Oceanyachting - EDS Atlantic Challenge Zurück zurück zur Übersicht 25.08.2001, 15:10GMT St. Malo, France. It was a slow finish, but oh how sweet it was for Nick Moloney and his Kingfisher crew. The team ghosted across the finish line here a few minutes ago to cinch the final leg of the EDS Atlantic Challenge to cap its overall victory for the Race itself. Kingfisher crossed the finish line here in St. Malo, France at 15:13:00 GMT. It was so foggy that the boat nearly caught spectators and Race Officials by surprise as it suddenly emerged from the mist just before crossing the line. Kingfisher's Amazing Adventure The Kingfisher team began this event carrying the burden of high expectations. After all, the team's titular head was none other than Ellen MacArthur, the newly-crowned queen of sailing. Not since Dennis Conner's helicon America's Cup days has a sailor's name become so familiar to non-sailors worldwide. But, this was a crewed race and MacArthur had won her fame as a solo sailor in the Vendee Globe. The team was going to be up against teams with more seasoned skippers and hardboiled crews. One of those would be Roland "Bilou" Jourdain and his Sill Plein Fruit team. Like Kingfisher, the Sill yacht was a young yacht considered fast in both downwind and upwind conditions. And Jourdain was a formidable competitor who had beaten MacArthur before. Jourdain took a third-place podium finish in Vendee a day behind Ellen McArthur. Since then the two have sparred again in the Fechamp regatta, where Jourdain evened the score beating MacArthur. So, from the start in St. Malo all eyes were on the rematch between Jourdain and MacArthur. Kingfisher finished second to Sill on the first leg, finishing just one hour behind Sill. Clearly these two yachts were a match. Leg 2 turned out to be a test by fire as a gale swept Kingfisher and the rest of the fleet as they sailed from Cuxhaven to Portsmouth. Sill again beat Kingfisher by barely one hour. The stage was set for the first trans-Atlantic leg. Again all eyes would be focused on Kingfisher and Sill because nearly everyone expected the two yachts to choose the shorter but much rougher northern route. The only question was would any of the other boats dare to follow them. For most of the leg Sill and Kingfisher sparred for first place. But, it was Sill that pulled to an early lead and held onto it fiercely. Even when Sill reported a torn indexsail, Kingfisher did not seem to have that extra 1% they needed to catch and pass them. It was only after Sill lost their forestay about two-thirds across that Kingfisher was able to catch and pass her. For the rest of Leg 3 Kingfisher would hold first place, troubled only by an assault from the back by ECOVER which had followed them north. But, after repairing their forestay, the Sill team came roaring back after Kingfisher. As the three leaders closed in on the Chesapeake Bay finish line, Sill first took out ECOVER and was heading for Kingfisher when MacArthur brought her team across the line to capture the leg. Sill finished three hours later just nine minutes ahead of ECOVER. Fans would be denied a full test of Sill and Kingfisher on Leg 4. First, MacArthur was leaving the crew for other obligations. Australian Nick Moloney would take command. And then, at the start of Leg 4, Sill was dismasted and had to withdraw from the leg for repairs. Kingfisher handily took the short leg to Boston, beating ECOVER across the line better than an hour. Sill motor-sailed to Boston where a repaired mast was put in the boat. The final leg of the race would turn out to be the best test yet of the Kingfisher team and yacht. The boat, still under the command of Nick Moloney, chose a north-easterly course, opting to stick as close to the rhumline as possible. Sill, on the other hand, dove south, a course that would cost them some miles to the finish but promised to get them into the fresh southwesterly winds across the Atlantic earlier than the northern boats. Also, Jourdain had to nurse his rig. The mast had been broken into three pieces and hastily mended with heavy metal sleeves. For days Kingfisher's strategy kept them in front with ECOVER and FILA chasing them. FILA, which had experienced its own forestay problems on Leg 3, suddenly poured on the steam and passed Kingfisher at the midway point of the Leg. Kingfisher was struggling to regain the lead when suddenly skipper Nick Moloney noticed something ominous. It was a dark night and the winds were strong. The boat was reaching at about 17 knots. Moloney looked up an noticed the top of the mast had come out of alignment with the rest of the mast and was moving. Moloney dropped his headsail and throttled back. He waited until daylight to check the mast. It would be a costly delay. ECOVER screamed past and before Moloney regained his footing Kingfisher was 50 miles behind and in third place. The question now was could Moloney risk a dismasting by pouring on the steam to catch back up? With less than 400 miles to the finish Moloney and his team caught a break. They found they could sail the boat a bit harder than they thought and at the same time the leaders, ECOVER and FILA, hit the wall when their winds dropped to mere puffs. Kingfisher, further back, enjoyed half a day more of good strong winds and little by little clawed her way back to the front. With less than 300 miles to go Moloney could not restrain himself. "Yoo Hooo..We're back!" he shouted in a email as Kingfisher closed to within single digit miles of ECOVER and the lead. As the boats lined up with the finish line just 160 miles ahead, Kingfisher took the lead and extended it with each poll. But, FILA and ECOVER kept the pressure on to the bitter end. And Sill, roaring back from a triple-digit deficit earlier in the leg, closed to within spitting distance of Kingfisher by the end. Susan Colby edsatlanticchallenge.com ©2001 Challenge Business - About - Terms of use - Privacy Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE