Printable version  News feed

The 2,000 nm sprint round the south coast of Australia proved a bit of a slog as the fleet was forced to tack upwind, something the boats were not designed to do with any finesse. On the second day, the crew on Innovation Kvaerner, the overall points leader in the race, called for assistance when they discovered a few structural problems in the lower part of the mast just above the step. It compromised their speed and safety so they headed towards the shore and dropped anchor, while a helicopter lowered a repair kit. A few hours later, they were up and running again and back in the race with few time penalties. In fact they were just nine nm astern of leader EF Language.

The headwinds continued giving each crew a deeply unpleasant ride. EF Language fell back into sixth while Toshiba, with Paul Standbridge still in charge, moved into the lead. The discomfort was compounded on Silk Cut who reported chronic watermaker problems, requiring immediate repair.

While the engineers set to work, they relied on hand-operated watermakers. Two men had to pump for six hours to produce enough water to cook a single dehydrated meal, but they did not have to do this for long. The following day, the mechanics were celebrating their cleverness and fresh water was once again flowing freely.

Bizarrely, the same mast problems on Innovation Kvaerner reared their ugly head on Swedish Match, but Krantz was further offshore than the Norwegians, so heading in shore to drop anchor and make repairs was not an option. They continued with a conservative sail plan, knowing the mast could come down at any time. To lessen the risk, Krantz went south to find favourable winds and remarkably, this tactic once more paid handsome dividends.

A few nm out from Sydney, Swedish Match went into the lead.

Cayard was not amused. "It is Monday morning, three days before Christmas, and we have got bogies all over the place," he reported. "There's going to be a big dogfight to the finish.”

He was right and made sure it was even bigger by putting up every available sail. His sheer doggedness and uncanny skill in eking out speed in unlikely situations powered him to the front, but only just.

The fleet were bunched up as they entered Sydney Harbour in darkness and while the battle between Cayard and Krantz proved compelling, the award for performance in the face of adversity went to the crew of Innovation Kvaerner, who were lying in fifth place despite a near disaster onboard when bowman, Alby Pratt, was tossed overboard during an early morning sail change. He drifted off, his harness lying unused on deck and Frostad had to put in a U-turn in a bid to retrieve him, which he did when a crewman caught sight of his strobe light.

It was an extraordinary end to a closely fought leg, with six of the competitors arriving within 11 minutes of one another, Cayard putting five minutes and eight seconds between him and second placed Krantz, after 2,250 nm of racing. Less than a minute later, Chessie Racing also crossed the line and Dalton’s Merit Cup was 16 seconds behind. The welcome party had to wait just another two minutes to see Innovation Kvaerner and Toshiba finish and inside two hours, all nine of the W60s were tied up alongside the Sydney Opera House.

The triumphant Cayard once more was in full flow, giving an animated summary of his amazing race. "It was the tightest ocean race I have ever been in. Everything balanced out perfectly and we had one hell of a boat race."