French teams lead to Fejan

An update from this year's Archipelago Raid

It was an early finish on the second day of the Archipelago Raid. After 12 hours of sailing, navigation and overall test of endurance, the French team og Yamaha Yamarin Eric Proust and Yann Andrillon took the line honour of today's last leg at Fejan.

Another French team, Outils Océans of Thibaut Vauchel and Jeremie Lagarrigue, finished second. They had went aground earlier on today and lost their lead, letting Yamaha Yamarin slip by. Eric Proust, exhausted at the Sandhamn 1-hour checkpoint today, was very happy about todays results. "I’m very satisfied. Our friends on Outils Océan sailed faster than we did, but before the last checkpoint we managed to pass them," he said.

On Outils Océan the crew weren’t as pleased: "We made a big mistake. We hit some rocks and damaged the underside of the boat and one sail. We had to drag the boat for 20m onto the rocks," says Outils Océan's Jeremie Lagarrigue , who had been first in total after today's checkpoint at Finnhamn.

Tidermans sailed by Anders Lewander and Hanse Thorslund finished third and was also third in total after Finnhamn today.

The good weather conditions with a lot of down wind allowed the first boats to finish exceptionally early. However the fastest boats had already been sailing for 12 hours, with one hour's rest. But the sailing experience matches the challenge.

"We have had fantastic sailing, especially from Gillinge to Sandhamn. It’s been 12-16 knots of wind and broad reach, so we went fast. Great," says Swedish match racer Björn Hansen, who has sailed all the Archipelago Raids.

A good night's rest for the first to finish last night didn’t count for all. The last teams crossed the finish line around 11pm last night with the start set for 4.30am.

So far the competition has been fairly even but as it proceeds the distance between the top six teams and tose at the back end of the fleet have increased. But a lot can happen when weather, wind and difficult navigation determine the conditions. Tomorrow the sailors will cross the Sea of Åland, and finish the leg of day three in Lappo, Finland.

Total Score at Finnhamn 16/8:

1. Outils Oceans – Thibaut Vauchel (FRA) and Jeremie Lagarrigue (FRA)
2. ICOM - Patrick Blom (FIN) - Kasimir Johansson (FIN)
3. Tidermans - Anders Lewander (SWE) and Hanse Thorslund (SWE)
4. Team PWA – Bo Ehrhardt (DEN) – Mads Ehrhardt (DEN)
5. Yamaha Yamarin – Eric Proust (FRA) and Yann Andrillon (FRA)
6. Team 40 + – Fredrik Karlsson (SWE) and Gustaf Nyblaeus (SWE)
7. Metro – Hus & Hem – TBA (SWE) - Per Isacsson (SWE)
8. Brossard – Yvan Bourgnon (FRA) – Olivier Gagliani (BEL)
9. Ledstiernan – Johan Gnosspelius (SWE) – Roger Bodén (SWE)
10. Yamaha FinnMaster - Björn Hansen (ÅLD) and Tore Lewander (ÅLD)
11. Netigate - Fredrik Hansen (SWE) and Jonas Engstedt (SWE) BRUTIT
12. Aktivitetsteamet – Petter Åström (SWE) – Robert Albinsson (SWE)
13. Team Sport Mohr – Thomas Walther (GER) – Michael Walther (GER)
14. Yamaha Buster – Michael Schibbye (SWE) – Fredrik Brusewitz (SWE)
15. Stelacon – Lars Linder (SWE) – Ronny Haals (ÅLD)
16. Tieto Enator – Thomas Hacklin (FIN) and Joonas Björkman (FIN)
17. Sitescanner - Olle Bodelius (SWE) – Johan Magnusson (SWE)
18. GB Glace - Bengt Nissar (SWE) and Jan Schiratzki (SWE)
19. The Little Gym – Karl Brodin (SWE) – Mårten Bäckman (SWE)
20. Yamaha WaveRunner – Charles-Etienne Devanneaux (FRA) and Peter Desmedt (BEL)
21. Hobiecat.se – Jens Österlund (SWE) – Greg Homann
22. Team Powerbar - David Scully (USA) and Claire Bailey (GBR)
23. HH Marin - Carl-Johan Söder (SWE) – Petter Elmstedt (SWE)