race till
the fourth day when they suffered irreparable daggerboard damage and were
forced to retire.
However this event is not just about the sailing, with teams from 10
countries coming from around the world including a team from New Zealand, it
is also about the unique area that the teams sail in and the islands they
visit. Due to lack of wind on the first day the fleet spent an extra night
on the pristine beach at Bjorno before moving on to the small island of
Fejan where the crews were able to shower for the first time. From Fejan
the fleet headed north via a number of checkpoints to the small island of
Lappo in the Aland archipelago. From there, the teams head back south to
the town of Mariehamn before crossing back across the Baltic Sea to the
finish in Sandhamn.
29 boats started the race with 5 retiring due to a number of things ranging
from dismasting to broken daggerboards. But in the spirit of the Raid for
those that could, they made every attempt to finish this unique endurance
event. One team, White Knuckles Express managed to purchase another boat
after a near sinking and continued the race. Another, Voltaren, managed to
hold a sail up when their mast came down and sail¹ to the beach to fix
their mast and carry on.
The double Olympic medallist Martin Strandberg and Mathias Almstedt on Team
Thule (SWE) were first in Sandhamn and finished third overall. Strandberg
commented the race. ²It is so fast, really full on all the time and you
hardly have time to experience what is going on. It is long - you have time
to be happy, enthusiastic, angry, frustrated and tired. It was especially
hard when we made a mistake in our navigation, hit a rock and started to
take in water in the hull. After each leg we had to empty the water.²
Winner Christophe Mourniac (FRA) said at the finish line ³It is a fantastic
race. It has been really difficult physically and the navigation is very
tough. We are tired now and happy it is over.²
Mischa Heemskerk, Team Yamaha Red (NED), second place overall commented:
³ It is really nice to finish this race. There is a lot of paddling but it
is very satisfying to have done it. It is Bas¹s (crew) first year and we
have either won or come second in all the events we have entered so we are
really happy. We had a few days of great sailing, the event is fun to do
to get up at 4am and to sail till 8 is pretty fun. It is also a unique
place to sail, the obstacles you have to pass and the navigation you have to
do overall it is good to have got round and finished.²
Conrad Humphreys, skipper of Team Blue commented: ³ This event is very hard
but it is one of the most fun events I have done. The camaraderie is pretty
unique from the race organisers right through to the competitors there is
a really nice spirit. I think that is the thing that would force me to come
back to do it again. There is no doubt that Wednesday was one of the best
days sailing I have ever had. There are a lot of similarities with sailing
round the world when you are sailing blind¹ down rock alley it is much
like being in the South sailing through the icebergs, you just have to
accept if something has your name on it there is nothing you can do about
it. The lack of sleep is also comparable in fact I would even say that
this is harder, you can¹t get into any rhythm like you can on an Open 60.
It really is a tough event and I wont miss the mosquito¹s but it has been
fantastic.²
Andrew Macpherson, Team Musto Australia commented: ³ That is a really
unbelievable race, really unbelievable. This last day that has been really
tough we keep saying to each other that if we even mention doing it again we
will remind ourselves about how we feel now but then we are also talking
about what we would do differently next year. I still think that you need
to have blue or yellow colour in your flag to be able to paddle well
really the Swedish do a good job with it! Ask me in a few days if I would
do it again.²
For more information and to follow all the action live go to:
www.archipelagoraid.com
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Results:
There are seven legs with around 5 7 checkpoints at each leg. The results
are based on a points system determined by the arrival position of each leg:
The first team of a leg will get ³the number of teams who start the leg² + 3
points. For example 15 competitors to start the leg + 3 = 18 pts, the second
team would get 17, the third 16 etc. A bonus of 0.5 points will be given to
the first team to each checkpoint
See updated results at www.archipelagoraid.com
The first three boats to Sandhamn:
1. Team Thule SWE (Strandberg/ Almstedt)
2. Nissan Hobicat SWE (Kjerstadius/Tempelman)
3. Nissan Hobiecat FRA (Mourniac/Citeau)
Final positions after 8 legs:
1. Nissan Hobiecat FRA (Mourniac/Citeau) 214.5
2. Yamaha Red NED (Heemskerk/Tentji) 190
3. Team Thule SWE (Strandberg/ Almstedt) 184.5
4. Nissan Hobicat SWE (Kjerstadius/Tempelman) 170
5. Wippies FIN (Karto/Öhman) 165
6. Team Musto Australia AUS (Pellew/Macpherson) 162.5
7. Catella Racing Team FIN (Johanson/Gahmberg) 161
8. Sundsvalls Bygg SWE (Ekman/Tempelman) 161
9. Team Brossard SWE/FRA (Hennix/Vauchel) 149
10. RBSC Murphy Nye BEL (Desmesmaeker/Thery) 146
For further information, images, footage or interviews in connection with
the Archipelago Raid please contact:
Camilla Green, Press officer
SWE MOB: + 46 (0) 704547398
Email: Camilla@camillagreen.co.uk
The Archipelago Raid was started in 2001 and is now in it¹s 7th year. It is
a 300 500 mile extreme race through the 100,000 islands of the Swedish,
Åland and Finnish Archipelago region on F18 catamarans. Teams compete in a
prologue race that takes place from Kungliga Djurgårdsförvaltningen,
Stockholm Bjono on Sunday 29th July. The race itself starts from Bjono on
Monday 30th July. They then race to four different locations along the
course for overnight¹ stops:
* Fejan Skärgårdskrog & Konferens in the Stockholm archipelago, 30th of July
* Lappo in the Åland archipelago, 31st of July
* Nagu Muncipality in the Finnish archipelago, 1st of August
* ÅSS, the Yacht Club in the Åland archipelago, 2nd of August
* Seglarhotellet Sandhamn the arrival in the Stockholm archipelago, 3rd of
August
Teams from 10 countries around the world will take part including: UK, USA,
Germany, Finland, Sweden, France, Belguim, Australia, New Zealand, Norway.
In this years event there will be 29 teams with 13 taking part for the first
time and 16 returning from previous editions.
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