Sailing: Bold Eagle swoops to kill

A STIFF breeze swinging into the north-west and increasing at times to 30 knots was driving the remainder of the Fastnet Race fleet home to Plymouth last night. Nearly 50 had retired of the original 247 starters and the small boats were into their sixth consecutive day at sea, writes Stuart Alexander.

The Royal Ocean Race Club race director, Alan Green, declared the 1993 Fastnet 'an excellent race, a classic. The weather conditions were strong enough to be testing, but not too strong and they were not so light as to be frustrating,' he added.

Tony Todd's new Ed Dubois- designed 50-footer, Eagle, kept the major prize in Britain, winning Class One, but Class Two went to the long-time Dutch campaigner, Hans Zuiderbaan, in Twee Gezusters.

Class Three was won by a Sigma 33, Rodney Emberson and David Every's Buckshot.