Archipelago Raid 2007-08

With a near vertical learning curve in the Extreme 40, Conrad selected some great young tornado sailors to sail with and was soon getting the hang of steering the boat. In 2007, Conrad surprised a few by winning the Cowes Week event and then finishing fourth at the Amsterdam Grand Prix, just a point behind Olympic silver medallist, Darren Bundock, steering BT.  Behind the scenes, Conrad had bought a Hobie Tiger and was learning the skills of multihull sailing. His focus was drawn to competing in the Archipelago Raid, one of the world’s most challenging adventure raids. A five day event set in the breath-taking Swedish Archipelago region.

The Archipelago Raid, brings together many of the world’s top sailors to compete over five consecutive days in an endurance raid that test stamina, navigation and extreme fatigue. Many who take part don’t complete the event. The race is called the 100,000 island race and the course is set amongst the islands where the route is littered with submerged rocks and dangerous shallows. It’s a race that benefits the brave and the bold; there are great opportunities for cutting navigational corners, but you do so at extreme risk. Hitting a rock at 15knts with both of you out on the trapeze wire can be lethal for both sailors and the boat.

At the 2007 event, Conrad and Ryan Crawford finished 13th out of 30 teams, a great result given that this was the first time they had sailed the boat together. They learnt a lot, broke a lot of kit but managed to make it around the course just behind the lead group. Conrad and Ryan returned back to the UK in time to race the Extreme 40 in Cowes and on the plane they both fell into a deep sleep. The event had taken its toll and both of them vowed they wouldn’t go back.

Six months later and the itch to do it again started to appear. Conrad still had the boat and with the knowledge of the first event behind them they trained harder and decided to give it a go. This time, Ryan navigated and they took less food and spares to keep the boat light and fast. The first few days, the kept up with the lead group and occasionally started to lead some of the checkpoints. Leading is more difficult in the Raid, because everyone else follows and waits for you to make a mistake. They made plenty and on one occasion took the fleet 6 miles down a short cut only to find a cable across the water! Hard work when you have been sailing for over 12 hours without a break and your hungry and in need of sleep.

The preparation had paid off and Conrad and Ryan finished fourth, winning the last day and sustaining no damage to the boat. It was great and whilst the event was harder than the year before with an extra day sailing, Conrad and Ryan decided on the way home that they would return in 2009 with the objective of a podium finish.