Sailing: Dalton's warning to world racers

THE jury is still out on the case of Grant Dalton's new, radical Whitbread maxi, New Zealand Endeavour. It took line honours in the 630-mile Sydney-to-Hobart Classic, but is the flyer up to the victory Dalton seeks in the 1993-4 round-the-world race?

Dalton's beak-bowed, tall- rigged ketch set the third-fastest time in the race's 48-year history, clocking 2d 19hr 19min 10 sec. The race record still belongs to Jim Kilroy's Kialoa which, in 1975, completed the course in 2d 14hr 36min 56sec.

NZ Endeavour is the first of the new generation of maxis designed in America by fellow Kiwi, Bruce Farr. Two more identical yachts, believed to be adopting a heavier design route to success, are being built in France for Daniel Malle and Pierre Fehlmann.

With hopes now remote of a new British maxi for a campaign to be skippered by Lawrie Smith, these three should dispute the overall line honours in the round- the-world race which is due to begin on 25 September.

But Commander Colin Watkins, who skippered the joint services yacht British Satquote Defender for five of the six legs in the last race, expresses growing confidence that there will be another joint services entry.

He hopes to buy or charter one of two existing maxis: Rothmans, designed and built in Britain, or the now American-owned ketch, The Card. Current discussions with potential sponsors, he said, are encouraging.

'Because none of our crew have to be paid and we can arrange accommodation with other armed forces at the stop-overs we can offer really good value,' he said.

The amateur crews in the British Steel Challenge Round The World Race continue to knock off the final miles to Hobart at the end of their second leg from Rio de Janeiro and round Cape Horn.

Still with a lead of 70 miles and with just 800 miles to go is John Chittenden in Nuclear Electric, followed by Richard Merriweather in Commercial Union. The first boats are still due to arrive at the weekend, less than 50 days after starting from Brazil and 10 days earlier than predicted.

As the nine identical 67-footers all head away from the threat of Antarctic ice, the leaders in the Vendee Globe Round The World Challenge for singlehanders are having to be extra vigilant.

Alain Gautier in Bagages Superior is leading by over 400 miles from Bertrand de Broc in Groupe LG. The Welshman Alan Thomas has slipped back to seventh place.

Some icebergs are reported to be up to half a mile long, but it is the growlers that break off them, still weighing several tons, which are the problem as they are not picked up by radar because they only just break the surface of the sea.

In a colourful description from race headquarters in Paris, Philippe Jeantot explains the situation. 'His eyes red with cold, the sailor scans the sea from his bow in search of these deadly traps. After a few hours, and due to his fatigue, his eye-sight becomes blurred and he imagines seeing drifting blocks of ice everywhere. In between such moments, the sailor must get some sleep to recover.'

Although some of the singlehanders are taking a more northerly (and therefore longer) circumference, to avoid danger, these problems will remain until they pass the Horn and turn up the Atlantic for the run back to the finish at Les Sables d'Olonne.

BRITISH STEEL CHALLENGE ROUND THE WORLD RACE (Second leg, Rio to Hobart) Leading positions (with miles to finish): 1 Nuclear Electric 838; 2 Commercial Union 910; 3 Hofbrau 1,077; 4 Pride of Teesside 1,234; 5 Group 4 1,242; 6 Coopers & Lybrand 1,270; 7 Heath Insured 1,317; 8 Interspray 1,553; 9 Rhone-Poulenc 1,962. Dismasted: British Steel II. (Information supplied by BT)