Sailing: Pack close on slowing Smith

THE pack was closing in on Lawrie Smith yesterday as Intrum Justitia's lead in the fourth leg of the Whitbread Race was cut from 90 to 32 miles in the 60ft class and just two miles over the leading maxi, Grant Dalton's New Zealand Endeavour, writes Stuart Alexander from Punta del Este, Uruguay.

As Smith's speed dropped to an average of 4.6 knots and second-placed Ross Field's Yamaha marched forward at 8.1, Smith, a reformed two-pack-a- day man, could not even turn to cigarettes to calm his nerves.

WHITBREAD ROUND THE WORLD RACE Fourth leg (Auckland to Punta del Este, Urug): Positions, with miles to the finish: Maxi class: 1 New Zealand Endeavour, 474; 2 Merit Cup, 507; 3 La Poste, 558; 4 Uruguay Natural, 1,196. Whitbread 60s: 1 Intrum Justitia, 472; 2 Yamaha, 504; 3 Tokio, 505; 4 Galicia '93 Pescanova, 610; 5 Winston, 607; 6 Brooksfield, 653; 7 Dolphin and Youth, 758; 8 Heineken, 759; 9 Hetman Sahaidachny, 825; 10 Odessa, 1,259. BT Results Service