The Tim and Gerry show

John Greenland tracked down two of Britain's unsung heros - Tyco's Tim Powell and Gerry Mitchell

It is perhaps testament to their ability as well as their credability in international sailing circles that among Kevin Shoebridge's first recruits for Team Tyco were British sailors Tim Powell and Gerry Mitchell.

The duo have been sailing together for many years, but first meet back in RYA Youth Squad days. "We both sailed Dolphin & Youth, Silk Cut, the Admiral's Cup, and the Tour Voile," explained Mitchell. Powell and Mitchell sailed Adrian Stead's Barlo Plastics when they competed in, and won, the Tour Voile two years ago.

"There was a core bunch of us. We just got together and put in names of people we thought should be involved," explained Powell, one of the key decision makers early on in Shoebridge's Bermuda-based Volvo campaign.

This method of selection, also used by John Kostecki's overall race leader illbruck Challenge, provides for good team work on the water.

TeamTyco was born several months after John Kostecki started the illbruck campaign, yet was still one of the first to get the ball rolling. Using the old Merit as a training boat the team set up in Newport, Rhode Island. "We ran crew trials, did some tuning with the new carbon mast, and looked at a few sails until November," explained Powell. Once satisfied with their developments the team moved down to Sydney to join illbruck and News Corp in the Sydney Hobart. "We went on to New Zealand after Hobart to train in the waters ready for leg four," added Powell.

The team led for a large proportion of the 600nm leg, however a headboard car failure close to the finish gave illbruck the chance to overtake. In February last year the new boat arrived in West Palm Beach.

The Tyco boys had a tough start to the nine-stage event. On leg one the team scored a disappointing fourth place - below what many considered their potential. It was solid finish, but not the podium position they had hoped for. However, just days into leg two disaster struck, when their rudder failed forcing them to return to South Africa and ship the boat to Sydney. All of a sudden the team were left facing an uphill struggle for the remaining seven legs in this marathon Round the World Race.

Without the rudder failure the team would be doing well explained Mitchell. "If we'd been fourth on leg two instead of having the rudder break then we'd be second overall," he continued, "and we were leading when the rudder broke so we're looking fairly good."

And what of the team's strategy for the remainder of the race? "Consistancy is the plan for the moment, we're not planning on taking any wingers to try and improve on our points. I guess if we have any more bad ones then we'll have to think about winging it, but if we can get up to second place we can then see what happens to illbruck." Both Mitchell and Powell recognise the team's hopes for winning the regatta are now reliant on illbruck having a problem sometime prior to the finish in Kiel. "A lot of boats have, so it's not out of the question," concluded Mitchell.

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