Route du Rhum's first Australian

Nick Moloney wins class 2

At 05:08:04GMT this morning Australian Nick Moloney sailed his Open 50 Ashfield Healthcare across the finish line of Guadeloupe winning class 2 of the gruelling Route du Rhum solo transAtlantic yacht race, to set a new Open 50 monohull record time of 18 days 16 hours, 23 minutes and 4 seconds.

In doing so Moloney shaved nearly two days off the course record for class 2 50 foot monohulls set in the race four years ago by his Offshore Challenges Sailing Team stablemate Ellen MacArthur.

"It's totally different from anything else I have ever done but I feel totally stoked that I've done it. It's an amazing feeling to have accomplished that," commented Moloney.

"In all honesty when I entered this race I just really wanted to finish. I'd go and do my best as I always try and do but I never dreamed I do this well. I had some big ghosts to lay to rest after my disaster in the 1999 Mini Transat, and I feel I’ve finally done it. It hasn’t been easy."

Moloney led class 2 almost from the 1245hrs GMT start gun on November 9 off Saint-Malo. Pre-race favourite Yannick Bestaven on République Dominicaine had to delay his start after he tore his mainsail, but then he stormed back into contention and the next day was challenging him for the lead.

But Bestaven's relentless pushing in the harsh conditions finally proved to be his downfall.  "I backed off heavily in the second evening of the race because I tacked on the continental shelf [off the Bay of Biscay where the water goes from five miles deep to one mile] and I found myself in some really really rough waves," explained Nick.

"I thought if I kept pushing I'd break the boat, but he [Yannick] kept pushing and four hours later he was out of the race. That was a little bit of luck in my favour and bad luck at his end. If we both kept pushing as hard as we were then one of us would go down and fortunately for me it was him."

This was Nick's first solo transAtlantic attempt since the ill-fated Mini-Transat race in 1999. A force 9 storm, gusting to force 11, in the first few days of the Mini-Transat damaged his 21-foot yacht and him beyond repair.

The boat inverted for four minutes, damaging the mast, he broke his arm and, at one stage, Nick was washed overboard as the boat was knocked down and laid on its side, almost dragging him underneath – it nearly cost him his life.

"I've thought about the Mini a lot," continued Nick. "Winning this makes me feel like I've won the mini."

Nick came to the single-handed racing world from a team racing environment, having competed twice for Australia in the America's Cup and in the 1997/1998 Whitbread round the world race.

"I thought I would be really lonely but I haven't been," he continued. "I've had really good communication with our land based facility but I was quite alarmed in the storm as I had a lot of water inside the boat that knocked out a lot of my main communication equipment [Mini-M satellite phone].

"At that point I was really really concerned that I wasn't going to be able to communicate with the outside world. That was quite frightening for me.

"Otherwise, when there is a difficult manoeuvre to do then I obviously miss a second pair of hands and I miss chatting to people you know on a regular basis throughout the day but I do speak to the Offshore Challenges mission control as much as several times a day."

Nick's second biggest worry coming into this race was sleep deprivation. "I've struggled with the whole fatigue scenario and eating and all the rest of it. You have so much to do. The first few days were just brutal. I was quite stressed about the race and the weather and I've never been so tired.

"The second half of the race has been better, but quite stressful with the squalls really keeping me on my toes. I had some real shockers in the night, being wiped out as the big gusts came through, but after a while I learnt to throttle back a bit during the night.

"I slept on deck for most of the race, right next to the helm. The custom beanbag was a glamour, really saved me!" Nick slept outside in the cockpit of Ashfield Healthcare so he could feel the first drops of rain, the telltale sign that a squall is about to hit.

"I'd be quite fatigued for several hours and then I'd probably nod off for about half an hour or an hour maximum [note: Nick probably averaged four hours sleep per day for the duration of the race].

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