I would consider the Tybee 500 to be on the short list of extreme small catamaran distance races available to sailors in the world…but I wouldn’t consider it the “most” extreme. That dubious honor falls to a race that takes place this June 13th through 18th on F18 catamarans between Sweden and Finland among a chain of thousands of tiny, rock crusted, islands called the Archipelago Raid (note that the image below is from the 2007 edition of the race – the dates are different). The race course is simply a series of 20 to 25 checkpoints that can be a beach, a dock, or a boat anchored in the water. These checkpoints are given to the sailors in a booklet at which they will stop there from 3 minutes to 1 hour (just enough time to permit interviews for television and news). The teams are free to choose their own route around obstacles to get from checkpoint to checkpoint and the delay between finish and the start of the next leg can range from three to six hours from the finish of the FIRST boat…sleep and time for repairs will be difficult to come by. Because the races take place in the northern latitudes of the earth in the summer, the sun only sets for a short period but never completely releases it’s grasp on the sky. At worst, the sailors sail in a mild twilight for a short few hours before the sun shines brightly again illuminating the rocks that treacherously pickle the path before them. Paddling at any time is permitted as long as the sailors have the spinnaker snuffed and the jib furled while they do so (thus it is advantageous only when the wind is extremely light).

This year, friends of Team Seacats, William Sunnucks and teamate Simon Farren are joining the fleet along with other incredibly notable British teams headed by big-time celebrities including Dame Ellen McArthur and Conrad Humphreys. The rest of the 18 boat fleet, which is still growing and peaked at 30 entries last year, is rounded out by the who’s who of multihull sailing from around the world and brings in many of the major names in super-size and people-sized multihull racing. We’ll try to keep you tuned into the adventures as Will and Simon progress through the Archipelago and wrestle with the lack of sleep, the stresses of navigation, and the physical adversity the sailors will encounter over the course of the week.