Archipelago Raid - Day 4
by Daniel Ferrando 21 Aug 2009 07:50 BST
17-22 August 2009
Just another day in paradise
The name of the last checkpoint of the day, Paradiset, could sum up all of what we are seeing these days in the Archipelago Raid, a sightseeing paradise and a paradise for sailing and racing hard. But there is absolutely no space or time to relax in the Archipelago Raid. The Raid just provided the sailing lovers with two more legs full of incidents…right from the start.
At 7am this morning the fleet started to sail from Mariehamn, the main city of Åland archipelago to Arsläjan, back in the Swedish islands across the Åland Sea. It was clear from from the beginning that it would be a day full of excitement. Matti Nieminen, skipper of team Ursuit, fell to the water right on the line but managed to rejoin his brother Micko onboard. There were several teams in trouble today, especially during leg 6 in the afternoon. With different issues which obliged two of them to withdraw from the leg; teams W4 and Sweden 42. Others unfortunately had to retire or retired from the whole race since they cannot repair their damage to their hulls. Both SWE 558 and team Premiere said “so long”, like team Wipak did yesterday.
The good news is the return of the Belgian team FG Porsche that will be on the starting line tomorrow for another intense day of sailing. Today’s two very exciting legs were raced in a steady southerly breeze. From Mariehamn to Arsläjan and from there to Norra Stavsudda and was won by team Audio Networks and Citus, two of the candidates to the overall victory. Thule was also in the battle as they have been all week. Today though there was a new fighter, Mc Donalds Huysman.
Belgian Patrick Demesmaekerr and crew Michel Proot made a fourth, a fifth and a second in their best day so far. With today’s results the overall standing is lead by team Citus with 162 points and Audio Networks 159,5 points and the podium positions are closed by Thule with 155,5 points.