1997–1998 Whitbread Round the World Race

The 1997–98 Whitbread Round the World Race was the seventh edition of the around-the-world sailing event Whitbread Round the World Race. The Whitbread Round the World Race ran for the first time with all W60 boats and to a "points vs time" (instead of aggregate leg time) scoring system to enhance the value of the shorter race legs.

1997–98
Whitbread Round the World Race
Event title
Edition7th
YachtsWhitbread 60
Competitors
Competitors10
Results
WinnerEF Language

Also, in an effort to attract additional media coverage, the Whitbread race committee divided the race into no less than 9 legs for the 1997 to 1998 race, therefore increasing the number of ports visited.

Volvo had its first major association with the race in 1997 to 1998 by sponsoring the trophy (thus the race was officially known as the Whitbread 'round the world race for the Volvo Trophy) and some of the media coverage. For the first time running to W60-only specification, this year's Whitbread attracted just 10 entries—the fewest to date.

Participants

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Boat Nation Designer Skipper
America's Challenge   United States Alan Andrews   Ross Field
Brunel Sunergy   Netherlands Judel/Vrolijk   Roy Heiner
Chessie Racing   United States Farr Yacht Design   George Collins
EF Education   Sweden Farr Yacht Design   Christine Guillou
EF Language   Sweden Farr Yacht Design   Paul Cayard
Innovation Kvaerner   Norway Farr Yacht Design   Knut Frostad
Merit Cup   Monaco Farr Yacht Design   Grant Dalton
Silk Cut   United Kingdom Farr Yacht Design   Lawrie Smith
Swedish Match   Sweden Farr Yacht Design   Gunnar Krantz
Toshiba   United States Farr Yacht Design   Dennis Conner
  Paul Standbridge

America's Challenge

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Led by Neil Barth and skippered by Ross Field, the team bought Yamaha before building America’s Challenge.[1] The team struggled for funding and withdrew from the race in Cape Town.[2][3] The crew included a group of New Zealanders, including Jared Henderson, and the UK's Matthew Humphries.

Brunel Sunergy

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Skippered for the first six legs by Hans Bouscholte, the crew included Gerald Rogivue and Peter van Niekerk. Because of bad results, Hans Bouscholte was replaced by the Team director Roy Heiner in the last three legs.[4]

Chessie Racing

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Skippered by 57-year-old George Collins, the crew included John Kostecki, Juan Vila, Gavin Brady and Ken Read.[5]

EF Education and EF Language

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EF Language was skippered by Paul Cayard and included a core crew from his AmericaOne challenge for the 2000 America's Cup.[5] Lawrie Smith was originally intended to lead the boat, until transferring to Silk Cut. The crew included Steven Erickson and Magnus Olsson

The team's second boat, EF Education, had an all-female crew and was led by French woman Christine Guillou and included Isabelle Autissier. Leslie Egnot joined the crew on leg 4.[5]

Innovation Kvaerner

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Skippered by Knut Frostad, the crew included Marcel van Triest, Ross Halcrow, Tony Rae, Ed Baird, Torben Grael and Pierre Mas.

Merit Cup

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Merit Cup was a Monaco flagged boat skippered by Grant Dalton. One of only two team's that built two boats, the crew included watch captain Kevin Shoebridge, Ian Stewart, Mike Sanderson, Jeremy Lomas, Dirk de Ridder, Ray Davies and Mike Quilter.[5]

Silk Cut

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Led by Lawrie Smith, Silk Cut was the last boat in the fleet designed by Bruce Farr. The crew included Jez Fanstone, Neil Graham, Gordon Maguire, Neal McDonald, Jan Dekker and Stu Bannatyne.[5]

Swedish Match

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Swedish Match was skippered by Gunnar Krantz and included Roger Nilson and Erle Williams.[5] Matthew Humphries joined the crew following the withdrawal of America's Challenge.

Toshiba

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Led by Dennis Conner and Paul Standbridge, Toshiba was originally skippered by Chris Dickson but Dickson was fired after Leg 1.[6] Other crew members included Ross MacDonald, Murray Ross, Chris Ward, Alan Smith and Kelvin Harrap.

The crew had 13 Whitbread and 28 America's Cup campaigns between them.[5]

Route

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Event Start date Start Finish Distance (nmi)
Leg 1 21 September 1997   Southampton   Cape Town 7,340
Leg 2 11 November 1997   Cape Town   Fremantle 4,600
Leg 3 13 December 1997   Fremantle   Sydney 2,250
Leg 4 4 January 1998   Sydney   Auckland 1,270
Leg 5 1 February 1998   Auckland   São Sebastião 6,670
Leg 6 14 March 1998   São Sebastião   Fort Lauderdale 4,750
Leg 7 19 April 1998   Fort Lauderdale   Baltimore 870
Leg 8 3 May 1998   Baltimore   La Rochelle 3,390
Leg 9 22 May 1998   La Rochelle   Southampton 450

Leg Results

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# Boat Leg 1
 
 
Leg 2
 
 
Leg 3
 
 
Leg 4
 
 
Leg 5
 
 
Leg 6
 
 
Leg 7
 
 
Leg 8
 
 
Leg 9
 
 
Total
1 EF Language 125 72 105 70 135 101 81 55 92 836
2 Merit Cup 110 48 70 105 78 66 50 66 105 698
3 Swedish Match 36 125 92 60 91 89 92 44 60 689
4 Innovation Kvaerner 97 110 60 40 65 77 70 33 81 633
5 Silk Cut 84 84 40 50 26
DNF
115 60 101 70 630
6 Chessie Racing 72 60 81 81 105 55 40 89 30 613
7 Toshiba 60 97 50 92 0
DSQ
44 20
PEN
115 50 528
8 Brunel Sunergy 12 24 30 30 119 33 105 22 40 415
9 EF Education 24 36 20 20 26
DNF
22 30 77 20 275
10 America's Challenge 48 0
DNS
0
DNS
0
DNS
0
DNS
0
DNS
0
DNS
0
DNS
0
DNS
48

Overall Results

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Pos Sail Number Yacht Country Yacht Type LOA
(Metres)
Skipper Points
1 SWE 13000 EF Language   Sweden Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 Paul Cayard 836
2 MON 700 Merit Cup   Monaco Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 Grant Dalton 698
3 SWE 2000 Swedish Match   Sweden Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 Gunnar Krantz 689
4 NOR 2 Innovation Kvaerner   Norway Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 Knut Frostad 633
5 GBR 1 Silk Cut   Great Britain Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 Lawrie Smith 630
6 USA 60 Chessie Racing   United States Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 George Collins 613
7 USA 1 Toshiba   United States Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 Dennis Conner
Chris Dickson
Paul Standbridge
528
8 NED 11 Brunel Sunergy   Netherlands Judel Vrolijk Whitbread 60 19.51 Hans Bouscholte
Roy Heiner
415
9 SWE 300000 EF Education   Sweden Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 Christine Guillou 275
10 USA 11 America's Challenge   United States Andrews Whitbread 60 19.51 Ross Field 48
References:[7][8]

References

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  1. ^ "Whitbread 60 "Challenger" Whitbread Round the World Race | Miramar Sailing".
  2. ^ Volvo Ocean Race: History 1997–1998 – Leg 2
  3. ^ "Spartan Ocean Racing - Race Yacht Charter". www.spartanoceanracing.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2016.
  4. ^ "16609 Text Pages_il.qxd" (PDF). Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "A Whitbread wake-up call". Yachting. 1 October 1997 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Volvo Ocean Race: History 1997–1998
  7. ^ Histoiredeshalfs. "WOR60-VOR60-VO70=V065 Alphabetic List".
  8. ^ "The Entries", Yachting, 181 (10), 1997
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