French Team Kalix Wins Archipelago Raid 08

– Extreme sailing orienteering in the Scandinavian archipelagos
Stockholm, June 18 2008. Eric Proust and Romain Motteau, Team Kalix, have
completed an outstanding six day Formula 18 catamaran race through the
Stockholm, Åland and Finnish archipelago. Since the first day the highly
experienced duo has been difficult to beat, showing great tactics and
excellent boat handling. Since last Friday the competitors have passed 47
island checkpoints and sailed a total of 550 – 600 nautical miles.
It was skipper Eric Proust’s fifth go at the Archipelago Raid when he finally took first,
having reached the second and third step of the podium three of the previous races
and had to abandon once. This year the team has since the start been the team to
beat.

Of the 22 starting teams, 20 teams made it to the finish line after six days and five
nights of intense sailing on small Formula 18 catamarans. The Archipelago Raid is
considered one of the toughest sail races in the world, with physical sailing 14-16
hours per day. The short northern summer nights means the competitors get little
sleep, around 2-5 hours per night.

The navigation is a difficult challenge with small rocks and islands literally littered all over the archipelagos. With the high level of the competitors, there is no room for tactical errors. Endurance, team work, and a good
sense of repairing boats are also important factors to succeed in the race.

Solo sailor Ellen MacArthur competed in the race for the second time. With crew Greg Homann (Aus) on BT the team finished ninth. “It has been great, the race is
amazing. We knew we couldn’t win as Greg and I have not trained much on the boat.
We participated for the pleasure and we have learnt a lot. All the other competitors
have been great. It has been a relaxed atmosphere but a very high level with a lot of
experience among the fleet.”

When leading the fleet this morning, Team Thule hit a rock and broke
its dagger board in three parts. At the next checkpoint they had to lay the boat down
and use a saw to get the dagger board out! They left the checkpoint as ninth boat
with only one dagger board but managed to catch up with the leaders, pass them,
tear the jib in a strong gust right before the finish line, stop at a dock to furl it but
eventually end the last leg of the race on an honourable first place and finishing
second overall.

Final Result:
1. Team Kalix, Eric Proust & Romain Motteau – Fra
2. Team Thule, Martin Strandberg & Johan Örtendahl – Swe
3. X-Leisure, William Sunnucks & Simon Farren – UK
4. Team BLUE Oceans, Conrad Humphreys & Ryan Crawford – UK
5. RBSC Huysman, Patrick Demesmaeker & Michel Proot – Bel
6. Team Garmin, John Bäck & Gustav Morin – Swe
7. One Design Center, Martin Hållsten & Malcom Hanes – Swe
8. SWE 558, Ola Person & Tomas Westergren – Swe
9. BT, Ellen MacArthur & Greg Homann – UK/Aus
10. Dare 2, Vincent Andre & Alessandro Vercio – Belg/Ital