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Day 3 May 24th 1998
Merit Cup Wins Final Leg Large crowds gathered along the Solent and Southampton Water shores and also at Southampton’s Ocean Village to welcome the fleet racing in The Whitbread Round The World Race for the Volvo Trophy back to England after completing a gruelling 31,600 miles around the world, in a race which started from the Solent on September 21st last year. The largest spectator fleet so far escorted the fleet under leaden skies as it reached slowly up The Solent flying Code Zero’s in light breeze battling against a foul tide. First across the finish line, set just metres off the entrance to Southampton’s Ocean Village, was Merit Cup, the Monaco entry, skippered by Grant Dalton finishing at 1156GMT (1256 BST). Kevin Shoebridge was at the wheel of the yellow and white yacht and as the cannon fired, Grant Dalton shook all his crew by the hand and everyone cheered and punched the air. This is the second leg win for Dalton who took first place when the fleet sailed into his home port of Auckland at the end of Leg Four. In what has been a tough leg mentally for the crews, Merit Cup has managed to wrestle back second place overall from Swedish Match (Gunnar Krantz/Erle Williams) picking up 105 points for winning this leg and finishing with an total score of 698 points. She snatched the lead from overall race winner EF Language (Paul Cayard) yesterday afternoon and held on to it to finish just in front of her EF Language, who with Cayard at the helm finished in second place at 1211 GMT (1311BST). To celebrate their leg win in true yacht racing tradition, the crew threw Grant Dalton into the water from which he emerged grinning from ear to ear. As EF Language crossed the line, a delighted Paul Cayard shook the hand of his navigator and friend, Mark Rudiger and the crew waved to the huge crowd who cheered in appreciation. EF Language scored 92 points for this leg, bringing her total tally to 836 giving her a clear win by 138 points to take the overall Volvo Trophy for the Race. Cayard and his crew of mainly inshore racing champions started this race as outsiders and the crew were on a steep learning curve, particularly in the Southern Ocean. However such was their ability to learn from their mistakes and push the boat hard, they made history by winning the Race with a leg to spare. Cayard commented, "It is hard to summarize the whole race right now. What I can say is that for sure it has been the most unusual and exceptional sporting experience of my life. Winning is just the icing on the cake. Whenever you can win anything this big you’ve got to savour it. It’s something very special. It’s a great race for sure." Next across the finish line at 1221 GMT (1321BST) was Norway’s entry, Innovation Kvaerner, skippered by Knut Frostad, the youngest skipper in the race aged 30. Having suffered broken rudder bearings on the transatlantic leg from Annapolis to La Rochelle, and blowing out their mainsail badly on this leg, this crew has pulled itself up through the fleet to finish the leg in third place, claiming 81 points for this leg, giving her a total aggregate of 633, putting her in fourth place overall. They started the race well by finishing third on Leg One and second on Leg Two, which at that stage of the race put her into the lead overall, but a string of mediocre results followed and it wasn’t until Leg Six, the leg from Sao Sebastiao in Brazil to Fort Lauderdale in the USA, that her fortunes began to change. Finishing in fourth place today at 1231GMT (1331BST) was Britain’s sole entry, Silk Cut, skippered by Lymington’s Lawrie Smith. This boat has always had so much potential and proved it when they smashed the 24 hour monohull world record on Leg Two, logging 449.1 nautical miles. A dismasting on Leg 5 whilst they were well up with the leaders ended their chance of overall victory in the Race but a win on Leg 6 raised crew morale and proved that this boat and crew was well capable of putting the pressure on EF Language. Finishing second on Leg 8 put them right back in contention but earning 70 points for this leg just wasn’t enough to raise them to the podium and instead they finished fifth overall. A disappointing finish in fifth place was Swedish Match (Gunnar Krantz/Erle Williams). Starting the leg in second place overall, it was always going to be a high pressure leg for this crew who knew they had so much to lose. The crossed the line at 1251GMT (1351BST)and scored 60 points, dropping them down the overall order to fifth place, just three points behind Innovation Kvaerner. The first of the two American entries, Toshiba skippered jointly by the famous Dennis Conner and Britain’s Paul Standbridge crossed the line at 1256GMT (1356BST) This boat began the race as one of the favourites but after a lack-lustre performance on Leg One, skipper Chris Dickson resigned and Standbridge was appointed in his place. With much to prove, Standbridge immediately improved the boat’s position by scoring a third place on the Leg Two, the first Southern Ocean leg. But a fluctuating performance led to a sixth on the next leg, followed by a second on Leg Four with Dennis Conner onboard . Two bad results followed and the crew had to wait until Leg Eight before they finally scored a leg win. Sixth place today earned them 50 points giving them 548 which leaves them trailing in seventh place. The Dutch boat, BrunelSunergy (Roy Heiner) finished in seventh place at 1257GMT (1357BST). This crew know what is like to be on the podium having been second on Leg 5 and winning Leg 7, but a string of less good results has left them in struggling in eighth overall. Seventh place today earned them 40 points, giving them a finish score of 415.
The Volvo Trophy Positions At GMT (Provisional)
For further information, contact Lizzie Green or Heather Dallas at the Whitbread Race Office on Tel +44-1489 799000, Fax +44-1489 790153, Mobile Heather 0411 661 862, Lizzie 0411 661 864 Email lizzie@whitbread.org, heather@whitbread.org. Photographs can be obtained from Allsport. Contact Chris Beeson on Tel +44-181-685 1010, Fax+44-181-648 5240, email:cbeeson@allsport.co.uk.
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