Archipelago raid 2002

Text: Neal och Lisa Mc Donald
Foto: Thierry Martinez

Having just finished the Volvo Round the World Race, Lisa and I decided we need a bit of time out doing something different to crashing around the world in Volvo 60’s so signed up for the Archipelago Raid. The event was one we had heard a lot about – mainly because it was organised by Atlant Ocean Racing –the same group who had successfully put together the Assa Abloy campaign for the Volvo Race –the team I had been part of for the race. All we really knew was that the event was an endurance type race in small cats around the Swedish and Finish Archipelagos – it sounded just what we needed.

Having finished the Volvo and arrived back to the UK we started to look into the event with a little more detail. It soon appeared we had bitten off somewhat more than we could chew! A quick visit to the event web site where I found the following statement:

“The Archipelago Raid is an extreme sailing competition where Sport, Nature and Adventure are perfectly associated. The ambition is to create "the largest and most extreme orienteering sailing competition in the world".

The concept is simple: each team sails for 4 days on a Formula 18 (5,5 m catamaran), along a unique course drawn among 100 000 rocks and islands. On the way, the competitors have to find 20-25 checkpoints located on islands (pontoons, beaches, boats, lighthouses…). The race is sailed intensely day and night with some short stops.”

This gave us an indication of just how much of a challenge we had taken on! Neither Lisa or I had raced small cats before – my cat racing experience was limited to one (all be it 62 day) race in a 110-foot catamaran! I had a good basic dinghy racing background but that was several years ago and when I was several kg less!
Rigging our brand new Hobie Tiger I felt a surge of excitement and some apprehension. The boat looked quite a weapon – not the normal image I have of Hobie cats –how were we going to be able to handle this little beast in the middle of the night if had an big breezes? A couple of sailing days later I was pleasantly surprised about the boat – really quick and nice to sail. Despite having light breezes I nearly managed to break one of Lisa’s fingers in one of our practice sessions – not a popular man after that –also it forced a reduction in our practice time!
Safety is a big part of the event (a very necessary part considering some of the antics we got up to) – towing warps, paddles, flares, VHF radio, mobile phones etc all had to be put together.

The other aspect that we had certainly underestimated was the navigation required. The 70 or so way points that could be used were handed out 3 days before the start – along with the comprehensive package of charts of the possible areas. A whole night of tapping in the waypoints and getting a feel for where they all were on the charts was time well invested – although our first look at the charts was pretty daunting – they are certainly not joking when they talk about 100,000 islands!

Familiarity with the equipment you are using and the area, in which you are sailing, is critical to being able to hit the start line with confidence so you can concentrate on the boat to boat racing. It proved very important as a team, to create a system, which is easy to understand, and user friendly for both people to be able to quickly find locations on the charts. When it is wet and windy and you are sailing hard, you go speeding past most of the Archipelago in a flash and you need to be able to assess where you are in a very short period of time so you don’t go past your destination at great speeds…

The morning of the start provided us with great weather – a reach to get out of Stockholm in a light, sunny day. We had been given our first five checkpoints and felt we had a reasonable handle on their whereabouts – and we were off. A short beat out of the harbour right in the city centre and then a nice kite reach out of the harbour – what could be easier? Although any F18 cat could race all but one of the 15 starters, were Tigers and very soon after the start, I could see that the boat speed was all very close. Within 20 minutes of starting we were hit by our first gust and (probably being over interested in our relative boat speed) we were caught a little unaware. Down went the bow, around the front went Lisa and there we were doing our first full cartwheel in a cat – not a great way to start a 600-mile race!

Being our first ever cat capsize I think we got off lightly – we righted it quick enough to still be able to see the leaders and other than loosing all our on water bottles and pulling a calf muscle in my leg, we got away with it unscathed. I guess at that point we should have started being a little more conservative but now we had the bit between our teeth – we pushed hard for the next 10 miles or so to catch up our lost time. The wind had increased to 15-18 knots and we found ourselves flying downwind thru a very narrow channel, we cut a corner too tight and hit a rock at 15 knots! Capsize nos 2 all within the first two hours! Another total drenching and a set of fury dagger boards and it was definitely time to start throttling back. This time took longer to recover and we had lost sight of the leaders. Lisa’s navigating proved second to none and over the course of the day, we caught a few boats up and found all our checkpoints with relative easy.

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Our last check point of the day was a forced 1-hour stop in Sandham. Time to get the next 4 checkpoints and a hot drink, Lisa did the chart work and I filed down the “fury” ends to the fins with a leatherman. Although it is almost light all night at this time of year the sky was clouding over and the breeze was getting up.
We were already tired and prospect of a night at sea in our little craft was making me somewhat apprehensive. We set off a few minutes behind a local and were happy to follow them until they had a problem and had to stop- we were on our own again. Now it was getting tough – Lisa on the wire with a torch, a chart and a GPS picking our way thru the rocks, a building breeze and for somewhere that was meant to be forever light, it was getting dark. The next 5 or 6 hours needed all our round the world sailing skills combined with some now found dinghy cat sailing techniques. By now, we were both really thankful for our dry suits. For a couple of hours we were belting along in 20 knots + unable to see other competitors, land or anything else for that matter! 3 checkpoints later, some fast sailing, some smart chart work and we arrived at our first head quarter. It had been a tough night –18 hrs in an open boat in some rugged conditions– 3 boats had retired from the event –exhaustion and gear failure being the main reasons.

We were happy we had work our way back into the front half of the fleet but totally exhausted. We had no real idea what our “stop over” would entail but we were pretty unhappy to fine that it consisted of a 2 1/2 hour stop, a hot cup of soup and a 2 hour sleep in our dry suits under a survival blanket in the rain. I’ve been cold in the southern ocean but boy I was cold that morning.

The restart was 1 hour after the last boat finished – finishing in the back of the fleet was doubly punishing – less points and less sleep – it is a cruel sport! Back on the water we finally warmed up in the morning sun, simply getting thru the night before boosted our confidence and with the restart we were able to get into the racing along side other boats again.

The next 3 days followed a similar pattern – 20-22 hours sailing passing through 5 to 6 checkpoints followed by 2 to 4 hours down time at an “HQ” before a restart. The weather improved after the first night –so at least it was not quite as cold. The light winds were not quite the rest that you may have guessed they could have been. The rules for the Raid allow you to paddle so when it gets really light only the fittest progress. The winners actually paddled the best part of 10 miles one day!. For that reason alone they deserved to win – in addition they never capsized, rarely made any tactical decisions and were the best organised navigationally.

Every body, including us, was getting more and more tired. Fortunately for us our learning curve was pretty steep and even though we were getting more exhausted we were getting to grips with sailing the boats and deal with the navigation. Slowly we worked our way back up thru the fleet – by the end of it we were equal 2nd on points and 3rd on count back – a position we were quite happy with – to be honest we were over the moon that we had made it to the finish. We sailed as a mixed team, which for the Hobie Tiger meant that we met the target weight between us so we knew we were starting off competitively with our boat set up. Knowing each other well meant that we could sail and work well together as a team, we could also anticipate each other’s decisions and strategy as well as maintain the competitive drive and pick up on signs of fatigue as the days went on.

It is a thoroughly exhaustive undertaking and the team-mate companionship is as important as the team-to-team commorodary. It all starts in the lead up to the racing, helping each other sort out their boats, going tuning with each other and setting up the boats with the essential kit. The days are long, the competition is tight, the seascape can be tough, conditions are extreme and each team lays a big role in pushing each other to get the best competition
out of the fleet.

It was a gruelling but thoroughly rewarding event that along with all the other challenges had some incredible sailing. On our sail across to Finland from Sweden we were regularly clocking over 20 knots on the GPS! Add to that the level of the fleet and the one designed aspect of the Hobie Tiger we had some incredible racing – for one evening we had 3 boats with 50 metres for the best part of 4 hours – quite phenomenal.

The event was particularly well organised – safety issues had been well covered, the waypoint location had been very well considered, the course selection for each day was great and the stop over back up team providing the refreshments was certainly a very welcome sight. All in all a great event and one that I believe will attract much attention in the future.

It had been a far tougher event than we had imagined and because of that a greater sense of achievement finishing it. It is an event that mixes an incredible number of talents, navigation, organisation, planning and sheer endurance along with basic seamanship and sailing skills. Coupled with that it takes place in one of the most beautiful sailing areas in the world (not that we always had time to look at it). It is certainly an event we will take part in again – next time we will have a better idea of just what we are taking on!

Neal and Lisa Mc Donald
Team TietoEnator

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