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After a few unseasonably hot days in Australia, spent mostly making essential repairs interspersed with some heavy-duty partying, the crews ploughed straight back into turbulent waters. Gale conditions and heavy seas provided them with an uncomfortable Christmas at sea though a few crews persisted with stockings and champagne, and repeated the exercise on New Years Eve. Not so the crew on Steinlager 2, who were so keen to become the first Kiwi boat into Auckland that all evidence of seasonal niceties, such as presents and fresh food, had been ditched in Fremantle to save weight. They feasted, as ever, on freeze-dried fare of curry and sponge cake washed down with a mug of tea and a few gripes.

Beyond the Tasman, the winds calmed down though the competition between the maxis remained as furious as ever. The leaderboard offered up a new scenario with every position report. With 245 nm to the finish, nine nm separated the first three boats. Steinlager 2 led F&P by four nm, with Rothmans in third and Merit just 11 nm behind. Further back, the track began to look like an obstacle course as sperm whales paid little heed to skipper’s and navigator’s plans and Charles Jourdain came a cropper after a side-on collision, the crash leaving a huge 3 meter hole in the hull. Fortunately it was well above the waterline so the French crew got to work on patching it up and carried on.

The wily Grant Dalton turned off his navigation lights after he rounded the North Cape and was given a dressing down over the radio by Blake, brandishing his rule book. Meanwhile Blake ordered all 15 crew on deck then tuned into the local radio channel to get some idea of the conditions around Auckland. This initiative was to prove inspirational since it prompted a change of sail that gave her a smooth passage through a ferocious 40 knot squall. Dalton meanwhile was still flying his kite and lost time as he reconfigured, allowing his rivals to stretch their lead to a nm.

It was too late to recover and the guys on Steinlager 2 sat back and enjoyed the rapturous scenes around them, as they crossed the line less than six minutes ahead of Fishpie.

“The rookies on board, who hadn’t sailed a Whitbread before could not believe the spectacle that was unfolding in front of us as boats of every shape and size came out to welcome us home. Even those of us who had experienced an Auckland Whitbread finish, could not believe the incredible enthusiasm of the thousands who had braved the shocking weather to watch Big Red make history.” (Big Red)

It was the first time a Kiwi boat had won the leg into Auckland and the celebrations were unprecedented. There were similar scenes when Maiden crossed the line three days later.

Around 14,000 people gathered on the dockside, even though it was one in the morning and the cries of support grew more excited as news spread that Edwards had once more won the leg in her class.

“I didn’t think we could win the third leg,” she wrote in her autobiography Living Every Second. “Now I started to dream about winning the entire race. We had extended our lead in Division D to almost 18 hours.’Steinlager 2’, which headed the maxis, had nowhere near this sort of lead.”

A few hours later, Edwards heard she had also won the coveted Yachting Journalist’s Association Yachtswoman of the Year Award, conferring on her a recognition by a previously sceptical British sailing media of which she could never would have dreamed. It was the first time a woman had won and it was a source of great pride to Edwards that her determination had forced some highly respected seadogs to eat such hefty portions of humble pie.