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News Different goals for a happy fleet With less than 24 hours to the start of the Archipelago Raid the 26 teams are looking forward to getting going. The atmosphere among the sailors couldn’t be more sporting, relaxed and fun as they do the final preparations for the six days extreme race through the Scandinavian archipelagoes. Is this relaxed feeling due to a positive self confidence or to anything else? Well, the variety in the fleet is such that it’s difficult to find only one reason, since every competitor comes from very different places and backgrounds and thus has very different goals and attitudes in this race. They share something, though: a good sense of humor. Been asked about their goals and their strong and weak points, the sailors come out with very curious answers. For last year’s winners, French Eric Proust and Romain Motteau, it would be “great” to be the first ones to win two Archipelago Raid in a row. “Then we would be mentioned in Swedish schoolbooks”, says Motteau. The goals are way different for the rookie teams, like Belgian Francis Proot and Simon Van Acken, who “just hope to survive”. So do Team Piano members, Norwegian Agne Nilsson and British Jason Field, just hoping to finish since they are completely new to multihull sailing. But they are confident that they will do fine. “One of us will take care of the starboard hull and the other one will look after the port one” says Nilsson. It could work. They are also very well prepared and provisioned: “We didn’t know how to load the food on the catamaran, so we decided to put it on our bodies”. Among the Scandinavian teams there are some curious cases, like the Persson NOT brothers. Swedish Ola and Michael Persson share surname and an old friendship, but they are not family, just brothers in arms for this extreme battle. And actually it’s maybe better not to sail with family on a Formula 18, because it could be dangerous, like in the case of Nieminen brothers from Finland. As Matti and Mikko say, they “almost kill each other” last year during the Raid. Everyone knows how “serious” arguments among brothers are. That’s probably why Belgian Proot brothers don’t sail together: Francis is on FG Porsche with Simon Van Acker and Michel is on McDonalds Huysman with Patrick Demesmaeker. What it’s not easy neither is sailing with your couple. Although it’s not that serious, “decision making is often difficult” as British Claire Bailey says. She sails with her husband, American David Scully, onboard Tacktick Suunto. Just as David and Claire are between them, many sailors are in love with the Archipelago Raid. That’s the case of Swiss Yvan Bourgnon, sailing with French Pierre Gauthier. Bourgnon promises to do the race ten times more, but with one condition: there must be more female teams. The expectations are completely different among the teams: some want to win and some just want to enjoy. Sailors like Swedish Anders Lewander and Hanse Thorslund will do their best to get Audi Team on the podium as they did in their last participation in 2006. But even though they know well the competition and the archipelagoes, they are not too confident: “Our weakest point is that we missed the last two races”. They, as the rest of experienced sailors, really fear the new guys coming with all their strength. John Bäck and Gustav Morin are not new to this competition, but are the youngest and as they say, they have “good speed”, which is their strong point, together with good knowledge of the Stockholm archipelago. On the other hand, Morin thinks his navigation skills are “the weakest point of the team”. He will have to improve then, having Garmin as sponsor. But Morin is not the only one who would like to improve in this regard. British William Sunnucs and Simon Farren onboard Audio Network hope to go back to good results. Sunnucs was the first foreign sailor to win the Raid in 2004, but his good knowledge of the area didn’t help when in his last paritcipation, leading a leg and being followed by many others he had to turn around to avoid a telephone cable they had forgotten was there. None of the teams that followed them made a good result so, for this year, they warn: “Don’t follow us”. They are one of the strongest teams, anyway. There are other teams with special strong points, like Rogue Sailors, team formed by Olof Berensson and Karl Blomberg. They assure they are “very good at paddling”, although they admit they have some weak points, such as “weak winds, average winds and too hard winds”. It won’t be strange to see them do good results having such good humor. What is really strange to see is a Finnish and a New Zealander together. That’s the couple formed by Thomas Johanson and Brad Marsh. How can it be? Both were involved with Ericsson Racing Team in the last Volvo Ocean Race, that’s why. Marsh says they are not very well prepared. “We don’t have the best set up, but we are here to enjoy”. They have the right attitude to do it and they will, and so will the rest of the sailors. There is only one thing needed, and it’s a priority for Swedish Micael Edler and Martin Åkerlund: “We sail with a smile”, they say. That is really a strong point, for sure. Date: 2009-08-16 16:44:57 << Back to News |
 © Th. Martinez  © Th. Martinez |
 © Maria Wigh |
Möja-archipelago Möja archipelago lies east of Möja - an island world with almost no settlements, and frequently visited by boat owners. The long coves and straits offer sheltered harbours. This archipelago is part of the ìoutlying landsî of Möja. Each village on the...  |
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