Sailing: Only fate can deny Kostecki

Volvo Ocean Race

Though there are still 22 per cent of the points to play for and mathematically two boats can still win the Volvo Ocean Race, as illbruck pulled into La Rochelle late last week to notch up a fourth win from seven legs, it will only be an unfortunate twist that will deny John Kostecki and his mutli-national crew victory when the nine-month trek around the world grinds to a conclusion in Kiel on 9 June.

illbruck had not won a leg since leading into Brazil two stages ago and with Assa Abloy and Tyco coming into form, there was a sparkle of hope among illbruck's rivals that Kostecki's dominant advantage had been worn away. No longer do they harbour such dreams.

"illbruck sailed a near faultless leg,'' said Neal McDonald, the skipper of the improving Assa Abloy, now illbruck's only serious contender for the trophy. That form, coupled with the speed advantage that illbruck seemed to enjoy these last two weeks, should be enough to see them home.

But while the illbruck crew made it look easy as they slipped into the lead in the early stages of the leg and stretched away to notch up an outright monohull 24-hour speed record (484 miles in 24 hours or an average of over 20 knots), all was not well on board. A bout of gastric poisoning severely debilitated the crew to the point where at one stage just one person emerged from below to begin a three-person watch.

"Four of us have been throwing up violently over the last 48 hours,'' said Kostecki. "I'm not sure if it was food poisoning or a bug we picked up in Baltimore before we left.''

While Neal McDonald has been spending the last week trying to work out how to sail around illbruck and into a challenging position, his wife Lisa has been playing a logistical game trying to work out how to get Amer Sports Too back onto the ocean race track. Amer Too lost its mast off the coast of Newfoundland more than a week ago. The boat was nursed back to Halifax in Canada and is now on a ship bound for Liverpool.

Lisa McDonald's race against time will see her and her crew meet the boat at Liverpool docks on Tuesday and truck the 60-foot craft to Gosport where a new mast will be fitted. While the other crews will be resting and fine tuning in La Rochelle, the all-women team will be rushing to step the new mast in time to sail across to France for the re-start on 25 May. Though offers of help in the form of sails and spares have come from across the fleet, time is likely to be the major enemy.

If the women's team have a battle on their hands simply to be ready to play any further part in this race over the next month, others have more philosophical difficulties.

At the back Knut Frostad has set the sights of the lacklustre dJuice Dragons team on a podium finish that has so far eluded them. Not far ahead Gunnar Krantz will be dreaming of winning a leg to save Swedish face on Team SEB. For Tyco, News Corp and even Amer Sports One, a place on the podium will now be the main priority. While Assa Abloy, eight points behind illbruck, can still call themselves contenders, the reality is that they need to win both remaining legs with illbruck in fifth both times for the German boat to be toppled.

It is not an impossible prospect and in sailing, as Lisa McDonald can testify, the worst can happen at the oddest moment. But it would be a cruel twist of fate that denied Kostecki a race win that will stand at the pinnacle of four years' work. The team that started first, turned over the most stones and covered the most ground now look likely to prevail. When it happens it will have been a long time coming but no one will say it was not deserved.

VOLVO OCEAN RACE Seventh stage (Annapolis to La Rochelle): 1 illbruck Challenge 10 days 20hrs 44min 30sec, 8pts; 2 Assa Abloy +1hr 55min, 7; 3 Team Tyco +3hrs 35min, 6; 4 Team SEB +5hrs 9min, 5; 5 Amer Sports One +5hrs 12min, 4; 6 Team News Corp +5hrs 48min, 3; 7 djuice +11hrs 25min, 2; 8 Amer Sports Too, ret.

Overall standings: 1 illbruck (J Kostecki) 49pts; 2 Assa Abloy (N McDonald) 41; 3 Amer Sports One (G Dalton) 36; 4 News Corp (J Fanstone) 34; 5 Tyco (K Shoebridge) 33; 6 SEB (G Krantz) 26; 7 djuice (K Frostad) 23; 8 Amer Sports Too (L McDonald) 10.

Eighth leg: La Rochelle to Göteborg (1,075 nm) 25 May. Final leg: Göteborg to Kiel (250 nm) 8 June