Sailing: Kostecki holds off Krantz to take prize

Internal links

'Straightaway I knew it was bad'

Bruised bodies, wrecked sails, record runs and a down-to-the-wire, bare knuckle finish were the ingredients of a sunshine conclusion here yesterday of the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Early in the morning John Kostecki put together back-to-back wins of the first and second legs, making illbruck the clear leader. But both Gunnar Krantz, second in SEB, and Jez Fanstone in News Corp were adamant that Kostecki can be beaten. Krantz also had the satisfaction of knowing that on "Big Tuesday" he had set a new world record for the class of 460.4 miles in 24 hours.

A more philosophical Dee Smith of Amer Sports One, digesting both a huge steak sandwich and the less palatable dish of being beaten for the second time on a run-in to the finish, added that cutting errors and downtime in an attempt to win was the task because a well-drilled and prepared illbruck was unlikely otherwise to lose.

He also had to cope with seeing his skipper, Grant Dalton, unable even to make it to the arrivals pontoon in front of the National Maritime Museum in downtown Darling Harbour. They had lost by less than seven minutes in a 22-day, 19-hour run which was decided by a wipe-out just a couple of miles off Sydney Harbour Heads.

Dalton barely made it through the finish line off the Opera House before being taken to hospital for a thorough check. Going through the Bass Strait 24 hours earlier he had been thrown violently while in the galley. The navigator/doctor Roger Nilson was worried not just about cracked or broken ribs but bruised kidneys and internal bleeding.

Ross Field was unsympathetic, having also suffered a cracked rib, preferring to concentrate on an upbeat interpretation of a second third place saying: "We were definitely better than we were on the first leg. We will be there, there is no doubt about it. I think we have the confidence that we are going the right way and doing the right things."

Also smiling much more than he could contemplate in Cape Town was Knut Frostad, fourth this time with his pink-clad crew in djuice. "I think we have proved ourselves," he said. But he was very unhappy about being told 16 days into the leg that the race committee was bringing an official protest against him for crossing the shipping lane during the start in Cape Town.

He had immediately put the yacht through a 720-degree double turn to exonerate himself but said that a points penalty by an international jury hearing scheduled for later this week would be "devastating."

Most disappointed was the crew of Assa Abloy and its skipper Neal McDonald, the British Olympian handed the job when Roy Heiner was removed in Cape Town. On the first leg they had been second when a tactical move after rounding Ihla da Trindade dumped them to fifth. This time they went one worse when deciding to round King Island in the Bass Strait to the north.

Once again navigator Mark Rudiger made the call and saw it turn to costly disaster. McDonald was clearly rocked by a final 48 hours that destroyed the continuing confidence in both the boat and the crew. Even the normally irrepressible Magnus Ollson was subdued. "It's always tough to face reality," he said," but that's life."

SECOND LEG (Cape Town to Sydney, 6,550 nautical miles): 1 illbruck (J Kostecki); 2 SEB (G Krantz); 3 News Corp (J Fanstone); 4 djuice (K Frostad); 5 Amer Sports One (G Dalton); 6 Assa Abloy (N McDonald); 7 Amer Sports Too (L McDonald) still to finish; 8 Tyco (K Shoebridge) retired. Overall positions (subject to protest): 1 illbruck 16pts; 2 News Corp 12; 3 Amer Sports One 11; 4 SEB 10; 5=, Assa Abloy, djuice 7; 7 Tyco 6; 8 Amer Sports Too 3.