Overview

• The Whitbread 60 made its debut.
• There were two entries from the Ukraine.
• Two former America’s Cup antagonists Dennis Conner (Winston) and Chris Dickson (Tokio) entered the race for the first time.
• Race Patron HRH The Duke of York fired the start gun.
• Two yachts were dismasted and one boat (Fortuna) failed to complete the course.
• Fortuna was doubly dismasted within 24 hours of the start of Leg 1 and retired.
• Fortuna’s skipper, Britain’s Lawrie Smith returned as the skipper of Intrum Justitia from Leg 2 onwards. 
• The crew of US Women’s challenge all but mutinied after Leg 1. Dawn Riley was brought in as skipper and the boat renamed Heineken for Leg 3 onwards.
• At age 22, Matt Humphries became, and still is, the youngest person to skipper a boat in the race.
• At the start of Leg 2, a crewmember from the maxi Uruguay Natural jumped overboard and swam away, not wanting to race through the Southern Ocean.
• Eight of the fleet were OCS (on course side) at the start of Leg 4 in Auckland and were recalled.
• Four of the La Poste crew were arrested during the second stopover in Punta del Este and held in a Uruguay jail. La Poste sailed Leg 5 with only 11 crew instead of 14. Those arrested were charged with deprivation of liberty and assault following an incident where an alleged burglar was caught and allegedly detained and assaulted in their apartment in Punta del Este.
• Tokio dismasted while leading the fleet during Leg 5. All hopes of winning overall were dashed.

Leg 1

The Whitbread 60 was introduced to keep down costs and some of the biggest names on the racing circuit at the time signed up.   Dennis Conner, the four-time America’s Cup winner, teamed up with future Cup legend Brad Butterworth on Winston and came up against another AC veteran and Whitbread debutant, Chris Dickson, on Tokio. Lawrie Smith returned in the modified Spanish maxi Fortuna, and at age 22 Matt Humphries became (and still is) the youngest skipper in the history of the event to skipper a boat.

Within hours of the start from Southampton, Fortuna, which had been converted from a sloop into a ketch, giving her more sail area than anyone else, lost her mizzenmast when the first strong puff of wind arrived, and then, two days later, the rest of the rig came crashing down. She retired from the race.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Endeavour blasted down to the Doldrums well ahead of everyone else, then sat becalmed and watched as the others caught up. The only boat not on skipper Grant Dalton’s radar was Chris Dickson’s W60 Tokio, which had headed further south to find more wind. It proved an inspired tactical move but New Zealand Endeavour was able to find the pace and lanes necessary to hold on, arriving in Punta del Este just three hours ahead.

US Women’s Challenge ran out of money and senior members of the crew left the team. In the shake-up, the skipper Nance Frank left the campaign and Dawn Riley, watch leader with Maiden in the previous race, was brought in as a replacement skipper.

Leg 2

Fortuna’s skipper, Lawrie Smith returned for Leg 2 to take over from Intrum Justitia’s skipper Roger Nilson who had injured his knee. Minutes before the start, one crewmember on the maxi Uruguay Natural jumped off the boat and into the sea. Many wished they had done the same as the very worst of the ocean’s demons turned the second leg into a grim and terrifying experience.

US Women’s Challenge wrenched the clew out of their spinnaker and split their mainsail in two when they gybed Chinese style. It took more than two days to repair in the teeth of a violent snowstorm. Bowman Ken Hara was knocked off Tokio, but was quickly retrieved.

Flying a full-size spinnaker and a mizzen gennaker set in 35 knots of wind, New Zealand Endeavour was making excellent speed, which was halted when the mizzenmast snapped at the third spreader. Brooksfield lost her rudder shaft, which was ripped out in a gale, leaving a large hole in the hull. Her communications system was destroyed and the crew was trying to stem the intake of water.

Winston and Intrum Justitia suspended racing and headed to the Italians’ aid, but it was La Poste, the French maxi, who reached Brooksfield first, 12 hours after her first SOS. She stood by in case the boat sank and waited for two US Navy ships to come and escort Brooksfield to port.

Dolphin & Youth broke her rudder – the crew lashed it back on and continued - while Galicia ’93 Pescanova and Winston suffered delamination.

Intrum Justitia meanwhile, headed south towards the ice in the hope of picking up winds and set a new 24-hour record, logging 425 miles, sailing at an average of 17.75 knots. She crossed the Fremantle finish line first, establishing the W60 as a true thoroughbred, capable of standing up to the roughest conditions and displaying some truly extraordinary speeds. Tokio finished second, just two hours astern after more than 7,000 miles, while Winston and Yamaha both made it in before Merit Cup led home the maxis.

Leg 3

In a spectacular spinnaker start, the fleet surfed past the magnificent Perth beaches, pushed by the famous ‘Fremantle doctor’. Dennis Conner and Winston had the conviction that the wind was strongest in the roaring forties. With a lead of 140 nm, it looked like the winning break had been made in the first week. But, at Tasmania, Winston ran into a wall of light air and the fleet reeled her in.   After an enthralling tactical battle, Tokio was first to the top of New Zealand with a six-mile lead over New Zealand Endeavour off Cape Reinga. Ten miles behind were Winston, Yamaha and Galicia ’93 Pescanova.

Tokio and New Zealand Endeavour were neck and neck, but as the wind changed strength and direction to suit the maxi, New Zealand Endeavour slowly ran Tokio down to take the lead three miles from the finish. The margin between them was just over two minutes.

Winston arrived two and a half hours after Tokio for second place in the W60 class and Yamaha was a further 10 minutes back. The maxi La Poste, now led by Eric Tabarly, finished 24 minutes later, edging Galicia ’93 Pescanova, the fourth-placed W60, by just 12 seconds. When Intrum Justitia took fifth in the W60 class, it meant the first seven boats had finished within five hours.

Leg 4

Leg 4 started fast and furious, with Intrum Justitia setting another world record of 428.7 nm in 24 hours as they passed the Chatham Islands, but thereafter the leg turned into an upwind slog with the crews coping not with ice, but buckets of rain.

There were no sleigh rides in the Southern Ocean and New Zealand Endeavour covered 2,500 miles without once hoisting a spinnaker. In the approach to Cape Horn, Intrum Justitia was leading both fleets, sailing towards the famous landmark on a fast reach, while, while closer on the wind, Tokio and Galicia ’93 Pescanova slowed.

Intrum Justitia’s lead stretched to almost 100 miles over Tokio and half that over New Zealand Endeavour, but the wind dropped and New Zealand Endeavour overtook. At the finish line, the margin was just five minutes. Further back and 1,000 nm the ‘wrong’ side of Cape Horn, the crew of Dolphin & Youth had discovered that two keel bolts had sheared, water was pouring in, and the keel was wobbling dangerously. They completed the leg safely by having one man permanently on ‘keel’ watch, another pumping and the whole crew ready to abandon ship in case the keel was lost and the boat capsized. The all-female crew of US Women’s Challenge, now renamed Heineken, had to contend with 50-knot winds through the Le Maire Straits and then broke their rudder, eventually nursing their yacht into port and repairs in Montevideo.

Leg 5

What was expected to be little more than a gentle cruise up the coast of South America couldn’t have been further from the truth. The fleet arrived bruised and battered in to Fort Lauderdale and the leaderboard was given a huge shake-up.

Dolphin & Youth headed for Rio de Janeiro when a section of the bow delaminated and began to flex badly. The crew of New Zealand Endeavour and La Poste made repairs at sea when the same thing happened.

Late into Day 6, Tokio was dismasted. She headed under jury rig to the nearby port of Santos, Brazil where the crew constructed a new mast from the wreckage and within 36 hours, they returned to the racetrack, but their hopes of winning the race were gone.

It left the way clear for Intrum Justitia and Yamaha. Ross Field had recruited a meteorologist for this leg and while Yamaha stayed in decent breezes, Intrum Justitia stopped dead in the Doldrums.

Yamaha crossed the finish line in Fort Lauderdale first, seizing the class lead from Tokio, who eventually arrived in Fort Lauderdale nine days behind. In the maxi class, Merit Cup claimed their second leg win, capitalising on New Zealand Endeavour’s delamination. Intrum Justitia was fourth over the line and second in the W60 class, while Galicia ’93 Pescanova strengthened her claim for an overall W60 podium place by taking third.

Leg 6

Gales and fog typified this final leg to Southampton, with conditions in the Solent bordering on downright dangerous as the fleet careered towards the finish line. Dense fog out in the Atlantic caused Dolphin & Youth to avoid a collision with a cargo container ship by 15 metres and then a massive iceberg by a boat length.

The fog lifted and the gales returned during which Heineken lost her third rudder. A replacement rudder was brought out to her and she carried on.

Tokio was in blistering form, and, with nothing to lose, set her spinnaker and covered 120 miles in the last six hours to cross the line first in both fleets, but nothing could make up for her earlier dismasting and it was one of the cruellest outcomes in the history of the race.

Winston finished second and Yamaha third, good enough to win the W60 class by 15 hours from Intrum Justitia on overall time. Intrum Justitia was the fourth W60 to cross the Southampton finish line.

New Zealand Endeavour was the first maxi over the line for the fourth time – cementing a convincing overall class win. New Zealand Endeavour also recorded the fastest elapsed time across both classes, roughly 10 hours faster than Yamaha.

Crews 1993-94

New Zealand Endeavour

Stu Bannatyne, David Brooke, Sean Clarkson, Grant Dalton, Brad Jackson, Allan Prior, Mike Quilter, Tony Rae, Mike Sanderson, Cole Sheehan, Kevin Shoebridge, Glen Sowry, Craig Watson, Nicholas Willetts

Merit Cup

Maurice Adatto, Nicholas Berthoud, Claudio Casiriaghi Etienne, David Pierre Fehlmann, Giovanni Ferreri, Manuel Fischler, Rodolfo Guerrini, Jean-François Guillet, Gregoire Jacquet, Jean-Dominique Lavanchy, André Loepfe, François Mach, Pierre Michetti, Herve Riboni, Gerald Rogivue, Kwan-Min Roubakine, Kaspar Schadegg, Christian Scherrer, Bertrand Seydoux, Dieter Stadler, Georges Wagner

La Poste

Luc Bartissol, Eric Blouet, Ivan Bunner, João Cabeçadas, Benoit Caignaert, Jacques Caraes, Manuel Castilla, Dominique Conin, Patrick Deloffe, Jacques Delorme, Michel Desjoyeaux, Hugues Destremau, Sidney Gavignet, Marc Guillemot, Francois Le Castrec, Halvard Mabire, Daniel Mallé, Eric Pallier, Nicholas Raynaud, Florent Ruppert, Éric Tabarly

Uruguay Natural

Heber Ansorena, Felipe Gómez, Gaston Jaunsolo, Jorge Jaunsolo, Bernd Knuppel, Gabriel López, Eduardo Medina, Aldo Oddone, Henry Ogando, Dick Pasker, Alvaro Pellistri, Daniel Pellistri, Marcelo Porta, Sebastian Rana, Alvaro Robaina, Alejandro Salustio, Pablo Silva, Rafael Sosa, José Suárez, Martín Suárez, Gustavo Vanzini

Fortuna

Guillermo Altadill, Jason Carrington, Anton Corominas, Rick Deppe, Vincent Geake, Neil Graham, Bill Hefferman, Neal McDonald, Kym Morton, Andrew Nash, Charles Russel Pickthall, Dave Powys, Lawrie Smith, Paul Standbridge, Paul van Dyke, Stuart Wilson

Yamaha

Joe Allen, Richard Bouzaid, Steve Cotton, Godfrey Cray, Ross Field, Greg Flynn, Mark Hauser, Kazunori Komatsu, Robbie Naismith Murray, Ross Jeffrey, Scot Steve Trevurza, Nick White

Intrum Justitia

Marco Constant, Knut Frostad, Bo Hansen, Gunnar Krantz, Tim Kroger, Pierre Mas, Markus Mustelin, Roger Nilson, Magnus Olsson, Lawrie Smith, Paul Standbridge, Rick Tomlinson, Marcel van Triest, Dominique Wavre

Galicia '93 Pescanova

Guillermo Altadill, Jamie Arbonnes, Roberto 'Chuny' Bermúdez, Javier de la Gándara, Francisco Fernández, Paco Fernández, Marcos Iglesias, Antonio Piris, Santiago Portillo, Carlos Sampedro, Jan Santana, José-María Torcida, Víctor Unzueta, Joan Vila, Juan Zarauza

Winston

Bouwe Bekking, Bill Biewanga, Brad Butterworth, Mark Christensen, Dennis Conner, Godfrey Cray, Alexis De Cenival, David Hurley, Gordon Maguire, Matthew Mason, Dean Phipps, Matteo Plazzi, Peter Vitali

Tokio

Andrew Cape, Jim Close, Chris Dickson, Joe English, Ken Hara, Kelvin Harrap, Peter Heck, TA McCann, Matthew Smith, Ian Stewart, Jacques Vincent, Rodney Ardern

Brooksfield

Paolo Bassani, Richard Brisius, Lt N.M.C. Chambers, Jean Chevalier, Pietro D'Ali, Albino Fravezzi Herve, Jan Guido, Maisto Fortunato, Moratto Lapo Nustrini, Mauro Pelaschier, Alby Pratt, Andrea Proto, Luca Repetto, Alberto Rizzi, Stefano Rizzi, Angelo Romanengo, Pierre Sicouri, Stefano Spangaro, Peter Tans

Hetman Sahaidachny

Duro Bebelic, Oleg Belomylstev, Andreas Bolte, Sergei Cherbakov, Julian Clegg, Yury Doroshenko, Gregory Dowling, Gordon Farthing, Konstantin Gordeiko, Angus Harlow, Richard Hewitt, David Hooper, Ivan Kostyuchenko, Vladimir Kulinichenko, Sergei Maidan, Zivko Matutinovic, John McMullen, Vladimir Musatov, Piter Ntzhegorodtcev, Eugene Platon, Phillippe Schiller, Yury Semenyuk, Slava Sysenko, Yury Tokovoy, Clive Tremain, Dale Tremain, Robert Young

Dolphin & Youth

Richard Bickford, Simon Cunnington, Brendan Darrar, Steve Hayles, Matt Humphries, Toby Isles, Glenn Kessels, Gerard Mitchell, David Munday, Timothy Powell, Spike Ramsden, Colin Richardson, Mark Sheffield, Simon Woods

US Women's Challenge/Heineken

Lisa Beecham, Gloria Borego, Adrienne Cahalan, Merritt Carey, Susan Chiu, Marleen Cleyndert, Sue Crafer, Nance Frank, Marie-Claude Kieffer, Vanessa Linsley, Kaori Matsunaga, Renee Mehl, Jeni Mundy, Leah Newbold, Michele Paret, Dawn Riley, Barbara Span, Mikaela von Kuskull

Odessa

Oleg Doroshenko, Dolph Du Mont, Dean Herbison, Stephen Hickey, Conrad Humphreys, Gennadiy Korolkov, Vladimir Kulinichenko, Igor Kutorkin, Sergei Lastouetski, Alexey Lavrenov, Corin Mackenzie, Mikhail Mikhailov, Nick Nichols, Richard Ott, Vladimir Ovtcharenko, Sebastian Piesse, Tony Pink, Tom Thawley, Anatoly Verba, Brian Wallis