Kingfisher wins EDS

After a tense, anything could happen finale into St Malo

Following the rig troubles Moloney was devasted. "I felt disappointment with myself because of the rig problems. We pushed a little too hard one evening and paid the price the next morning. I thought I'd blown it and hadn't made the right decisions. But after backing off it made everyone that much hungrier."

Aside from the unfortunate problems encountered by Fila, Kingfisher's Australian navigator Adrienne Cahalan said that their break in taking the lead had come when the wind came in from behind causing a concertinaing of the fleet as the front runners fell into an area of light winds. Truly in the style of the great Kiwi navigator Mike Quilter they had made a plan prior to the start of the leg and had stuck to it. For example for the opening part of the leg they took a northerly route. "I'm a great believer in making all the decisions before you leave the beach because when you get out to sea you become tired and irrational. We were pretty much ready for anything which might come our way."

Most surprising was that in the closing stage Kingfisher did not carry out the normal technique of covering the rest of the fleet. "It was light and shifty so you had to sail your own race," commented Cahalan. "If you worried about the others you might get on the wrong side of a shift. We had to have real confidence." She added that coming from behind and with their dominance in the overall results they could afford a more aggressive approach.

On the approach to the English Channel when the westerly sleighride was coming to a close they noticed a depression forming off the French coast and headed for a waypoint off the north Brittany coast. It was then a case of making the best of the tides on the final run into St Malo.

Moloney said that racing Kingfisher in the heavy reaching conditions that he had been looking forward to from the start of the race had lived up to his expectations. "The sailing was very very powerful. We sustained 25 knots and Herve Jan popped over 30. It was what we were all living for. We were scooping up water and it was putting everyone in the green room." Moloney would not commit to whether a Volvo Ocean 60 would have been faster or slower on this leg.

The main difference he said would be the number of crew to handle any 'situations'. "You don't have the people. If you get heavily overcanvassed you can get into trouble so quickly. Two people or even five is not enough to control these boats. With 12 guys to call on you can get rid of the equipment quickly."

Moloney now has his sites set on the next Vendee Globe and in the meantime must wait to hear if he will be able to race Kingfisher in the two handed Transat Jacques Vabre at the start of November. Ellen MacArthur who handed over the reigns of Kingfisher for the last two legs will be racing on Alain Gautier's trimaran Fonciain this event and at the ORMA Grand Prix in Fecamps and Belgium.