A more extreme adventure with paddling, sleeping in tents and possibly crossing to Åland for the first time since 2009.

In 2001 Atlant ocean racing launced the original ”Archipelago Raid”, an extreme race with F18 Catamarans in the Stockholm and Åland Archipelagos. “The first edition was very windy, so we couldn’t sail to Åland that year”, Franck Cammas told us when he was in Stockholm earlier this year to receive the Mange Olsson award. Cammas was the first winner together with Steve Ravussin. Most years however the race did go to Åland and it was a very extreme race were teams some times sailed all night just to get to the finish in time for the next start. The Archipelago Raid by Atlant Ocean Racing was organised for the last time in 2009.

Since 2010 the raid is organised by Swedish F18 association and it has been sailed every year since 2001 making this edition the 25th. It also makes it the only international sailing competition in the world that has been sailed every year for 25 consecutive years thanks to Swedens less restrictive travel policy during the pandemic in 2020/2021. See the F18 hall of fame for all winners.  

The “Stockholm Archipealgo Raid extreme” 2025 will be ran in the spirit of the original raid and for the first time since 2009 intention is to cross the Åland Sea. The course will be up to 50% longer each day compared with last years, but unlike the original, the intention is to get all teams back on shore in time to have a proper dinner together each day and maybe even a sauna some times. Therefore, like the original, the starts can be as early as 4.30 in the morning.

Key highlights of the Stockholm Archipelago Raid “extreme”: 

• Sailing is extended to 5 days and the race is moved to the end of June when the sun rises at 3:30 and the nights are very short to enable longer distances each day. It is also a time of year that improves the chances to cross the Åland Sea.
• The start is in Saltsjöbaden/Stockholm and the first base camp will be at Fejan or Lidö in the northern parts of the archipelago. If the winds are too strong to cross the Åland sea the RO will utilise the entire Stockholm archipelago to the maximum to create a fantastic course among its 36000 islands.
• Base Camps will be decided as late as one day before to allow for maximum flexibility. Finish on day 5 however will be in Sandhamn.
• Paddling with one paddle will be allowed, but only between Check Points pre-defined by the Race Organisation.
• Sailors will sleep in sleeping bags in their own tents that will be carried by the race organization between the base camps.
• A proper meal will be served every evening and a breakfast bag to go and lunch packs will be distributed each morning.
• All personal gear is carried on board the F18’s in the hull or on the trampoline.

 

 

2 alternative race areas 

Both alternatives start with a race from Saltsjöbaden to Base Camp 1 at Fejan or Lidö. Latest in the evening that day the Race Committee will decide whether to go for alternative A or B depending on the wind conditions.

Race area A

• Day 2 start with a crossing to Åland. Base Camps in Åland day 2 and 3 to be decided the day before. Possible sites are Kökar, Lappo, Sandösund, Mariehamn etc.
• Day 4 crossing to Sweden late afternoon. Base Camp at Fejan or Lidö.
• Day 5 finish at Sandhamn were thousands of sailors are gathered for the start of Gotland Off Shore Race.

Race area B (too windy to cross Åland Sea)

• Day 2 sail south in the Stockholm Archipelago.
• Base Camps day 2, 3 amd 4 to be decided the day before. Possible sites are Rånö, Nässlingen, Gålö, Björkvik, Stora Sand, Husarö, Svartsö etc.
• Day 5 finish at Sandhamn were thousands of sailors are gathered for the start of Gotland Off Shore Race.

Race area A and B are the more or less the same in the northern parts of the Stockholm Archipelago, but race area B cover larger areas in the inner parts.

 

Dates and registration

Registration, safety control and breifing will take place on Sunday the 22nd of June 2025 in Saltsjöbaden. 5 days of racing from the 23rd and finish in Sandhamn on the 27th of June. Sailors will back in Saltsjöbaden about noon on Saturday the 28th. The F18 World Championship in the Netherlands starts one week later, giving time to rest and logistics for teams who plan to do both.

For more details about the concept, time schedule check out here.

The places are limited to 25 teams for safety and logistical reasons and sign up will start on Sunday the 1st of February 2025. 

…but some are more winners than others.

 

Day 1

16 teams with 6 nationalities finally made it to start to the 24th raid in the Stockholm Archipelago on Thursday the 22nd of August. The forecast looked good with winds from 15-25 knots from south west, but a bit gusty. 

The downwind start in Saltsjöbaden in a gentle breeze gave raid rookies time to get acquainted with their navigation and safety equipment. But pretty quickly the wind picked up and offered champagne downwind reaching on starboard tack in 15-20 knots to the outer archipelago in less than 2 hours. 

Second leg started with a roaring reach with 15-20 knots of wind from the beam . After the 10 minute reach the teams could set the kites and start gybing the 20 Nm downwind to the finish in Sandhamn in increasing winds.  The sauna was hot and the beer cold and after a good 2 meal course the sailors went to bed fairly early, since start the next day was announced to 8 o’clock.

The performance of the teams of day 1 would repeat itself over the coming days. The top 5-7 teams were all chasing each other and often finished within 10 minutes after the winner after 3 hours of sailing. Typically the Lundqvist brothers (SWE111) made a good start and took the lead. Other teams in the top where Karlsson(Nordblom (SWE007), Busck/Rosengren (SWE64), the Wunderles (GER 33), Noordziij/MOerman (NED 15), young team Åberg/Norrby (SWE 363) and Linder/Brunnberg (SWE 1) when then managed to not break anything. 

In the second group both mixed teams with Hedman/Wyon (DEN 11) and father and daughter Schütz (GER 340) as well as Bergendahl/Johnzon (SWE 4) and Joyriders Bennet/Caufield (IRL 789) and some others followed, all performing very solid and usually within sight of the front group.

A third group in the back with some newer F18 sailors who sometimes struggled in the very windy conditions this year. In the end 12 out of the 16 teams crossed the finish line on the final leg. 4 teams could not complete that leg either because of material failure or because they chose not to start or had to abandoned race some previous day.

Day 2

The gennaker start was north of Sandhamn/Lökholmen and the first leg took the fleet out to pretty remote islands. The first passage was through the iconic archipelago of Björkskär, via some check points to Rödlöga, one of few places in the outer archipelago with a small supermarket and Cafe Truten, that opened up for the raid sailors to get a coffee and a cinemon bun.  

Due to a pretty nasty forecast with gusts over 30 knots of wind the 4th leg had to be cancelled. Instead a “jib race” to get all teams to base camp Lidö some 12 Nm north. The F18 can reach 10 knots on just the 4 m2 jib with an average speed of 6 knots in these conditions, but they can’t go upwind, which required some planning not to end up in the wrong place.

Again the sailors enjoyed a great dinner before going to sleep in “lyxury” hotel rooms with clean sheets and made beds. 

Day 3

During the night some pretty heavy winds passed, but in the morning a steady breeze of 20-25 knots was on. Breakfast was served at 8 and at 10.30 the wind was deemed stable enough to start the 4th leg. At this point 3 teams had abandoned race for different reasons and 14 boats came to start.

The course was drawn closer to main land to avoid too much open water with too heavy winds and waves. But instead it was pretty gusty and still on the edge for the F18s. If day 1 and 2 was all about gennaker runs, day 3 was mainly upwind, but with some down wind between Check points to make the course more interesting.

It was a pretty tired bunch that seeked shelter at Möja Björkvik and some teams had misunderstood the instruction and accidentally beached their F18s too close to a house on private property. 

The final leg of the day was a loop deeper into the middle archipelago, through the “paradise bay” of Finnhamn before reaching base camp Nässlingen. The Sauna there is great and cold beer was supplied by the local bakery/brewery at Ingmarsö that also served an excellent dinner and breakfast.

Day 4

Again a windy forecast with 20-30 kots of wind from the SW, meaning mainly upwind sailing to get back to the finish in Saltsjöbaden. The start was downwind however with a 20 minutes gennaker run before turning south and start a long leg with many tacks in increasing winds. After a short lunch break at a beach at Stavsnäs the final race was on. One hour upwind followed by a one hour reach in speeds sometimes exceeding 20 knots. One boat dismasted and had to be towed. And one of the safety boats had an engine stop and also had to be towed by a third safety boat. Fortunately the Race Committee boat could continue to the finish just in time to lay the finish line.

It was a tired, but very happy crowd that gathered for the price ceremony while waiting for the luggage and spare parts to get back to port. And even if only a few teams got the medals all teams, who fought and battled to get to the finish line of each leg, felt like winners. 

 

For results, check points list and maps see here.

Check out the pictures and films here on the home page and more on our social media channels:

www.facebook.com/stockholmarchipelagoraid

Stockholm Archipelago Raid (@stockholmarchipelagoraid) • Foton och videor på Instagram

 

There was excitement in the air as 17 teams (Teams 2024 | Stockholm Archipelago Raid) gathered for registration, safety inspection and team breifing on Wednesday evening. All boats and crews are now ready to go and the start is 10 o’clock tomorrow morning 22nd of August.

Leg 1 

• 1 Start (Saltsjöbaden)
• 39 Leave to starboard
• 38 Leave to port
• 48 Leave to starboard
• 34 Finish close to beach in Mörtö Bunsö

Leg 2

• 34 Start close to beach
• 50 Leave to port
• 49 Leave to port
• 32 Leave to starboard
• 2 Finish just outside CP

Link to the Check Points

The forecast looks great with winds from south west all 4 days, between 15 and 25 knots most of the time.  The first 2 legs will take the fleet through the inner, middle archipelagos and round some island pretty far out before turning north to the base camp at Sandhamn/Lökholmen.
Follow us in social media (beware of a fake account on Facebook). Our authentic channels are

• Facebook.com/stockholmarchipelagoraid
• Stockholm Archipelago Raid (@stockholmarchipelagoraid)
• Results (updated at least daily)

 

4 weeks from start 17 teams with participants from 6 nations have entered the competition so far and are preparing for the adventure. They are in for a sailing adventure in the stunning archipelago just outside of the capital of Sweden with lots of sailing each day as well as good food, cold drinks and nice company in the evenings.  

Country	F18 Model	Skipper Name	Crew Name
Denmark	Goodall Akurra	Jan Hedmann Jensen	Penelope Wyon
Germany	Cirrus R2	Christian Schütz	Katharina Schütz
Germany	Nacra Evolution	Manuel Wunderle	Fabian Wunderle
Ireland/UK	Goodall C2	Joe Bennett	Declan Caulfield
Netherlands	Goodall Akurra	Ad Noordzij	Arthur Moerman
Netherlands	Cirrus R	Kees Wiersema	Rob Schutte
Sweden	Goodall C2	Anders Mårten	Mikael Sommansson Richter
Sweden	Goodall C2	Edvin Åberg	Theodor Norrby
Sweden	Goodall C2	Erik Blomberg	Rikard Blomberg
Sweden	Scorpion	Fredrik Karlsson	Niklas Nordblom
Sweden	Goodall Akurra	Jacob Lundqvist	Oscar Lundqvist
Sweden	Scorpion	Jakob Palmblad	Oscar Wetterling
Sweden	Goodall C2	Lars Linder	Erik Brunnberg
Sweden	Nacra Evolution	Magnus Bergendahl	Jonas Jonzon
Sweden	Scorpion	Peter Busck	Rasmus Rosengren
Sweden	Goodall C2	Thomas Blomborn	Janne Jakkula
Sweden	Hobie Wildcat	Wouter Faber	Clemens Fleige

It is still possible to join the raid as some places are available. A C2s is also available for hire, a rare opportunity for teams who want to join without bringing their own boat to Sweden. Contact the race organisation for enquiries.

With two and a half months until start 18 teams have already signed up. They come from Sweden,  France, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland. Still plenty of time to sign up for the big adventure, but the early bird entry fee offering ends by the end of this week (15th of June).

It can already be said that the level of competition is going to be high. The top three teams from 2024 (all Swedes) are all back and they will face fierce competition this year.  For example from

• Germany the Wunderle brothers Manuel and Fabian with multiple german national F18 titles. under their belt.
• France brothers Emeric and Félix Dary winners of the eurocat and 11th at the Worlds in 2023 and french champions 2022.
• The Netherlands Ad Noordzij and Arthur Moerman winners of the Martinique Cataraid earlier this year.

In the Mixed class 3  raid experienced teams have signed up to date.

• The former raid champions Jan Jensen and Penny Wyon (DEN)
• Christian Schütz, who sailed the raid 5 times before and completed the Worrel 1000 earlier this spring, now sailing with his daughter Katharina. 
• Thomas and Pippi Windrike (SWE), former winners of the mixed class.

The youth team Edwin Åberg and Theodor Norrby (SWE) are back, now with a top notch C2. They have an amazing learning curve and are totally fearless. They can definatly challenge the best Swedish and international teams about a place on the podium if the winds play in their favour.

As mentioned in a previous post we are also happy to welcome back the legendary sailors Anders Lewander, a raid veteran and winner of the Archipelago Raid 2003, again sailing with Hanse Thorslund. Together they sailed the raid many times and now look forward to the adventure and to hang loose in the wire once again.

The world record holder of sailing a boat backwards (from Åland to Sweden!) Mikael Sommansson Richter, is back and said he promise to sail his F18 with the bows in the front and rudders in the back. It might not be enough for the podium, but should improve his chances of getting around the course. 

There is still place for more teams to join the big adventure. Sign up this week to enjoy the best price. 

Signed up to date (2024-06-10):

Sail number	Skipper Name	Nationality	Crew Name	Crew nationality
DEN 11	Jan Hedmann Jensen	Denmark	Penelope Wyon	Denmark
FRA 7	Emeric Dary	France	Félix Dary	France
GER 33	Manuel Wunderle	Germany	Fabian Wunderle	Germany
GER 340	Christian Schütz	Germany	Katharina Schütz	Germany
NED 3	Kees Wiersema	Netherlands	Rob Schutte	Netherlands
NED 15	Ad Noordzij	Netherlands	Arthur Moerman	Netherlands
SWE 380	Wouter Faber	Netherlands	Clemens Fleige	Germany
SWE 1	Lars Linder	Sweden	Erik Brunnberg	Sweden
SWE111	Jacob Lundqvist	Sweden	Oscar Lundqvist	Sweden
SWE789	Thomas Windrike	Sweden	Pippi Windrike	Sweden
SWE 363	Edvin Åberg	Sweden	Theodor Norrby	Sweden
SWE 78	Anders Mårten	Sweden	Mikael Sommansson Richter	Sweden
SWE 007	Fredrik Karlsson	Sweden	Niklas Nordblom	Sweden
SWE 4	Magnus Bergendahl	Sweden	Jonas Jonzon	Sweden
SWE 888	thomas Blomborn	Sweden	Janne Jaakkola	Finland
SWE 64	Peter Busck	Sweden	TBD
SWE130	Jakob Palmblad	Sweden	Oscar Wetterling	Sweden
SWE 59	Anders Lewander	Sweden	Hanse Thorslund	Sweden

 

6 days after opening the event in 2024 for sign-up 12 teams from 3 countries had signed-up already. As usual there is a limit of 30 team for logistical and safety reasons. Don’t wait to long to secure your place!

Many women have competed since Dame Ellen MacArthur participated in 2003, 2006 and 2008. Carolijn Brouwer, olympic sailor known from Volvo Ocean Race, also participated several times both with and without her husband Darren Bundock. From Sweden the current Nacra 17 sailor Ida Svensson sailed several times. But also a long range of good female club sailors from Denmark, the Netherlands, South Africa, France, Austria, The UK and Sweden have participated proving that it is not only Pro sailors who can make it.

Read about the adventure on Ellens own words: https://www.sail-world.com/Australia/Ellen-MacArthurs-Archipelago-Raid/-45782

In 2024 we welcome more female sailors to the event, either as all-female or mixed teams!

Sign up for the 2024 edition is open. Sign up here to secure your place, maximum 30 teams.

The concept will be similar to many of the past years with four full days of sailing in the inner our outer archipelago depending on the weather forecast and sea conditions. Each day the fleet will finish close to a base camp offering a sauna, a good dinner and a bed under a roof. Start and finish takes place in Saltsjöbaden and the course will take the fleet through the Central and Northern parts of the Stockholm Archipelago with base camps on the islands of Sandhamn/Lökholmen, Lidö (last time in 2006) and Nässlingen. Weather permitting the raid might round the remote iconic islands of Arholma and Söderarm further North than any raid in the past 15 years.

For the 25th anniversary in 2025 the plan is to do a more physically demanding 5 day raid in the spirit of the original Archipelago Raid. The venue will be Åland and/or Stockholm Archipelagos and it will be a more physically demanding raid possibly allowing some paddling, sleeping in tents and a maximum 25 teams for safety and logistical reasons. 

Very welcome to the Stockholm Archipelago Raid 2024.

Stockholm Archipelago Raid is happy to announce a new partnership with Seapax, the leading Swedish maritime safety company since 2005. 

– The Stockholm Archipelago Raid is well known to be one of the most challenging catamaran races in the world and sea safety is essential. It is a great match with our brand and we are proud to be partners and happy to be able to offer the best safety equipment on the market for special prices for the participants and the safety organisation, says Seapax CEO Christina Frii.

– Seapax is a prominent supplier of sea safety equipment that supplies the Swedish Sea Rescue SSRS among others. Part of their product line is essential for raid participants. We are very happy about the partnership since safety is paramount for the event organisation, says Lars Linder Project Manager of the Stockholm Archipelago Raid.

All participants are offered a general discount valid in the webbshop and in Seapax store on Rålambshovsleden 42. Archipelago Raid – Seapax .

Free of charge delivery to KSSS in Saltsjöbaden will be arranged for foreign teams that wish to order equipment just in time for the start.