2001 - a yachting odyssey pt4

Gerald New rounds off this series with a look at what was in the news in the last three months of the year

Remember the Admiral's Cup ? Ed Gorman did and went looking - asking some searching questions about where it has gone and if it's coming back.

Fourth place in the Finn Gold Cup at the age of 19 is also quite an achievement. Lynsey Thomas assessed the rising stars of British Finn sailing. Also there was the champion of champions competition at the Endeavour Trophy to round out the dinghy season, and Chips Howarth won the inaugural Musto Skiff European Championship on a photogenic Lake Garda.

With the end of the dinghy championship season madforsailing compiled a hit parade of climbers and fallers in the dinghy world and compared it with previous years to see just where the action is and which class was Top Gun or Gone With The Wind.

After the Vendee Globe, the EDS Atlantic Challenge of the summer and with the Mini Transat still on the water James Boyd met Sir Robin Knox-Johnston to discuss next year's Around Alone. While The Race organisation have announced that the Race 2 will start in February 2004 falling the year between the AC and Vendee Globe. It will also be open to giant monohulls as Peyron revealed recently to madforsailing.

Plenty of wind and a fast boat are a recipe for fun at any time so the opportunity to test Laser's new and as yet unnamed prototype in more then 25 knots of breeze was too good to miss. Based on the test boat, it looks like Laser have another winner on their hands. To even out the playing field we also had a look at the RS K6 this seasons flyer from LDC.

Grant Dalton could not quite believe his luck as once again the rich get richer in the Volvo Ocean Race. But it was a false dawn and there was a lot of water to pass under the keels before John Kostecki and his jubilant crew on illbruck Challenge flew into Cape Town harbour - first home in the Volvo Ocean Race's leg one.

Despite leading for the last week Grant Dalton was unable to fend off the Californian's relentless advances and lost the lead at midnight in a memorable finale to a most unusual leg.



After more than a month at sea Amer Sport One and illbruck flew into Cape Town just two hours apart. But neither Dalts nor Ed Gorman think that this result is indicative of what is going on in the fleet. Dalton's Amer Sports One may have lost the battle, but they were certainly still in the running to win the war. Finishing only two hours behind the pre-race favourites after entering the race so late was a tribute to Dalts' vast ocean racing experience.

A second protest against John Kostecki's illbruck Challenge might have been expected from one of her competitors keen to rein in the pre-race favourite. The fact that the accusation of wrong doing came from one of the class measurers means that it must be viewed in a serious light - but not too serious as the first protest against illbruckover internet usage was withdrawn by Assa Abloy and for the second the German boat was fined just £1,000 for being out of class.

Olympic 49er star Paul Brotherton looked at how to get a ride on a big boat and had advise on where to find out the basics of sailing, and another 49er (former) helm only moments into his Star campaign Ian Barker managed to trash his first rig, but he found his ideal partner in 6ft 8in tall man mountain Ed Peel. and we reported Iain Percy's and Ian Barker's foray in the Stars,

Outrageously Brian Thompson was pipped at the post by 27 minutes into the Salvador, Brazil finish of the Mini Transat. Winner of both legs is the formidable Yannick Bestaven, while top placed Brit is likely to be Simon Curwen. To make up for Brian Thompson's disappointment not to win the second leg of the Mini Transat, Simon Curwen has come in second overall in the race. madforsailing correspondent Sam Davies was the first woman to finish on leg 2.



Ellen again, the Volvo runs and runs, Sir Peter Blake murdered.......