A weary and depleted Bermuda squad arrived in the tiny island of Aland in the Baltic Sea yesterday, hopeful that after a short recovery the medals will flow freely when competition gets underway this weekend.

An overnight flight from Bermuda to London, followed by a six-hour wait at Gatwick Airport and a three-hour charter flight to the host country left the near-100 strong team anxious to climb into their hotel beds.

But for at least two members, sailors Sarah Lane Pantovic Adderley and Brett Wright, another tiring day awaits.

Adderley was 'bumped off' a packed British Airways flight on Wednesday night forcing her to wait another day and miss the charter aircraft.

That meant a diversion to Stockholm today from where she will catch a four-and-a-half hour ferry to Aland.

Wright will board that same ferry to the Swedish capital to accompany his former wife on the journey back to help with luggage and equipment.

With the regatta starting on Sunday, both Laser sailors will now miss valuable preparation time.

Other than that hiccup, athletes representing Bermuda in nine sports – archery, track and field, basketball, golf, gymnastics, sailing, shooting, swimming and volleyball – experienced few problems on the journey to this northern island where at this time of the year, days are long and nights extremely short.

A record 3,700 competitors from 25 islands, including those from far-flung countries such as the Falklands and St. Helena, have been converging on Aland, whose closest neighbour is Sweden but is considered a Finland territory.

Ironically, however, Bermuda have sent their smallest team since the Games began in 1985 with some 70 competitors in a total squad of around 100, including officials.

That reduction can be attributed to a number of factors, not least the economic downturn.

But some of Bermuda's sports governing bodies opted out despite the fact that medals were far more attainable than at any of the major Games where Bermudians rarely contend.

While this festival might be considered far less prestigious, as organisers point out it does allow hundreds of athletes from small island communities to enjoy international competition against other islanders with similar standards of performance.

That said, Bermuda Football Association (BFA) chose not to enter either a men's or women's team, when even Under-19 squads could have contended for honours; and Bermuda Track and Field Association (BTFA) and Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA) chose to compete in the inaugural Caribbean Games.

They've now been left out in the cold as the Trinidad Games were called off last week following five cases of swine flu on the Caribbean island.

It was too late for the tennis players or athletes to make arrangements for the trip to Scandinavia.

A women's basketball team which had hoped to compete, also pulled out some time ago.

Bermuda's gold medal hopes will rest heavily on the shoulders of the women's volleyball team, who recently won four matches in the World Cup qualifiers before bowing out in Trinidad, and the men's basketball team.

The swimmers, gymnasts and sailors should also make their presence felt as will veteran sprinter Xavier James and long-distance runner Victoria Fiddick who will compete in the half-marathon just over a month after lifting the May 24 Marathon Derby crown.

And big-hitting golfer Daniel Augustus will be confident of adding to his trophy cabinet just a couple of weeks after winning the Bermuda Amateur Strokeplay Championships.

The Island Games opening ceremony is scheduled for tomorrow.

Bermuda team

ARCHERY

Male

Paul Harshaw

Female

Roslyn Kneeland

ATHLETICS

Male

Xavier James

Jeneko Lottimore Place

Stephen Allen

George Smith

Anton Velleman

Daniel Tucker

Female

Stephane Schoeman

Ashley Robinson

Victoria Fiddick

BASKETBALL

Men's team

Richard Warner

Chris Crumpler

Phil Davis

Jason Lowe

Steven Simons

Dean Jones

Jason Simons

Dale Jackson

Sullivan Phillips

Kent Tacklyn

Jonathan Minors

Jordan Knight

GOLF

Male team

Daniel Augustus

Jarryd Dillas

Damian Palanyandi

Camiko Smith

Female team

Ebonie Burgess

Katrin Burnie

Katyna Rabain

Tariqah Walikraam

GYMNASTICS

Female team

Caitlyn Mello

Hannah King

Kaisey Griffith

Morgan Beckles

Riann Ming

Rosie Finnigan

SAILING

Male

Rockal Evans

Malcolm Smith

Brett Wright

Female

Sara Lane Pantovic Adderley

SAILBOARDING

Alex Jones

SHOOTING

Anthony Evans

Ross Roberts

SWIMMING

Male

Nathan Frick

Female

Rebecca Heyliger

Morgan Hopkins

Ashley Yearwood

Nicole Yearwood

VOLLEYBALL

Male team

Michael Bengson

Ian Bucci

Yves Charbonneau

Jason Ebbin

Jon Gazzard

Eric Haller

Mark Hamilton

Gary Leblanc

Christopher Lemieux

Bradley Meindersma

Jonathon Noseworthy

Adam Wong

Female team

Juanita Blee

Chantal Brown

Kimberley Burns

Stacey Dorush

Wendy Gazzard

Lisa Leblanc

Lianne Leonardi

Giovanna Pacheco

Elisabeth Rae

Vikki Stevenson

Kristin Thomas

Emma Vacas