In this Issue:
Whitbread- News & Notes
SORC- Results
Gold Race- At the Pacific Doldrums
Royal Sun Alliance- Not Your Typical Winter Trip South
Torresen Marine Annual Spring Thaw Open House


Whitbread Race News and Notes
    The entire Whitbread fleet has reached port with the exception of EF Education. They have stepped a new mast and are sailing north. Currently they are scheduled to reach port the very day of the Leg 6 restart- March 14th. The classic delivery crew
question they face now is which is faster sailing, or motoring ?

    Meanwhile fellow dismasted yacht Silk Cut has reached the finish. By making the decision to use their motor they had to retire and take last place points for Leg 5.

    As to why the mast broke, the British team has no comment. However Grant Dalton
Merit Cup skipper provided insight as to why Silk Cut's stick tumbled: "During those fast runs in Leg 2 he was pushing his boat at say, 98 percent while all the other boats had got up to about 95 percent. But on this leg, we were all at 98 percent and so, to break away, Lawrie cranked his boat up to 102 percent and bang."

    On shore the Whitbread Race Committee is protesting Toshiba. At issue, is Toshiba's use of her motor to clear sea weed. On 22 February Toshiba fired up her motor and put it in reverse to clear kelp from the boat. Two crewmembers noted this on their finish declarations. Toshiba claims the whole incident is just a procedural misunderstanding. They further feel that they gained no advantage by using the engine.

    The idea of not using your engine while racing, except in neutral to charge batteries, is one that is a near commandment to offshore racers. This can be
seen by the Race Committee’s protest. The jury's decision could range from disqualification from the race to a minor point penalty. The decision will depend on how seriously they view Toshiba's breach, and whether they feel Toshiba tried to cover things up.

    Finally, Merit skipper Grant Dalton is not taking the issue of outside assistance lying down. Dalton feels that allowing outside assistance risks losing the purity of the race. "The whole race is based on no outside assistance," said Dalton. "That
represents its purest form. But then you have a rule that says to racers that under some circumstances, outside assistance is fine, and if you do it right you won't even get penalized. Then," he maintained,"you begin chipping away at the very reason for this event."

    Dalton feels that if a boat receives outside assistance it should receive a point penalty. Without penalties, he feels future Whitbread races will see teams with resupply vessels.

    Dalton is correct that a race with no outside assistance is the purest type. Whether others see it this way is doubtful. As always see www.whitbread.org

SORC Results
    Miami FLA was the site of the 1998 Southern Ocean Racing Conference regatta. No longer the paragon of ocean racing it once was, the SORC is now your typical
round the buoys regatta.

    Several Great Lakes boats were at the SORC. In the Mumm 30 class, Maximum Dread of Port Huron sailed a strong regatta to take 3rd place. Chicago had 2 boats in the Mumm 30 class. Of these two boats, Contender was 8th and Virago 10th.

    In the Corel 45 class Chicago's Nitemare was 7th, while St. Claire Shores Babbalass was 8th. Sailing in the Farr 40 fleet Bandit finished 8th.

    The always close One Design 48 class had a strong showing by Great Lakes boats. Windquest of Holland MI took 2nd finishing 1 point out of 1st. Starlight of Wayzata MN was 3rd.

    In the IMS class Chicago's Flash Gordon was the clear winner. VIM of Grand Rapids MI was 3rd with Chicago's VMAX 7th. MC2 of Plymouth MN was 5th in PHRF Class 1.

    The Melges 24 class was won by Heartbreaker owned by Robert Hughes of Ada MI. A narrow 2nd in the Melges 24 class was Brian Porter's Full Throttle of Winnetka IL.

In the Etchells 22 class USA 1101 of Chicago finished 7th. For further information visit www.regattas.com

Gold Race- The Pacific Doldrums
    Aquitaine Innovations, the leader has crossed back over the equator heading north. The passage through the doldrums has so far not hindered their progress.

    2nd place PRB is still making good time, but is 419 miles back. The most serious problem they have is a broken computer. This leaves them unable to receive onboard weather data. This is always crucial, but even more so when in the Doldrums.

    3rd place Geodis has taken a flyer. She is well to the east of the other 2 boats. A classic example, of the trailing boat figuring, we won't win by following.

    Leader Yves Parlier is estimating his arrival in SanFrancisco to be March 13th.
For Gold race update visit: www.aroundalone.com

Royal&Sun Alliance- Down South
    Some folks head down south to warm up. The sailors on the big cat are not warm. They're so far south that they are encountering Antarctic survey vessels, not the cruise ships of your typical winter vacation.

    On their 29th day at sea, they have just completed a run of 421 miles in 24 hours. They have passed by the Kerguelen Islands. The cold is top of mind for the crew.

    At this point Royal&Sun Alliance trails the record holding trimaran Sport Elec. They have to hope for the breeze to stay on so they can catch the record holder.

    To beat the mythical 80 day time they need to average 14 knots. So far their average speed is 13.9 knots. All in all, although they have gone fast, they need to go faster to meet the standards they are competing against. To follow their voyage vist www.rsachallenge.com

Torresen Marine Spring Thaw

Saturday, March 7, Torresen Marine will be holding their Annual Spring Thaw Open House from 9 am until 4 pm. There will be in store specials, manufacturers reps and door prizes. If you are within driving distance, please come to visit, it would be great to see you!!