Around Alone update

Dates are finalised, but not an exact course

Above, the Open 60 Fila , which won the last Around Alone with Giovanni Soldini at the helm

The schedule for next year's singlehanded round the world race, Around Alone, has now been released, although some of the stopovers remain to be confirmed.

As we have previously reported, the start and finish is to return to Newport, Rhode Island, the spiritual home of the event, although the boats will be based in nearby Providence prior to the start and after the finish.

Organisers Clipper Ventures state Torbay as the preferred UK stopover, but say that this has yet to be confirmed. It is unclear at present whether this refers to Brixham Marina. Similarly a deal has yet to be finalised in New Zealand where the toss up is between Wellington and Auckland.

Clipper Ventures have stated that they will enforce the rule introduced for last Around Alone which states that yachts must arrive in port five days prior to the restart otherwise they will be disqualified. The idea is to ensure that only boats of a certain minimum speed take part. It is likely that there would be a dispensation for crippled boats as the race committee's discretion.

LEG	START	DISTANCE	DURATION	ARRIVAL	IN PORT
Newport-Torbay	15 Sept 2002	2,885 miles	11 days	26 Sept 2002	17 days
Torbay-Cape Town	13 Oct 2002	6,880 miles	26 days	8 Nov 2002	22 days
Cape Town-NZ	1 Dec 2002	7,125 miles	27 days	28 Dec 2002	29 days
New Zealand-Salvador	26 Jan 2003	7,850 miles	31 days	26 Feb 2003	25 days
Salvador-Newport	23 Mar 2003	4,015 miles	22 days	14 Apr 2003

NB: The arrival dates are for the Open 60s

See page two for the latest on the runners and riders...