After two days of rain

Sailors competing in the Archipelago Raid are finally into some big breeze

On the third day of the Archipelago Raid teams are finally experiencing some powerful sailing in winds at around 20 knots. The small boats are reaching speeds of 20 knots and eating up the miles far east of the Baltic Sea in the archipelago of Finland.

After having slept under any kind of shelter during a night of pouring rain on the island of Lappo, the fleet started the third day of the Archipelago raid at 5am. This was two hours later than originally set, as it was flat calm in the early hours. The start was eventually given in 15 knots of north-easterly winds and the small Formula 18 catamarans charged away at full speed under spinnaker towards the five checkpoints before the leg finish at Fårö in the Finnish archipelago.

The Belgian team Patrick Demesmaeker and Michel Proot on RBSC Huysman has dominated the fleet today, winning the first leg of the day. However, they are closely followed by the leading pack of the French overall leaders Eric Proust and Romain Matteau on Team Kalix, and the Swedes Fredrik Ekman and Gustav Tempelman on Sundsvalls Bygg, and Martin Strandberg and Johan Örtendahl, Team Thule.

The wind has picked up to 20 knots and the boats are blasting away at impressive speeds. The sun is peeking through the clouds. No other people or boats are to be seen and there are small inhabited islands everywhere. The magic landscape is amazingly beautiful and although a physically tough day spirits are high. At such high speeds the teams have to be particularly aware of hidden rocks and not commit any navigational errors. Almost 80 percent of the fleet have already hit rocks this morning and many dagger boards are suffering damage.

The Raid is physically very demanding and on the third day it is starting to show. At some checkpoints located on beaches the teams have to jump out of the boat, run up to check in and run back to the boat. Today, even the toughest sailors have a hard time getting back up on to the boat…

Yesterday the weather picture was different. The teams had a tough day in light winds and rain in the Åland archipelago. The last teams arrived more than two hours after the leader to the night stop at Lappo, as the wind died and they had to paddle longer distances.

Ellen MacArthur and Greg Homann on BT have problems with their furler. If they need to paddle (which was needed yesterday but not today) they cannot roll up their head sail, which complicates the paddling. This is not reparable so they will have to pray the wind wont drop the coming days. The team is currently on 11th place.

William Sunnucks and Simon Farren on X-Leisure, were leading the fleet at checkpoint three yesterday. They chose a different option to reach the next checkpoint and missed it! They had to turn around and lost a lot of time. The team was really tired when they arrived at Lappo last night. A full day of rain was not ideal for crew Simon Farren who is just recuperating from the flu.

Conrad Humpreys and Ryan Crawford on Team Blue Oceans were just behind the leaders on Team Kalix towards the leg finish last night. Just before finishing they were overtaken by other teams paddling faster. The team was slightly disappointed not having finished second on the leg but happy to still have climbed the leader board to seventh.

The Dutch duo Paul Rosenquist and Charlotte Willemse on Berotec broke both dagger boards yesterday and lost a lot of time. In the difficult conditions they dropped to last place. The crew was very tired arriving at Lappo last night after the mentally and physically tough, wet day. Charlotte commented: “I am really impressed by the high level of the fleet. The race is very hard and our objective now is just to finish it!”

Throughout the day the competitors will complete a good 100 nautical miles before they arrive at the last stop of the day, Nagu, in the Finnish archipelago. Tomorrow the fleet will head back towards Rödhamn in the western part of the Åland archipelago.

Results:

1-Team Kalix, Eric Proust & Romain Motteau - Fra
2-Sundvalls Bygg, Fredrik Ekman & Gustav Tempelman - Swe
3-RBSC Huysman, Patrick Demesmaeker & Michel Proot – Bel
4-Team Thule, Martin Strandberg & Johan Örtendahl - Swe
5-X-Leisure, William Sunnucks & Simon Farren - UK
6-Team Garmin, John Bäck & Gustav Morin - Swe
7-Team BLUE Oceans, Conrad Humphreys & Ryan Crawford - UK
8-SWE 558, Ola Person & Tomas Westergren - Swe
9-One Design Center, Martin Hållsten & Malcom Hanes - Swe
10-HH-Marin, Thomas Ekefalk & Carl Johan Söder – Swe
11-N-Group, Matti Nieminen & Mikko Nieminen – Fin
12-BT, Ellen MacArthur & Greg Homann - UK/Aus