Early risers

0400 start for Archipelago Raiders

The remaining boats competing in the 2007 Archipelago Raid have today experienced what the event is famous for - extreme sailing through the fantastic scenery of the Äland Islands. After an amazing third day that some competitors described as one of the best days sailing they have ever done it was going to be a predominately upwind start to the fourth day.

It was an early morning for the fleet of 23 who got up for a 4.00am start under a fantastic sky as the sun was rising. As the teams left the picturesque island of Lappo they were heading for a checkpoint at Keistio, on to Jurma and Fisco before finishing the 5th leg on the small island of Enklinge.

The island of Enklinge, which is famous for having the oldest Finnish settlement of it’s type, was a welcome break for the teams that had already been sailing for five hours by 9am. Sailing to the checkpoint was the end of leg 5 with a leaderboard that has started to become somewhat consistent. It was Sundvalls (SWE) first followed by Nissan Hobiecat France and Yamaha Red (NED) in third.

On the fourth day of the race in the relatively unfamiliar waters of the Aland archipelago there were three retirements due to boat damage: Nissan Germany (broken daggerboard), GB Glace (broken mast) and Proustsailing (broken daggerboard). But for the rest it was a tough mornings sailing and the prospect of a long afternoon through the hazardous local waters heading back to the port of Mariehamn.

Calle Hendrix from Team Brossard commented: “We had quite a good result today - we are fighting on. We hit the ground though which did not help - it does not make you go fast. So we had to turn the board upside down and work on it a bit... This area is very different to Sweden, it is darker here and there are so many different islands and rocks here. It is hard with the rocks because you don’t see them, you just hit them!! But this place is a very interesting place to sail - it is very beautiful. It is important not to forget to look around at the surroundings as you sail around.”

Frank Citeau from Nissan Hobiecat France commented: “It was a good sail but we are very tired having got up at 3am and having done over four hours sailing already. It is pretty incredible that it is only 9am in the morning!! After the start some time we managed to tuck in behind the Swedish guys who were leading and together we got quite a lead on the rest of the fleet. The German team have sailed a really good race so it is a great shame for them that they cant continue..”

Gustav Templeman, from Sundvalls (SWE) commented: “It was a good sail but it was tough. I am feeling it all over my body. It was a long upwind leg and has been quite hard - it is physical and you feel it a lot. We had good pace upwind and we managed to overtake a good few boats at the first checkpoint when they went the wrong way. It was much more shallow there and we were navigating narrow channels so it gave us the chance to pass with some good navigation. This is a really good result for us and we needed it - we had a good first day and not so well in between so we have a bit of caching up to do. We are looking forward to a beer in Sandhamn tomorrow but whatever happens it has been a good Raid.”

The team on Yamaha Red (NED) explained what happened to them: “We are feeling good - we started last and got up to third which was a great result for us. We had to fix something on the rudders last night and then we couldn’t get them down this morning. So when we were out on the water we were fixing the rudder - we started with one rudder and then had to work on the other as we were going along and then fit it on the upwind leg.”

Thomas Johanson, Catella Racing Team (FIN) commented: “I am not so tired, only a bit mad I guess….!! It is a tough race and hard when you are going upwind because you have to change charts and keep going at full speed. There are also a few boats that are all fighting for places and are really close so there is no time to eat, rest, drink which makes it all harder. In this race you get everything - you have to be able to do anything from paddling to going fast downwind to navigating and thinking about tactics. It is the Raid we expected now, the first couple of days were not so bad with less wind but now it is hard – late nights, lots of sailing and early mornings…”

Yamaha Blue, Class 40 Norway and St Jude Medical have all experienced problems today but will rejoin the race this evening. St Jude Medical broke their bowsprit and has been lent one by the dismasted GB Glace to help enable them to finish the race.