2002 - a year in sailing pt1

James Boyd looks back at the first quarter

Another year has shot by and with it a Volvo Ocean Race, a Route du Rhum, the bulk of a Louis Vuitton Cup and some incredible events, performances, disasters and thankfully precious few tragedies. Over these few pages we bring you the highlights from the first quarter of 2002.

The new year kicked off with the Volvo Ocean Race midway through their leg from Sydney to Auckland, taking in the Sydney-Hobart Race. Having taken over the helm of Assa Abloy from the deposed Roy Heiner, Neal McDonald seemed to have the bit firmly between his teeth and was first into Hobart. From there, and despite an intensinal complication from crewman and boatbuilder Jason Carrington, he proceeded to lead the fleet into Auckland. Once docked tension was noticably growing within the campaigns with a round of protests followed by several key personnel changes. We spoke to Tyco's sailmaker extraordinaire Grant 'Fuzz' Spanhake.

Soon after their arrival in Auckland Oracle dropped a rig while out training in the Hauraki Gulf. Down the road at OneWorld there was one unhappy Laser Gold medallist. Ben Ainslie quit OneWorld and we were the first to reveal that Ben was going back on the Olympic campaign trail - but this time in a Finn.

More controversial was the announcement by the French Le Defi Areva team that they had got on board a major sponsor - from the nuclear industry. Meanwhile Team Dennis Conner were launching the first of their new boats - USA-66. John Greenland gave his assessment of the impressive America's Cup bases while Nigel Cherrie caught up the sole (former) Brit on Prada's sailing team, Andy Hemming.

On the other side of the planet, London Boat Show was underway. Ellen MacArthur announced her five year plan and the continuation of her sponsorship with high street retail giant Kingfisher. Ed Gorman gave his views on this and later found out from Ecover skipper Mike Golding was it was like to live in the shadow of Ellen. James Boyd caught up with Offshore Challenges' new recruit Nick Moloney.

At the British Nautical Awards, Ellen was once again Yachtsman of the Year and girls seemed to be picking up all the major prizes - with the exception of one! madforsailing (the previous incarnation of The Daily Sail) picked up the Sealine Media Award - the first website ever to do so...

We spoke to Paul Larsen about his new speed sailing project and had a look at a new mini-America's Cupper. Gerald New looked at the new Taz from Topper and the Spectrum from Porter Brothers. We reviewed the new JS9000 sportsboat from Australia.

Much to amazement of many, RORC announced that their coveted Admiral's Cup was moving to Ireland. Ed Gorman gave his views. There were murmurings of discontent by some of the main players involved and subsequently rumours about a rival event. Peter Bentley tried to put his finger on what an IMS600 actually is.

Our favourite story of the year involved the demolition of a trimaran - by a train. This subsequently spawned the ' Disaster' section on The Daily Sail.

Donning our techie anoraks, we looked at the revolutionary canting ballast twin foils system San Diego-based designers Reichel-Pugh are pushing.

Following Howie Hamblin's win - yes, an American - at the JJ Giltinan Trophy for the 18ft skiffs in Sydney, Andy Rice caught up with the key players.



Back in the UK Andy also interviewed 505 and 14 champion, Tornado coach and HISC boss Tim Hancock. Gerald New had a long hard look at the Enterprise class.

No winter would be complete without a crack on the Jules Verne Trophy. Bruno Peyron revealed his new crew and Orange, as the new sponsor, for his maxi-cat Innovation Explorer.



In the build up to leg four of the Volvo Ocean Race we spoke to some of the first time crew such as Emma Westmacott and Chris Nicholson about what life is really like on board the VO60s in the Southern Ocean and how they stay in shape. There were new crew on SEB, including the return of watch leader David Rolfe, while two of Hamble's finest stepped on board Amer Sports Too. Emma Richards and Miranda Merron spoke to James Boyd about their new appointments.

However they were all upstaged by the arrival of Mr Slick himself, Paul Cayard on the boys' boat. Ed Gorman gave an amusing account of Cayard and Dalts sailing together. James Boyd gave his views on what could be done to improve the VOR and previewed the forthcoming leg to Rio. Ed Gorman reported from the start in Auckland and spoke to Grant Dalton prior to the departure.

With a whole bunch of new 60ft trimarans being built for the Route du Rhum, there were worries in France about escalating costs. James Boyd got the views of Fujifilm skipper Loick Peyron. We looked at the new Irens design for Fred le Peutrec Bayer CropScience and for Baron Rothschild's new Gitana X.

The first drama in the Volvo Ocean Race's second Southern Ocean leg occurred when SEB skipper Gunnar Krantz managed to accidently slash one of his wrists open. It took the boats six days before getting the strong westerlies and by day eight race leader illbruck had pulled into first.

There was some real fear in the Volvo fleet at this stage about the threat of ice. News Corp had a glancing blow with a berg as did Amer One. Then SEB's rig broke during a severe broach - alarmingly thanks to her twin hatchways Southern Ocean came pouring in down below. "A giant hand pulled us over" recounted Gunnar Krantz.



Iain Percy reported in his unique way about his progress Star training in Miami and this was followed in much the same vein by an update by Shirley Robertson's bow-woman Sam Davies. We spoke to the RYA's Olympic Manager Stephen Park.

We were sponsoring the Winter Classics series and Gerard New shared his collection of snaps from the Weston Warm-Up, news from the Hoo Freezer and rounded up the series. Ges also looked at some modifications being made to the RS800 and took an in-depth look at the National 12 class.

In our singlehanded sailing week Ed Gorman explained why singlehanded offshore is his favourite form of yacht racing (not to do, but to follow...) James Boyd looked at the singlehanding dilemma and its (il)legalities and what could be done to assist the plight of solo sailors in the UK. We went under the skin of the singlehanded offshore one design class - the Figaro.



By early February Orange was up in Brest and by the 9th had 'gone amber' on her Jules Verne attempt. Crewman Nick Moloney brought us up to date with their progress while skipper Bruno Peyron gave James Boyd his thoughts about the impending voyage. However when they came to leave on 14 February there was disaster when the masthead broke. Nick Moloney described what happened.

On 10 February illbruck rounded Cape Horn with a 62 mile lead over Amer Sports One. Once round the Horn the boats found themselves going into the teeth of a gale. Andy Rice spoke to three time Laser World champion Glenn Bourke, about his background and running the illbruck team. John Greenland accosted djuice dragons skipper Knut Frostad about whether his Davidson really was off the pace.

Despite being out of the Southern Ocean, disaster stuck News Corp when her rudder snapped off, it was thought due to earlier damage by the ice. illbruck had pulled out a 100 mile lead, but approaching the finish in Rio they were running out of wind. Yet they clung on and crossed the line in first place to score their third win out of four legs. Remarkably - and no doubt spurred on by John Greenland's article - djuice came second. The News Corp team described what it was like sailing with a jury rudder while the girls on Amer Sports Too who had some of the worst weather described how they'd got on.

James Boyd reviewed the leg, but one of the most enlightening interviews was News Corp's Gordon McGuire talking about racing through the ice - and specifically how he was never going to do it again (yeah, see you in four years Gordon).



As Ian Walker was officially appointed 'skipper', we spoke to GBR Challenge's warm up helmsman Andy Beadsworth. On their first day of the International Regatta GBR Challenge was dogged by gear failure but on 14 February they won their first race. But the overall winners were Team New Zealand. OneWorld navigator Mark Chisnell looked back at the regatta.

Probably the most controversial document of the year was Sean Reeves' affidavit accusing seven of his former colleagues of breaches in the America's Cup protocol. These were immediately refuted by OneWorld. The scandal widened with a statement from Team Dennis Conner's Bill Trenkle. In Auckland Stars & Stripes lost the rig on one of their training boats.

Michael Illbruck spoke to Andy Rice about their desparate bid for the America's Cup while Ed Gorman discussed the Oracle campaign with Peter Holmberg (this was shortly before Chris Dickson was relegated within the campaign) and the progress of the new Alinghi team with Russell Coutts. Holmberg subsequently proved his skill winning the Steinlager Line 7 match racing in Auckland.

As Orange was having her mast repaired, on 18 February Olivier de Kersauson set sail on his Jules Verne record attempt aboard his maxi-trimaran Geronimo. The big tri got off to a flying start and was quickly eating up the miles but got slowed up approaching the Equator. It wasn't until 27 February that Geronimo finally crossed into the southern hemisphere. De Kersauson vented his frustration on their progress. Then on 1 March he announced their retirement due to severe rudder cavitation problems. There was some talk about them restarting but de Kersauson then decided to postpone.

Back in the UK, the big news in the G-class fleet was the announcement of Tracy Edwards' purchase of Grant Dalton's maxicat Club Med to be renamed Maiden 2. James Boyd spoke to Edwards about her plans and the possibility of a round the world match race with Ellen MacArthur.

Peter Bentley looked at the prospects within the British Olympic squad and specifically at the singlehanders, the doublehanders and the keelboats. Iain Percy wrote to us prior to the start of the Star's Bacardi Cup.

Prior to the Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace Gerald New previewed the new 59er (below) while Peter Bentley gave his opinion about the state of dinghy sailing and John Greenland looked at the complex decision between taking up professional sailing and continuing education. We looked at the Formula 16 catamaran class. Gerald New gave his impressions from the show.



At the Dinghy show James Boyd caught up with Hugh Styles and Adam May to discuss their plans for a fresh British challenge to the Little America's Cup. The Tornado experts also gave their views on development in the Olympic cat class following the new modifications to the class. Christian Fevrier and Karren May's new BlueGreen photographic agency shared their back catalogue of Little America's Cup images.



Orange finally set off again with her newly repaired mast on 2 March. For the first days they averaged an impressive 20.5 knots. However like de Kersauson they were slowed approaching the Equator. Once into the South Atlantic they were racking up the miles again and on 12 March notched up their first 500+ mile day. But this was short lived in what was to be a start-stop record trip.

In Auckland the America's Cup challengers were racing in a strange race that wasn't officially a race (hence no results). However GBR Challenge took a race off Prada. John Roberson sent his report from Auckland while French photographer Thierry Martinez sent us some photos of the action. It was revealed at this point that Peter Harrison's GBR Challenge would be building a second boat. After Team New Zealand's success in February's regatta, Alinghi were showing their dominance in the challenger series. Illbruck threw in the towel with their AC campaign on 13 March.



Prior to the start of leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race Andy Rice gave he views on what might happen from here and spoke to former winner Paul Cayard about the race. Illbruck watch leader Stu Bannatyne provided the insiders view on the German team's progress. We caught up with Amer Sports Too's new navigator Miranda Merron to find out about her first experience in the Volvo Ocean Race, Peter Bentley previewed the fifth leg north from Rio to Miami. The leg got underway on 9 March. News Corp's Ross Field brought us up to date with their progress and we spoke to Grant Dalton.

After the start there was a collision between SEB and illbruck - illbruck's Jamie Gale gave his views on it. Into the leg there was a three way match race for first place, before the split fleet in three. There was slow progress heading north but by 15 March the boats were past Recife. John Greenland spoke to Chris Nicholson and Freddie Loof about their transition from Olympic yachting to the Volvo.

Peter Bentley took a critical look at ISAF's new sailor classification system and caught up with gold medallist Shirley Robertson about her Yngling campaign. He also commented upon Paul Henderson's plans for change within the Olympic classes. Andy Rice caught up with Laser sailing legend Robert Scheidt.

This year was the Cherub class' 50th anniversary. In a slight departure from our normal coverage we spoke to 14 and 470 sailor Graham Nelson about his 60knot experience on an ice yacht. Nelson subsequently reported back from the DN Ice Yachting World Championships.

Still in the South Atlantic Orange was being stumped by a second encounter with a high pressure system. Finally by 18 March they were into the strong westerlies of the Southern Ocean and by 20 March had passed the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope. Despite their set-backs Orange set a new record between Ushant and the Cape. In the Southern Ocean she was basking in the conditions and at times was hitting speeds of 40 knots. However then the conditions became storm force.

Meanwhile back in the UK Steve Fossett had established a new record for the Fastnet race course.

John Greenland caught up with Tyco's Gerry Mitchell and Tim Powell. Once into the Northern hemisphere illbruck seemed to change a gear and pulled out a lead. Heading up to pass the turning mark of Barbuda, it seemed to be all about reaching speed - good fun sailing reported illbruck's Jamie Gale. Remarkably approaching Miami Assa Abloy took over the lead which they hung on to.

Grant Dalton have his impressions of what was a disappointing leg for Amer Sports One.
SEB arrived with a large chunk of her bow missing following her collision with illbruck shortly after the start. Remarkably the Swedish team were not penalised.

Aboard his new Finn Ben Ainslie put in a strong start at the Princess Sofia Trophy in Palma, meanwhile his former Laser sparring partner Paul Goodison was also showing good form. The regatta was soured by the drowning of Austrian Tornado sailor Johannes Haeupl.

Return on Monday to read about what happened in the second quarter of 2002.