Stockholm, Sweden - The sun has set on another Archipelago Raid, which was once again a special kind of boat race. Each team of two sails a Formula 18 catamaran day and night, and weaves through an intriguing sailing course among the Stockholm, Åland and Finnish Archipelagos. Along the way, the competitors have to find 20-25 checkpoints located on beaches, boats, pontoons, and lighthouses as described in the Archipelago Raid Book, but the teams are free to choose their own sailing route between two checkpoints, making for some interesting navigational maneuvers as the teams try to avoid hitting any of the 100,000 islands and jagged rocks along the way.
Martin Strandberg and Johan Örtendahl of Team Thule flourished in these tough conditions, and were announced winners of the Archipelago Raid today. After putting in an amazing effort at this tough sailing event, the team proved they had the right stuff, winning five out of the ten sailing legs. During much of the event, the team battled for the top spot against last year's Raid winners Eric Proust and Romain Motteau of Team Citus, but with team Thule's stellar performance over the last couple of days (winning every leg), Team Citus fell back in the scoring, and had to settle for second this year.
Team Thule started the last day of the Archipelago Raid three points behind Team Citus, but 34 year old Strandberg and 27 year old Örtendahl had a fire in their bellies - determined to take the trophy back for a Swedish team. After sleep deprivation from camping in tents, and physical exhaustion from the effort of sailing (and sometimes paddling) through the Archipelago, Martin and Johan, gave every final bit of their effort, and showed what pure determination can accomplish as they won both legs today, just as they had done the day before.
“It was fantastic, a really tough race. Eric [Proust, of Team Citus] was sailing so well so we had to put 200 per cent to beat him.”, said the overjoyed Swedish skipper upon winning the Raid. Martin Strandberg couldn't keep his excitement to himself, adding “you can’t finish better than this. I think is just an ultimate sailing race. You’ve got everything: nature, sailing, navigation, tactics - everything!”
Another team who truly enjoyed the sailing in Sweden this week were Brits Luke Yeats and Matthew Humphreys of Team Cobalt. The pair finished the Archipelago Raid as the best rookies, in 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.”
William Sunnucks and Simon Farren, of Team Audio Network, also know a bit about tough moments at the Raid. The team put in a great performance as they weaved their F18 catamaran around the Swedish Archipelago over the last six days, but their hopes of an overall win were dashed yesterday after hitting an inconveniently placed rock, pushing them back to third place overall in the Raid. No doubt they will be studying those charts over the winter, ready to give it a go at next year's Archipelago Raid.
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