Blown off

Buffeted by strong winds the Archipelago Raid is set to return to Sweden

This year's Archipelago Raid has quickly become a fierce battle against strong winds and abnormally difficult sailing conditions. The Archipelago Sea, with its stiff northerly breezes and rough waters, has been deemed too rough to race in, and today the leg from Åland to Nago outside Turku was cancelled due to strong winds from the north. The boats will remain in the Åland archipelago overnight and tomorrow (Thursday), the race fleet will almost certainly turn back to the Stockholm archipelago.

It was a day for Citus and Thule to share some glory. The French finished first in both legs, but the Swedish team sailed a great second leg, being first through every checkpoint and thus actually scoring more points than the leg winners. British sailors William Sunnucks and Simon Farren on board Audio Network are standing strong in second place. There is only a half point different between first and second and between second and third.

On the negative side, Both Team Wipak and Ursuit were forced to retire from leg 4 due to damage to their boats. It's still unclear as to whether they will be able to rejoin the race. It has been a day of exciting sailing that started at 5 o'clock in the morning with almost 20 knots of northerly breeze which led to some very intense racing, with more than 5 boats capsizing and still others colliding with rocks. But what counts in the end is the emotion and joy of high-speed sailing surrounded by the breathtaking natural beauty of the Åland archipelago.

Anders Lewander, former skipper of Ericsson 3 in the early legs of the last Volvo Ocean Race, capsized on Wednesday's first stage but managed to get back in the race in just minutes and was able to complete the leg. On the second leg for the day, Lewander and Hanse Thorslund had problems with their mainsail; a setback which they also managed to overcome, but their day of less than plain sailing has left them well behind the race leaders. "Everything went well at first, and we screamed down the coastline of Åland. But after half an hour the rudder came loose and we could see the bottom of the ocean. Three minutes later we were off and racing again, but of course it was tough. The boats in the front are very fast." said Lewander.

Finnish Olympic champion - and Lewander's erstwhile shipmate on Ericsson 3 - Thomas Johanson and his racing partner; talented young New Zealander Brad 'Junior' Marsh, also had problems and lost their rig just before the start of Wednesday's competition. As this was a pre-start incident, they were able to get help to effect some speedy repairs and join the race, albeit some time behind the rest of the fleet. "It took probably 25 minutes before we had the rig back up on the boat again, but by then we could see the other boats far away on the horizon. It was really a disaster this morning - but we did have some fantastic sailing conditions." said Marsh, striking a typically cheerful note.

It is now likely that the race will leave the Åland Islands and go back to the Stockholm Archipelago. The strong wind is expected to continue and the forecast predicts winds of 20 knots, which is pushing the envelope for those racing in the small catamarans. The ninth Archipelago Raid ends outside the convention centre AtSea on Lidingö, Stockholm on Saturday afternoon.

More photos on the following pages...