1997–1998 Whitbread Round the World Race

The 1997–98 Whitbread Round the World Race was the seventh edition of the around-the-world sailing event Whitbread Round the World Race. The Whitbread Round the World Race ran for the first time with all W60 boats and to a "points vs time" (instead of aggregate leg time) scoring system to enhance the value of the shorter race legs.

1997–98
Whitbread Round the World Race
Event Title
Edition7th
YachtsWhitbread 60
Competitors
Competitors10
Results
WinnerEF Language

Also, in an effort to attract additional media coverage, the Whitbread race committee divided the race into no less than 9 legs for the 1997 to 1998 race, therefore increasing the number of ports visited.

Volvo had its first major association with the race in 1997 to 1998 by sponsoring the trophy (thus the race was officially known as the Whitbread 'round the world race for the Volvo Trophy) and some of the media coverage. For the first time running to W60-only specification, this year's Whitbread attracted just 10 entries—the fewest to date.

Participants
Boat Nation Designer Skipper
America's Challenge United StatesAlan Andrews Ross Field
Brunel Sunergy NetherlandsJudel/Vrolijk Roy Heiner
Chessie Racing United StatesFarr Yacht Design George Collins
EF Education SwedenFarr Yacht Design Christine Guillou
EF Language SwedenFarr Yacht Design Paul Cayard
Innovation Kvaerner NorwayFarr Yacht Design Knut Frostad
Merit Cup MonacoFarr Yacht Design Grant Dalton
Silk Cut United KingdomFarr Yacht Design Lawrie Smith
Swedish Match SwedenFarr Yacht Design Gunnar Krantz
Toshiba United StatesFarr Yacht Design Dennis Conner
Paul Standbridge

America's Challenge

Led by Neil Barth and skippered by Ross Field, the team bought Yamaha before building America’s Challenge.[1] The team struggled for funding and withdrew from the race in Cape Town.[2][3] The crew included a group of New Zealanders, including Jared Henderson, and the UK's Matthew Humphries.

Brunel Sunergy

Skippered by Hans Bouscholte, the crew included Roy Heiner, Gerald Rogivue and Peter van Niekerk.[4]

Chessie Racing

Skippered by 57-year-old George Collins, the crew included John Kostecki, Juan Vila, Gavin Brady and Ken Read.[5]

EF Education and EF Language

EF Language was skippered by Paul Cayard and included a core crew from his AmericaOne challenge for the 2000 America's Cup.[5] Lawrie Smith was originally intended to lead the boat, until transferring to Silk Cut. The crew included Steven Erickson and Magnus Olsson

The team's second boat, EF Education, had an all-female crew and was led by French woman Christine Guillou and included Isabelle Autissier. Leslie Egnot joined the crew on leg 4.[5]

Kvaerner Innovation

Skippered by Knut Frostad, the crew included Marcel van Triest, Ross Halcrow, Tony Rae, Ed Baird, Torben Grael and Pierre Mas.

Merit Cup

Merit Cup was a Monaco flagged boat skippered by Grant Dalton. One of only two team's that built two boats, the crew included watch captain Kevin Shoebridge, Ian Stewart, Mike Sanderson, Jeremy Lomas, Dirk de Ridder, Ray Davies and Mike Quilter.[5]

Silk Cut

Led by Lawrie Smith, Silk Cut was the last boat in the fleet designed by Bruce Farr. The crew included Jez Fanstone, Neil Graham, Gordon Maguire, Neal McDonald, Jan Dekker and Stu Bannatyne.[5]

Swedish Match

Swedish Match was skippered by Gunnar Krantz and included Roger Nilson and Erle Williams.[5] Matthew Humphries joined the crew following the withdrawal of America's Challenge.

Toshiba

Led by Dennis Conner and Paul Standbridge, Toshiba was originally skippered by Chris Dickson but Dickson was fired after Leg 1.[6] Other crew members included Ross MacDonald, Murray Ross, Chris Ward, Alan Smith and Kelvin Harrap.

The crew had 13 Whitbread and 28 America's Cup campaigns between them.[5]

Route
Ports visited
Event Start date Start Finish Distance (nmi)
Leg 121 September 1997 Southampton Cape Town7,340
Leg 211 November 1997 Cape Town Fremantle4,600
Leg 313 December 1997 Fremantle Sydney2,250
Leg 44 January 1998 Sydney Auckland1,270
Leg 51 February 1998 Auckland São Sebastião6,670
Leg 614 March 1998 São Sebastião Fort Lauderdale4,750
Leg 719 April 1998 Fort Lauderdale Baltimore870
Leg 83 May 1998 Baltimore La Rochelle3,390
Leg 922 May 1998 La Rochelle Southampton450

Results
Leg 1

 Leg 2

 Leg 3

 Leg 4

 Leg 5

 Leg 6

 Leg 7

 Leg 8

 Leg 9

 Total
EF Language 125 72 105 70 135 101 81 55 92 836
Merit Cup 110 48 70 105 78 66 50 66 105 698
Swedish Match 36 125 92 60 91 89 92 44 60 689
Innovation Kvaerner 97 110 60 40 65 77 70 33 81 633
Silk Cut 84 84 40 50 26
DNF		 115 60 101 70 630
Chessie Racing 72 60 81 81 105 55 40 89 30 613
Toshiba 60 97 50 92 0
DSQ		 44 20
PEN		 115 50 528
Brunel Sunergy 12243030 119 33 105 2240 415
EF Education 2436202026
DNF		22307720 275
America's Challenge 0
DNS		0
DNS		0
DNS		0
DNS		0
DNS		0
DNS		0
DNS		0
DNS		0
DNS		 48

References
  1. "Whitbread 60 "Challenger" Whitbread Round the World Race | Miramar Sailing".
  2. Volvo Ocean Race: History 1997–1998 – Leg 2
  3. https://www.spartanoceanracing.com/boats
  4. "16609 Text Pages_il.qxd" (PDF). Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  5. "A Whitbread wake-up call". Yachting. 1 October 1997 – via Google Books.
  6. Volvo Ocean Race: History 1997–1998
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