Archipelago Raid - Overall
by Daniel Ferrando 22 Aug 2009 19:15 BST
17-22 August 2009
Thule wins the Archipelago Raid
The Archipelago Raid 2009 finished today with Swedish team Thule as winners. Martin Strandberg and Johan Örtendahl made an extraordinary final effort to claim first prize. They won every leg in the last two days of the Raid and caught up with their toughest rivals – Citus, the French pair of Eric Proust and Romain Motteau, who won the event last year. Third was Audio Network, the British duo of William Sunnucks and Simon Farren, whose chance of victory slipped away yesterday after striking rocks.
Strandberg and Örtendahl scored 258 points, 5 more than their French rivals, and won 5 legs out of 10, missing out on the podium places on only two occasions.
Thule was really determined to catch up with Citus today. The French team was 3 points ahead in the overall standings this morning, and could have been the first crew to win two Raids in a row. But Thule wanted the trophy back for a Swedish team, and they won both legs of the day as they did yesterday, only being second in the first Checkpoint.
“It was fantastic, a really tough race. Eric (Proust, Citus) was sailing so well so we had to put 200 per cent to beat him.”, and ecstatic Strandberg comented at the finish at the At Sea complex in Lidingö island. “For me the toughest moment mentally was when we crossed to Aland. We made such a big mistake and we went to the Checkpoint that was cancelled and we lost a lot of positions. I thought it was over, because Eric was sailing so well so losing 8 points there was tough, really tough.” But then they had two perfect days. “You can’t finish better than this. I think is just an ultimate sailing race. You’ve got everything: nature, sailing, navigation, tactics… everything.”, the Swedish skipper concluded.
Team Thule wasn´t the only happy team today. Among the teams who enjoyed the event most were Team Cobalt, made up of Britons Luke Yeats and Matthew Humphreys, who finished the best as the best rookies and eighth overall. “This has been probably the best organized event I’ve ever sailed at. We had all the organization boats with us all the time and getting all the tents and food arranged in the middle of nowhere and having almost thirty boats through a very complicated course… it was really worth the tough moments.” They, and the Archipelago Raid, will return next year.
More information on the event website.
Update from Conrad Humphreys:
Our love affair with the Archipelago Raid came to a close yesterday,
at least for another year. The pain of the last few days subsided as
we hobbled across the finish line off Lindingo.
The previous six days raiding now seem like a blur, but the blisters
on the hands, the bruises on the knees and the broken daggerboards are
the evidence of another enduring event.
A mixed result overall, we came with high hopes of repeating our 2008
result, where perhaps a more conservative approach yielded a strong
closing performance. This year we took too many risks and were not on
top of our navigation, which resulted in broken daggerboards. To win
this event you need to balance the risk. I think we pushed to hard at
times.
This event is for me still the highlight of the sailing calender. It
produces amazing friendships between competitors, who are drawn from
all over the world to test themselves. It is brilliantly organised by
Christine Salen and the Atlant team who understand how to push the
boudaries of sailing and the limits of the sailors
The real magic of the event is that over the six days you are forced
to make good with what you have. It's a wonderful metaphor for today's
world where we must learn to be more resourceful. Onboard you carry
just enough food and spares and if you break something you find a way
to fix it.
It is also an event that perfectly complements the ambitions of the
Blue Project. It is a "quest through nature" with every competitor
experiencing the breath taking surroundings of the Archipelago through
the power of extreme sport.
Conrad and Ryan