Oceanracing 2002 - Around Alone

Absender: "Aroundalone"
Empfänger: redaktion@segel.de
Datum: 14. Jan 2003 19:57

DALTON TAKES THIRD
There was a tumultuous welcome for local boy Graham Dalton when he sailed Hexagon across the finish line in Tauranga this evening. The late afternoon sky reflected on the water and lit the faces of the children painted on his sails as he stormed across the finish shortly after 19:30 local time. Dalton, usually a reserved man, waved enthusiastically at the armada of spectator craft as he guided his Open 60 towards the finish. On the water a large fleet of spectator yachts escorted Hexagon across the finish line while crowds lined the waterfront around Mount Maunganui cheering as Dalton sailed his yacht into port.
It had been a tough few days for Dalton who admitted that the Southern Ocean had treated him reasonably. "ItÂ’s a place where you need to pay attention every second of the day," he said at the press conference. ""We were lucky this time." The Southern Ocean may have been good to Dalton, but the Tasman Sea and the coast of New Zealand we less than kind. "Some of the worst conditions I saw were last night sailing down the coast. I got knocked over a few times and the wind was really vicious."
It may have been a tough leg for Dalton, but his arrival must have more than made up for it. The enthusiasm of the crowd and perfect conditions were a fitting end to the leg and a perfect way to arrive back in his home port. As Graham sailed for the finish line Christmas carols could be heard emanating from below; the trip may have been long but the spirit was there until the end.
While Dalton was finding his land legs, Simone Bianchetti on Tiscali was still dealing with headwinds and gusty squalls. His latest ETA is for 04:00 Wednesday.
--- Brian Hancock great.circle@verizon.net

Absender: "Aroundalone"
Empfänger: redaktion@segel.de
Datum: 14. Jan 2003 09:43

DALTON REACHES HOME PORT IN THIRD
NEXT FOUR YACHTS TO ARRIVE WITHIN 24HRS TIME
TELE-PRESS CONFERENCE WITH CLASS 2 LEADER
TAURANGA - MEDIA INFORMATION

Tauranga, New Zealand - 14th January 03. New Zealander Graham Dalton commented earlier in the day on the satellite phone that he was feeling very excited to be arriving into his home port of Tauranga on Hexagon on the podium in Leg 3 of Around Alone. At 19:38:18 hrs local time (06:38:18 GMT) he sailed his Owen Clarke designed Open 60 hard on the wind and heeled over at 12 knots - playing Christmas Carols - across the finish line under the shadow of Mount Maunganui into 3rd place after Bobst Group-Armor Lux and Solidaires.

alle Photos: Riley/Marinepics

Graham Dalton wird im Heimathafen gefeiert

The Kiwi yachtsman had his boat built in Tauranga, and so the return of Hexagon and her skipper from racing half way around the world to arriving in third place on the 7,200 nm Australasian leg of Around Alone from Cape Town to New Zealand created a huge excitement amongst the locals. About 60 spectator craft came out to welcome him across the line as he threw in three last tacks to lay the finish in the gusting 20 knot wind.
The last night of the voyage was possibly the worst for Dalton as he reported in to have seen 60 knot headwinds and torrential rain, which caused some concern as Hexagon was knocked down a couple of times near rocky shores. Not only that but rival competitor Italian Simone Bianchetti on Tiscali had been pursuing him doggedly down the coastline, himself reporting to have had "a bad, bad, bad night in hell" like Dalton. Bianchetti blew his Genoa headsail overnight, which caused him to lose 25 miles off Dalton and he is expected to finish at midnight local time tonight (1200hrs GMT).

After docking Hexagon at the Tauranga Bridge Marine pontoons to a crowd of hundreds, Dalton sprayed Champagne Mumm to celebrate his arrival with children following the Global Education Challenge standing at the bow with 'Welcome Home Graham' banners. Dalton said to the awaiting media at the dockside, "I aim to do my best on every leg, but for me, this one is all the more satisfying as I was sailing into the port where Hexagon was built and where we have so much support. A combination of intuition, skill and a little bit of luck has been crucial for me on this leg of the race. My communications systems were down for most of this leg, which meant that I lacked the up to the minute weather data that plays such an important part in competitive yacht racing. Despite this, it has been my most successful leg so far and this is down to excellent preparation by the team in Cape Town."

He then held a Press Conference in the WesternBay Finance Race Village in the presence of hundreds of wellwishers and children from the Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club, who had gone out into the harbour in their P-Class dinghies to welcome Graham in.
Out on the water, Bianchetti is followed by 28yr old female skipper Emma Richards on Pindar and American Bruce Schwab on Ocean Planet, both vying for 5th place 171 nm from the finish and 120 miles behind Tiscali. Emma is hoping the Maori pendant she is wearing will bring her luck and keep her indexsail together to the finish after it was badly torn last week. Despite spending hours hand-sewing and sticking together the lateral tear along the whole of her indexsail, the damage drastically handicapped the boat from being competitive with the boats ahead during the final week of racing.
Four miles behind them is the clear Class 2 leader, American Brad Van Liew on the fastest Open 50 in the world - Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America. He is a staggering 1,025 nm ahead of the nearest rival Tim Kent on Everest Horizontal. With all four yachts to finish within the next 24hrs, the arrivals from this Southern Ocean Leg into Tauranga, New Zealand are proving to be nothing short of spectacular.
* TELE-PRESS CONFERENCE - BRAD VAN LIEW / TOMMY HILFIGER FREEDOM AMERICA
Time: 2:00PM EST, Thursday, January 16th, 2003. Join from your desk by dialling:
- Toll free from US : (800) 650-8824
- From outside the US : +1 (703) 736-7228 Conference # 6380105 Estimated time: 45 minutes
POSITIONS AT 06:00GMT 14th JANUARY (19:00 am LOCAL TIME) 2003
Track the Around Alone fleet with Raytech Navigator 4.1 - go to www.aroundalone.com positions page and follow the link at the top of the chart.
Leg 3 Provisional Rankings
1. Bobst Group-Armor Lux finished at 22:24:43 GMT 8th JAN 03 after 25 days, 12 hours, 24 minutes, 43 seconds
2. Solidaires finished at 09:03:54 GMT 9th JAN 03 after 26 days, 23 hours, 56 minutes, 6 seconds
3. Hexagon finished at 06:38:18 GMT 14th JAN 03 after 31 days, 20 hours, 38 minutes, 18 seconds

Class 1
Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp Avgheading DTF
4. Tiscali 36 47.220 S 175 52.220 E 4.83 kt 130 Â°T 50.79 nm
5. Ocean Planet 35 17.220 S 174 29.000 E 3.93 kt 140 Â°T 171.09 nm
6. Pindar 35 00.220 S 174 55.100 E 5.19 kt 93 Â°T 171.35 nm

Class 2
Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp Avgheading DTF
1. Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America 35 05.480 S 174 36.000 E 4.58 kt 120 Â°T 175.97 nm
2. Everest Horizontal 44 18.540 S 157 35.290 E 6.53 kt 104 Â°T 1205.79 nm
3. Spirit of Canada 43 59.080 S 153 18.990 E 7.75 kt 86 Â°T 1353.03 nm
4. Spirit of yukoh 46 34.360 S 152 09.950 E 6.23 kt 79 Â°T 1470.98 nm
5. BTC Velocity 42 57.410 S 138 31.380 E 8.56 kt 111 Â°T 1974.38 nm

International Media Relations:
Mary Ambler - Email: mambler@clipper-ventures.com - NZL mobile: +64 (0)21 706 519
Local Media Relations - Tauranga, NZL Julie Chadwick, Tauranga Around Alone Ltd - Email: julie@taa.co.nz - Tel: +64 (25) 595 083 Website: http://www.taa.co.nz
WesternBay Finance Media Centre - Tauranga Bridge Marina Tel: +64 (0) 7 572 3069 Opening times: from 0900hrs - 1730hrs local time until 10th February 2003 Telecomms: network provided by Telecom NZ. There is a computer available for press loaded with Raytech 4.1 software to track the fleet and access internet. Accreditation: contact Julie Chadwick (details above) prior to arrival.
Official Photography - Marinepics International distribution: Ali McKichan - Email: info@marinepics.com - Tel: +44 (0) 1489 573753 Production & New Zealand distribution: Roy Riley - Email: royspics@aol.com