RACE FIVE 1989-­‐90 Winner Division A Steinlager 2 Skipper Peter Blake/NZL Boat Farr Maxi Ketch Flag New Zealand Elapsed time 128.09.40.30 Winner Division C Equity & Law II Skipper Dirk Nauta/NED Boat Judel/Vrolijk 63' sloop Flag The Netherlands Elapsed time 148.23.50.33 Winner Division D L'Esprit de Liberté Skipper Patrick Tabarly/FRA Boat Philippe Briand 58' sloop Flag France Elapsed time 164.21.36.16 Winner Cruising Division Creighton's Naturally Skipper John Chittenden/GBR Boat Peterson/Alan-­‐Williams maxi sloop Flag Great Britain Elapsed time 162.06.34.58 COURSE Leg 1 Southampton -­‐ Punta del Este Leg 2 Punta del Este -­‐ Fremantle Leg 3 Fremantle -­‐ Auckland Leg 4 Auckland -­‐ Punta del Este Leg 5 Punta del Este -­‐ Fort Lauderdale Leg 6 Fort Lauderdale -­‐ Southampton Distance 32,018 nm Entries 23 boats START DATE LEG DISTANCE WINNER 02-­‐Sep-­‐89 5,938 Steinlager 2 28-­‐Oct-­‐89 7,260 Steinlager 2 23-­‐Dec-­‐89 3,272 Steinlager 2 04-­‐Feb-­‐89 6,255 Steinlager 2 17-­‐Mar-­‐89 5,475 Steinlager 2 05-­‐May-­‐90 3,818 Steinlager 2 1989-­‐90 Overview • Two boats did not complete the course. • Three were dismasted. • The competition was divided into four level rating divisions and the handicap structure was scrapped. • A cruising division was run for the first and only time. • Steinlager 2 won every leg in the maxi division and was the winner overall. •
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It was the last race in which Peter Blake took part. He had raced in the first five races. Tracy Edwards and her crew became the first all-­‐female team to compete in the race onboard Maiden, the former Disque D’Or II. The Duchess of York, who was then the wife of HRH Prince Andrew, christened Maiden. Maiden won two of the three Southern Ocean legs in Division D. The British military combined to enter the maxi yacht British Satquote Defender. It was the last time the British services had an entry in the race. HRH Prince Philip christened the yacht at London’s Tower Bridge. Fazisi became the first entry from the USSR. Her co-­‐skipper was American Skip Novak who had sailed in three previous races. Fazisi was flown to the UK in an Antonov 124, at the time, the world’s biggest transport aircraft. Alexei Grischenko, the co-­‐skipper of Fazisi committed suicide during the first stopover in Punta del Este, Uruguay. Yanne Gustafsson, a crewmember from The Card, was killed in Punta del Este in a motorbike accident. Tony Philips was lost from Creighton’s Naturally during Leg 2. Charles Jourdan collided with a whale on Leg 3. The Card lost her mizzenmast when it became entangled with a spectator boat at the start of Leg 4. She continued the leg as a sloop. America (Ft Lauderdale) hosted the race for the first time. Leg 1 Southampton to Punta del Este Twenty-­‐three boats met on the start line for the fifth Whitbread, 17 of which were maxis. Although the race still applied time allowances, four divisions separated the entries and the Whitbread Trophies were now for the first boat to finish in each class, rather than the overall winner on corrected time. Two yachts dominated the race. Both had extremely experienced skippers with a record of previous Whitbread races behind them. Steinlager 2, skippered by Peter Blake and Fisher & Paykel was skippered by Grant Dalton, Blake’s watch leader from the previous race. Steinlager 2’s speeds were awesome and, assisted by helpful winds, Blake’s crew soon set a new record covering 343 miles in 24 hours. Fisher & Paykel arrived in Punta del Este without their mizzenmast after a backstay fitting failed. The crew had salvaged the wreckage and sailed on without telling anyone. Steinlager 2 won Leg 1 in Division A, beating Merit by 12 hours and Fisher & Paykel by 30. The leg duration, anticipated to be 30 days, turned out to be a whole week less. Rothmans arrived fourth with a cracked deck. As the only competitor in Division C, Equity & Law II won her division, and L’Esprit de Liberté won Division D. Alexei Grischenko, co-­‐skipper Fazisi went missing during the stopover in Punta del Este. He had committed suicide. Another crew death was caused by a motorcycle accident: the victim was Janne Gustafsson from The Card. Leg 3 Punta del Este to Fremantle During the layover in Punta del Este, Rothmans skipper, Lawrie Smith two crew from NCB Ireland to bolster his team; the project manager of L’Esprit de Liberté ran off with £100,000 and the crew's passports; and the skipper of British Satquote Defender was sacked. Within minutes of the start, the wind rose to 40 knots and the temperature dropped. As the fleet headed south on Great Circle route, Union Bank of Finland had two frightening broaches among ice, which caused her to sail more cautiously at night. The boats had radar, but not all icebergs were able to be located. The crews were nervous as they surfed at high speeds on the edge of control. During a broach, one of the crew from The Card broke his arm in two places, while the bowman on Fortuna Extra Lights broke his collarbone when the spinnaker pole slammed him into the forestay. On Creighton’s Naturally, during a violent broach Bart van den Dwey and Tony Phillips, were swept overboard. Both men were wearing lifejackets and equipped with flares and personal radio beacons, but the recovery still took more than 45 minutes. Van den Dwey was resuscitated, but Tony Phillips was buried at sea. Spinnaker poles and booms, arms and legs, breakages were rife and it was only after the Kerguelen Islands that things began to quieten down, though not before Fortuna Extra Lights had created a new 24-­‐hour record of 405 miles. At the approach to the finish in Fremantle, only 22 nautical miles separated leading maxis, Steinlager 2, Rothmans, Merit and Fisher & Paykel. Steinlager 2 crossed the line first, 90 minutes in front. Rothmans and Merit staged a match-­‐race for second place, Rothmans beating Merit by 28 seconds after 27 days of racing. A week later, Maiden crossed the line first in Division D, achieving the best result for a British boat in the Whitbread for 12 years. Leg 3 Fremantle to Auckland For the second time, Christmas was spent at sea and the fleet ploughed straight back into gale force conditions and heavy seas. Beyond the Tasman Sea, the winds calmed and the leaderboard offered a new scenario with every position report. With 245 miles to the finish, nine miles separated the first three boats. Steinlager 2 led Fisher & Paykel by four miles, with Rothmans third and Merit just 11 miles behind. Charles Jourdan collided with a whale, leaving a three-­‐metre gash in the hull. It was above the waterline so the French crew patched it up and carried on. Union Bank of Finland dismasted and reached Auckland under jury rig. On the final approach to Auckland, Grant Dalton turned off the navigation lights of Fisher & Paykel after she rounded the North Cape. Meanwhile, onboard Steinlager 2, Blake tuned into the local radio channel to get some idea of the conditions around Auckland, a move that prompted a change of sail that gave Steinlager 2 a smooth passage through a ferocious 40-­‐knot squall. Fisher & Paykel was still flying her spinnaker and lost time as the crew reconfigured, allowing their rivals to stretch their lead to a mile. Steinlager 2 enjoyed a rapturous welcome as she crossed the line less than six minutes ahead of Fisher & Paykel to win her third straight leg in Division A. Three days later Maiden crossed the line to win her second leg in Division D. Around 14,000 people gathered on the dockside to welcome Maiden, even though it was 0100. Leg 4 Auckland to Punta del Este Concerns over the congestion in Auckland at the start were realised when The Card’s mizzenmast became entangled with the rigging of one of the thousands of spectator boats and snapped. The team continued to sail the leg as a sloop. Rucanor Sport retired from the leg and returned to Auckland after she collided with a whale and damaged her rudder. On Maiden Mikaela von Kuskull was knocked unconscious by the boom then Michelle Paret was hurled into the wheel by a massive wave. Claire Russell, the doctor, strapped Paret into a bunk and kept her there for four days. Steinlager 2 and Fisher & Paykel rounded Cape Horn just five miles apart. A few days later, off the coast of Argentina Martela OF capsized when her keel fell off. The crew was rescued unscathed from the upturned hull by Merit and Charles Jourdan. The boat was later salvaged. Once more, Steinlager 2 tipped over the line first in Division A, this time by 21 minutes. The incapacity of Paret on Maiden cost the all-­‐female crew the overall lead in Division D and by the time she arrived in Punta in third place, L’Esprit de Liberté had posted a 17-­‐hour advantage. Leg 5 Punta del Este to Fort Lauderdale Leaving Punta del Este, Rothman’s took a more easterly course and led for much of the way to the Doldrums, but her lead evaporated when an unusual weather system gave boats to the west of Rothmans a surge of speed, Steinlager 2 and Fisher & Paykel included. For the rest of the leg, it was a two-­‐boat show with Steinlager 2 making it five Division A leg victories in five with a 34-­‐minute win over Fisher & Paykel. A navigational error on Maiden saw her fall behind Rucanor Sport and L’Esprit de Liberté and she achieved a disappointing fourth place in Division D. During the 30-­‐day stopover a conference for competitors, designers, yachting officials, sponsors and journalists was held where discussions began on the feasibility and desire for a new class of racing yacht. Leg 6 Fort Lauderdale to Southampton The final leg was only 12 hours old when Gatorade reported a broken spreader, which forced her into Jacksonville to make repairs. A few hours later, Rothmans headed Georgetown, calling on two Lear jets to fly in parts to fix a broken shroud. On day four, a chain plate holding the main mast and mizzen shroud failed onboard Steinlager 2, forcing helmsman Brad Butterworth to crash gybe to save the rig. But skipper Peter Blake was determined to continue even though the mast was in danger of coming down and his crew spent all night working on a new fitting that would keep them going at full speed to the finish. Maiden also ran into difficulty, colliding with a whale and then being spun 360 degrees by a waterspout, while the top part of Satquote British Defender’s mast fell off. For good measure, NCB Ireland broke a running backstay and the headboard car onboard Merit failed. Four days from the finish, the crews from Steinlager 2 and Fisher & Paykel could see each other and just before Land’s End, the match racing between them began. Off the Lizard, they were within three boat lengths of each other, the lead held by Steinlager 2. Fisher & Paykel arrived in Southampton 36 minutes behind Steinlager 2. Six wins in six legs gave Steinlager 2 the Division A Whitbread Trophy, Blake’s first win in five attempts on the race. As Maiden neared land, she was constantly overflown. The culmination was a massive welcome, virtually national, at Southampton. Peter Blake was awarded an OBE for his sailing endeavours and bowed out of the Whitbread Race. Tracy Edwards too was recognised with an MBE for her remarkable achievements in finishing second in Division D. Only two boats, Martela OF and Rucanor Sport failed to complete the course.