Sailing News with Sailing Box

Extreme sailing orienteering in the Scandinavian archipelagos

Stockholm, June 9 2008 22 teams from 10 nationalities will compete in this year’s edition of the Archipelago Raid, starting in the heart of Stockholm on Friday 13 June. For six days and five nights the teams will challenge the force of man and Nature in the beautiful but difficult landscape of the Stockholm, Aland and Finnish archipelago in small and very fast formula 18 catamarans.

The teams of two origin from the UK, France, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Australia and the independent island of Aland. Half of the teams have never competed in the Archipelago Raid before but are experienced sailors, endurance racers or very familiar with the archipelago. Three teams have already reached the podium in previous editions: English William Sunnucks on X-Leisure won the Raid in 2004, the French Hobie Cat pro Eric Proust, on Team Kalix, has already reached the podium three times, all but the top step, and the Swedish match racer and America’s Cup sailor Martin Strandberg, Team Thule, took an impressive third place last year on his first Archipelago Raid.

Among the 22 teams there is one all female team: Karin Almquist, 26, and Karin Berg, 22, belonging to the Swedish national team in 470. The team, GB Glace, is sponsored by Unilever Nordic, also the main partner of the race.

There is one more female competitor in this tough endurance race, the world re-known solo sailor Ellen MacArthur, teaming up with Australian Greg Homann on BT: “I was up in Stockholm for a couple of days last week and the weather was just fantastic. We had great winds, clear blue skies and I was reminded that the Archipelago really is one of the most beautiful places in the world to sail. I am looking forward to getting out there again and to starting the Archipelago Raid, although I know from past experience in 2003 that we’re going to be exhausted by the end of it!…”, said MacArthur.

Tomorrow, Tuesday 10 June, all the teams and boats need to be present at Djurgarden, in the city of Stockholm, for the last preparations before the big challenge starts Friday 13 June at 11 am CET.

Course:

Friday 13 June: start 11 am Junibacken/Djurgarden to Lido.
Saturday 14 June: restart from Lido at 3 am to cross the Baltic Sea to Lappo in the archipelago of Aland.
Sunday 15 June: from Lappo to Nagu in the Finnish archipelago.
Monday 16 June: back to Aland archipelago, to Rödhamn, annexe of the ÅSS, Åland Island Yacht Club.
Tuesday 17 June: cross the Baltic Sea again back to the Stockholm archipelago and Sandhamn, passing Fejan.
Wednesday 18 June: from Sandhamn to the finish line in Stockholm City/Djurgården at around 2-3 pm.

The bank holiday weekend saw the Formula 18 and Hobie cat nationals held under the burgee of Pwheli sailing club, Hugh Styles and Tom Peel reeled in a series of race wins on route to securing championship victory with a day to spare. The regatta was sailed in predominantly offshore breezes, which made for tough tactical calls in the gusty and shifty conditions.

Commenting after the teams commanding performance on day two Tom said ³The racing was really close but in today¹s wind conditions we felt like it all just slotted together. We won all three races, which has ensured us the overall title, this is the first national championship victory we have had as a team and it¹s a great way to bring together the last six months of sailing together.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny with a fresh breeze form the northwest, and

37 other boats to contest the 2006 national championships. The first race was a battle to win the left side of the race course and saw Team Styles and Peel winning the pin end of the start hit the left hard and round first at the windward mark. Followed closely by Chris Rashley and Marcus Lynch, the battle went on for the subsequent 2 laps but Hugh and Tom held their nerve to secure the victory in the first race. Rashley and Lynch in second and Stuart Gummer and Ellen Fawshore finished third. Race two and three were similar in the way that the wind had shifted to the north and there were big holes in the pressure. The right hand side of the course was much more favoured in these two races, which is where and Tom Phipps and Jon Cook took two firsts and Sam Newton and Harry Blackie came from. Hugh and tom got a third in the second race and a fourth in the third.

Sundays breeze started off more form the west and gradually veered the south west through the course of the day with a wind strength of between 7 building to 14 knots. Race one saw Styles and Peel fire of the port end to lead round the windward mark and score their second victory of the championship. Race two saw a big wind sift to the left with a minute to go before the start, which meant the port end was massively favoured. Hugh and Tom and Ben Burns and Simon Kearns won the pin and tacked on to port immediately to virtually lay the windward mark, Tom Phipps and Jon Cook popped in a cheeky Port end flyer. Styles and Peel managed to squeeze in front to lead round the windward mark with Stuart And Ellen In second, which they held until the finish. The last race saw another left hand dominated beat which Styles and Peel won followed by Rashley and Lynch. This day was one of the best days racing this year from Hugh and Tom, no wonder they were grinning from ear to ear when they hit the beach.

Monday Dawned Windy again from the northwest the low-pressure system was moving in providing a windy days racing, It was again a left hand dominated day and Styles and Peel securing the pin end leading on in to the left where there was more pressure and went on to win the race form Rashly and lynch.

The second race James and Gillian Power fought hard for the left hand end of the start line and showed really good speed in their Capricorn to lead round the windward mark. Closely followed by Styles and Peel and then by Suart and Ellen. The final race Styles and Peel were again winners of the left hand side and lead round the windward mark. The second down wind saw a big hole in the breeze and Rashly and Lynch over took them. However on the final up wind Styles and Peel held out into the left a little more than Rashly and Lynch getting a big gust which took them back into a 150m lead by the windward mark which they maintained until the finish securing their national championship victory. Unfortunately Tom Peel had managed to slice a big cut on his leg and this was to put him out of action for the last days racing.

The Final day was again a windy start and built stronger through the day.

Tom was not able to sail and so Richard Glover current ISAF Youth Worlds Gold medallist, was called into action to sail with Hugh. The team sailed a great day although not 15 kg light for the day they posted a forth and a fifth in the final two races complimenting the results from the previous three days.

Many thanks to Pwhelli sailing club, and all the supporters for Team Styles and Peel. The team now have the Tornado nationals in 2 weekends time to focus on

Bundock and Ashby’s victory came after returning from Europe three weeks ago and sailed a Hobie Cat Tiger Formula 18 supported by Ronstan (of course!)Nissan, Hobie Cat and Marinepool. The Championships were held on Wallis lake on the mid-north NSW coast close to Foster.

Racing was extremely tight with the added interest of the 2007 World Championships in Yeppoon, Queensland in February attracting the top catamaran sailors into the class. Steve Brewin, previous A Class World Champion with Andrew Williams finished one point behind the 2004 and 2005 F18 World Champions. Young future stars Matt Homan and Andrew Cook battled hard for 3rd place and spoiled a good score card with their final race.

The fleet enjoy a variety of conditions with breezes reaching 20 knots on the Saturday, 8 to 12 knots seabreeze on Sunday and 5-8 for the final race on Monday.

The only real pressure put on Bundock and Ashby was by themselves after leading race two and completing an extra lap before finishing and losing 19 places in the process.

Bundock commented “we blew it in the second race when we miss counted the laps, it was like taking a victory lap without the victory, but the conditions were fantastic with strong breeze and perfectly flat water - we were having such a good time”

Ashby said “It was always close racing and it is going to be a great season with the National Championships in three weeks and finally a World Championship in our home country. I guess this event was a good warm up for us to start off the Australian season”

Bundock/Ashby’s summer season highlights will be F18 Nationals in Frankston, Victoria from 4th November, Olympic Tornado South Americans and World Championships in Argentina from 20 November and the Formula 18 World Championship in Yeppoon Queensland from 17 February.

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