Young French maintain their grip

Vauchel and Lagarrigue pull ahead in Archipelago Raid

The same five teams continue to maintain their grip on the Archipelago Raid fleet, increasing their separation over those further behind.

At present Thibault Vauchel and Jeremie Lagarrigue on Outils Océan, have pulled out a five point advantage over the Swedish duo of Anders Lewander and Hanse Thorslund on Tidermans. At 26 and 22 years old respectively Vauchel and Lagarrigue are the youngest pair in this year's Archipelago Raid and have earned a reputation in France for this style of racing. This year they won the 500 Extrem'Iles Raid, a 500 miler in dinghy cats up and down the Atlantic coast of France.



The duo are participating in the Archipelago Raid for the second time. This year they are more prepared than before, with better gear and more training behind them. They prefer to take the safer way rather than the shorter route with too many hidden rocks in the way.

"We sail fast. This time we´re actually sailing, not paddling," says Vauchel. "We asked ourselves why we are coming back, but it is because this is so magnificent, and the surroundings superb."

A fantastic sunrise and downwind sailing across the Sea of Åland awaited the sailors after another early start, this time from Fejan in Sweden at 04.30 this morning. Today's sailing crossed the border to Lappo, Finland. The sailors have passed four checkpoints and covered around 100 nautical miles downwind, upwind and everything in between. After this journey they could enjoy just one hour's rest and freshly baked cinnamon rolls, at perhaps the most idyllic checkpoint in Rödhamn, who's hosts greet the teams with hot coffee and a warming athmosphere every year.

More photos on page 2...

Total score after checkpoint 18 Lappo:

Pos	Team	Helm	Crew	Tot
1	Outils Oceans	Thibaut Vauchel (FRA)	Jeremie Lagarrigue (FRA)	53.5
2	Tidermans	Anders Lewander (SWE)	Hanse Thorslund (SWE)	48.5
3	ICOM	Patrick Blom (FIN)	Kasimir Johansson (FIN)	48
4	Yamaha Yamarin	Eric Proust (FRA)	Yann Andrillon (FRA)	47.5
5	Team PWA	Bo Ehrhardt (DEN)	Mads Ehrhardt (DEN)	41
6	Brossard	Yvan Bourgnon (FRA)	Olivier Gagliani (BEL)	40
7	Metro Hus&Hem/Novo Nordisk	Thomas Ekefalk (SWE)	Per Isacsson (SWE)	37
8	Team 40+	Fredrik Karlsson (SWE)	Gustaf Nyblaeus (SWE)	37
9	Yamaha Finnmaster	Björn Hansen (ÅLD)	Tore Lewander (ÅLD)	37
10	Ledstiernan	Johan Gnosspelius (SWE)	Roger Bodén (SWE)	33
11	Team Sport Mohr	Thomas Walther (GER)	Michael Walther (GER)	33
12	Aktivitetsteamet	Petter Åström (SWE)	Robert Albinsson (SWE)	25
13	Tieto Enator	Thomas Hacklin (FIN)	Joonas Björkman (FIN)	24
14	GB Glace	Bengt Nissar (SWE)	Jan Schiratzki (SWE)	23.5
15	Sitescanner	Olle Bodelius (SWE	Johan Magnusson (SWE)	22
16	Stelacon	Lars Linder (SWE)	Ronny Haals (ÅLD)	21
17	Hobiecat.se	Jens Österlund (SWE)	Greg Holmann	17
18	Netigate	Fredrik Hansen (SWE)	Jonas Engstedt (SWE)	16
19	The Little Gym	Karl Brodin (SWE)	Mårten Bäckman (SWE)	16
20	Yamaha Buster	Michael Schibbye (SWE)	Fredrik Brusewitz (SWE)	14
21	Team Powerbar	David Scully (USA)	Claire Bailey (GBR)	12
22	HH Marin	Carl-Johan Söder (SWE)	Petter Elmstedt (SWE)	10
23	Yamaha Waverunner	Charles-Etienne Devanneaux (FRA)	Peter Desmedt (BEL)	8