Sailing: Wind turns race into lottery

Stuart Alexander
Thursday 14 May 1998 18:02 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

NERVES were becoming frayed on the Whitbread race track last night as the final stages of the eighth leg from Annapolis to La Rochelle turned into a lottery. At the front, Paul Standbridge in Toshiba and Lawrie Smith in Britain's Silk Cut watching anxiously as the fickle wind caused all sorts of problems.

For the previous leader, Grant Dalton, it had been "a dark day on board as Merit Cup had watched overnight the boats in the north hold [wind] pressure longer and sail away from us''.

No one could say with certainty who would be first into a French town eagerly awaiting their arrival, or even when. Even more uncertain was how points would be allocated by the time all nine had finished.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in