1985-86 Whitbread Round the World Race – The French take the win ??? Lionel Péan would skipper L'esprit d'équipe to victory over 14 other teams, marking the ..

Closed Captions (CC):
the CI head appears in term do you

realize the full significance of the

tasks performed to be subject to every

puff of wind and every squall dad blows

day after day month after month to have

to work by the strength of your own

hands of full-rigged ship dependent upon

her sails alone for motion from England

to the Cape of Good Hope Australia or

New Zealand ear on Cape Horn and back

home to England

the most demanding sea voyage known to

man those are the words of Alan Villiers

a most remarkable man whom I'm very

proud to have known he was a fine writer

a great Seafarer

and a man who knew just about all the

balls to be known about sailing

full-rigged ships earlier this century

he'd actually served as a working member

of the crew onboard ships very much like

this one

these assailing barks and I'm standing

now on the deck of one of the most

famous of them the Cutty Sark were built

for massive strength massive but they

were also built for speed because their

main objective

once they loaded up with their cargo of

grain T wool whatever it was was to

drive to go like that klappas across the

oceans Ron Cape Horn Cape of Good Hope

and get back to their home port as quick

as they could because the sooner the

passage was made the bigger the margin

of profit for the owner and for the

skipper and the crew well added prestige

and maybe a bonus so in essence it was a

race often a very hazardous one the men

who sailed these great square riggers

had tenacity courage and huge skill well

they're they're pretty well all gone but

they still throw out a challenge to the

sailors of this generation the ocean

yachtsman of today and in the early

seventies a race was devised that would

follow almost exactly the route of the

old square riggers hard race a dramatic

race a genuine round-the-world race

known as the wit Fred

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crews from around the world sail into

Portsmouth England for the start of the

1985-86 Whitbread yachts of different

nationality capacity and design from the

ultimate maxi racing yachts like New

Zealand's NZ enterprise of up to 80 feet

and over designed specifically to win

the race outright - these smallest boat

in the race like Denmark's SAS buy a

Viking and little more than 50 feet

therefore the honor of participating but

with little hope of a bride victory

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this race organized by the royal naval

Sailing Association offers no pot of

gold to the winner it's one sports event

where the Olympic ideal of competing

honorably still holds true you're

sailing on the kind of the edge of

disaster and one false move and it

spells trouble

you either break a gear or you injure

someone

and especially for from my standpoint as

skipper it's always I have to have a

little bit of a tempering influence on

the crew you know when they really go

for it you have to say sometimes pull

back a bit it's not worth carrying a

chute now let's carry ahead slower or

this type of thing and it's it I think

for everybody it's a bit nervous but I

mean that's that's that's why we're here

and we're not here to play the safe

we're here to take calculated risks and

that's what it's all about the Whitbread

race you're competing with your peers

yeah you're in the middle of an exciting

situation which can't be repeated can't

be equal by any other kind of ocean race

so I mean the ambience is something

which is absolutely electric at times

they are quite large yachts by anyone's

standards in maybe 20 30 foot see with

some of the top breaking and you

actually starts surfing at high speed

down the front of these ways because

there's no one around at all just you

you know I don't know wonder what you're

doing it and it goes on for hour after

hour and it's come true and then a guys

down below can't sleep because of the

roar going past the off and they can

feel it nearly out of control and the

Adrenaline's pumping all the time and

then after a day of that you're actually

quite thankful that it eases off we are

the first Danish boat to be in the race

and we believe that's important and

we're doing it on a very low budget and

it's got to prove that people can still

do that even though the others are so

expensive it's not only sighting is also

a organization

preparation of the operation we have

bits bought in Switzerland it's not only

the race I think the search race is

winning before we start you never dry

four or five weeks so it's gonna be

pretty tough

you can't watch there's no washing

facility salt water watch maybe it's

pretty crude the guys on the face have

been really really good but they're very

very nice guys a few of them had a

little bit of reserved about having a

girl on the boat and even though they're

friends but they put up with it

gallantly it's a challenge to finish the

race with my own crew and it's all

freeze of me and gone back to with my

own through what else is there

III don't think you'd find anyone that

would dispute that the Whitbread race is

the greatest offshore race there is as

this race happens every four years

inevitably like a war you're planning

the next war on the evidence of the last

one and because these votes are so big

and take so long to build and work up

we've actually got to set the rules the

day after the previous race finishes

some people have said you know only 15

boats good heavens is it worth it well

it's not a question of 15 boats we've

got over 250 yachtsman taking part and

they all consider that this is the

ultimate the Everest of sailing and

looking back in time the first race they

were all very glad to get round in the

second race they were perhaps two boats

competing last race there were maybe

half a dozen this race I would I think

there perhaps only two boats that are

not there totally to win

all spectator crafts are to clear the

line between HMS Largo and Pierce

Reuters and the area to the ethers are

sign to allow the stock take clay

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Oh

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when I jokingly said yesterday that I

thought there'd be about 10,000 based on

solar so what there are and they write

the whole way from here down to the

needles solid

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[Applause]

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250 crew members 15 yachts each carrying

a handicap depending on how size and

cell capacity

it'll be as long as eight months before

some of the odds see English waters

again

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to circumnavigate the world to sit right

round the globe for centuries that's

been man's dream there have been

milestones towards its realization the

great seafarers Deanna's Vasco da Gama

and Magellan right up to Drake and cook

each one of them by their astonishing

courageous voyages took the art of

navigation a giant step for today the

Seas of the world are accurately charted

and navigational equipment is highly

sophisticated but the unknown patterns

of the ocean weather is still

unpredictable as ever in that respect

nothing has changed from either skipper

of this ship the Cutty Sark used to

chart his course from this cabin to the

skippers of the 15 yachts in the width

30 feet of course still has to be

chanted regardless

the Whitbread race is divided into four

stages first stage from Portsmouth

across the bear district down to the

doldrums west coast of Africa to get

second sting across the Southern Ocean

to Oakland using third stage from

Auckland New Zealand round be notorious

cape horn up north to Punta del Este in

Uruguay and finally across the South

Atlantic up north on top of way back

home to port 27,000 miles and some of

the toughest sailing known to man

you may wish to include yesterday okay

it's asking a lot from people who were

normal we might call normal lives to

adjust to working for hours on and for

hours off

day and night and being called on there

for hours off to assist with other tasks

and with the motion of the different

food it's very different but we are

starting to work together

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it means losing a day we can afford

better than losing we can obtain the

inspection of all the likely problem

areas and we go to the past each day not

a very pleasant job and it has to be

done went up three days ago and that the

fourth day which is a piece of very

solid wire rope it's a 19 strand wire

rope and some of the strands are

starting to break at the mouth head and

we don't know just how serious the

damage is there

the first leg to Capetown sees the less

experienced true is finding their feet

none more so than the crew of the oldest

boat in the race mosque data GB most of

whom have paid several thousand pounds

for the privilege of joining up and

talking to two of the crew on your

starter they told me that there was a

free place going and if I could scrape

together the money you know I should

come along so I went away and thought

about it and Friday morning I came down

to the dock in gospel and I just decided

that it was too good an opportunity to

pass off and Here I am I'm accepted as

just one of the team and just because

I'm a girl it doesn't matter I can't do

the physical work like winching up sails

but I do sell cheering just like anybody

else and I think I get treated just the

same over the first few days what tends

to happen is that when people aren't

used to being at sea they do get

seasickness it was quite a problem with

a couple of the line actually had to

keep pushing fluids down

water to rehydrate also give them anti

seasickness tablets

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[Applause]

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it's impossible to sleep here I don't

know what you expect but the six of us

living in this small area here we can

try and be a little bit more careful I

suppose it's more like everyone else

cozy you know different description

Italian bank I change every two days I

clean with the toilet or you're smelling

no just had some breakfast so we get

four hours off before we start again

have a quick wash these wipes

get this sunblock off try and get some

dirt outta my face I've never had so

many spots in my life as I have on this

trip because we can't wash with fresh

water it's just sea water all wipes from

all the time dye my hair

and get into a nice damp bunk because

the hatch leaked so sheets in it with

dry burden it's just something you have

to put up with it's all part of ocean

sailing and everybody else is in the

same position as I am which makes it a

lot easier roll along Cape Town and

freshwater shows

[Applause]

the 7010 mild first leg from Portsmouth

to Cape Town was proving uneventful to

the fleet the doldrums often decisive on

this leg were hardly a factor the yacht

barely slowed in their haste to get into

the southeast trades everything looked

relatively trouble-free then off the

southwest coast of Africa the South

Atlantic highs spawned gale force

southeasterly winds into the leaders

path producing an evil short and steep

sea which meant heavy punishment for

those of the fleet to get caught

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UBS Switzerland one of the lightest of

the a-class maxy yachts was fortunate

and lost no more than a men sold in the

storm she was the first to complete the

seven thousand and ten mile journey into

Cape Town in the record time of 37 days

one hour and 39 minutes over two days

quicker than the previous record set by

flyer in the 1981-82 rays

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[Applause]

while Pierre Feldman and his crews

celebrate a sweet victory others are

fighting to survive while leading the

race Atlantic privateer lost her mast in

a storm managed to rig a temporary

replacement but that also broke

eventually privateer was forced to take

onboard fuel off a passing tanker and

had to enter her home port in Cape Town

under engine power and as a result faced

disqualification over the first leg of

the race

effectively privateers raced for

outrider line honors was over but she

would bravely decide to continue the

race and would shine again

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it is less plead they keep one of the

smallest jumps in the race with its nine

man French crew which heads into Cape

Town as race lead on handicapper after

the first leg and all those several days

behind the leaders

Bob salmon and the crew of norsk dated

GB quietly slip into Cape Town at night

beating the record set by their boats in

the three previous Whitbread races by 14

hours

having taken a well-earned rest and

undertaken necessary repairs after the

first leg from replacing shattered masts

and sails to repairing damaged hulls and

rigging the fleet make final

preparations for the second leg the

journey to Auckland the emotional

farewells for another month at sea has

lost supplies and equipment go on board

the freak gets ready to move on

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a second leg of the Whitbread 7101 miles

from Cape Town to Auckland and turns

crossing that vast expanse of water

known as the southern ocean the southern

ocean in winter can be cruel experienced

hands from the earliest days of ocean

sailing to the current Whitbread fleet

all talk about the possibility of heavy

running and the Roaring Forties extreme

cold and hidden ice they respect this

stretch of water as much as any other

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on this second leg there's an expensive

see where the warmers southern Indian

Ocean meets the colder waters of the

Antarctic this is known as the Antarctic

convergence the prevailing westerly

winds with long steady seas travel

unhindered and the crews of the larger

maxi racers hoist the appropriate sails

and ride out these downward fliers

sometimes day after day never-ending

rollercoaster ride while the 18-foot

super maxi with their high-tech

specifications and million-dollar

budgets power ahead completing only four

outride honors the smallest boat in the

race the 50-foot SAS by a Viking under

her skipper and builder just burn or

sleep erasing only against themselves

their soul wishes to complete the race

I've been sailing all my life and I've

always dreamt of building a boat and I

was very much inspired by a trip to the

Caribbean seven years ago and the basic

principles in this boat were formed at

that time a yacht it must be very

strongly pills and that's partly why I

chose steel as a building material

because keep them down below

it's our home and we have a good galley

on this race we had to feed 10 people

all the time so it's important that they

have good facilities for that in boats

production boat this size you usually

have a lot of cabins and toilets crammed

together but we like it more spacey so

you have a more a feeling of room we

believe it's very important that the

people will be motivated to go as fast

as they can all the time

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on the second leg the notorious 40s

never roared the beeps on no icebergs

hardly any snow and instead of days of

heavy running a persistent northeast

wind dominated the majority of the 7101

miles the roller coaster rides of the

previous wood breads were far fewer it

was constant reaching under grey skies

this was hardly the stuff of which

Southern Ocean legends are made but the

experience races were not complain

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from the moment of sleep left Cape Town

it was a tightly for trace between nzi

enterprise and Atlantic privateer and

would stay that way to New Zealand the

to Bruce flower design Maxie's being

less than a thousand meters apart right

into Auckland after 29 days of taking

the gun for line honours in the second

leg of the fourth would forever fullest

of the tradition of condor 1977 a flyer

in 1981 a book arriving privateer has

taken nearly 25 hour off the race record

to fight flyer forty years ago he's been

missing for days and even for about

seven days has been in sight climb up

the mast and sister on and there is

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I

Oh

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Enterprise touch the sky

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it's just great to come in with a close

finish and really racing all the way it

was there a tremendous experience and

the welcome of course when we came in

and the public enthusiasm and all the

rest of it I mean there wasn't well I

got to everyone on the bed I mean there

wasn't when one guy that didn't have

tears running down his face it was very

emotional for us for Auckland much

excitement was caused by the closeness

of the two hometown entries nzi and

lyin' lyin' beat NZ i in the first leg

by around 15 hours while NZ died as a

head of lion in the second egg by

precisely the same time as lion enters

Auckland minutes separate the two yachts

on overall elapsed time to take place

they will be around 15 hours behind

Atlantic privateer but they're getting a

tremendous hero's home turn welcome and

there was a crew member out on the

spinnaker boom they seemed to have some

difficulty there he will be right over

the water at the family must be about

ten feet off the deck and now he's

coming back down the stay man without to

the behalf and they have been really

sailing under some difficulty they're

blown out three or four Spinnaker's

coming down the north wing coast and

live Zealand who has missed the deadline

of 431 to meet NZ Enterprise an overall

elapsed time for the two legs halfway

around the world but all only be a

couple of minutes come on come on

New Zealand is home to our bank welcome

there and they'll just be a couple of

minutes fine in Chennai Enterprise so

the turkeys here about surprise halfway

around the world

twenty-nine hours behind the overall

leader UVF Switzerland

mister the lads the boys in the Red Lion

new ceiling through its another round

the Whitbread boys you know the race

we're gonna win got to leave with you me

alarm you gotta make that big boat fly

but when you run the window running free

you're gonna hear this Kiwi crime

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we aren't a consider races won or lost

until we cross the finish line or the

opposition crossed the finish line in

England I mean one could get run down by

a freighter and the channel or run into

a broken loose container the things that

don't happen very often we generally hit

a while every race but they don't get

stuck under between the rudder and the

keel they can assure you guys that you

don't think it's one of things that

happened you got to put up with it and

say well that's just tough luck that's

cost us to race or Sobia des yeux sea

although for New Zealand there were

really only two boats in the race lion

and NZ buy a yacht which was to lead on

overall handicap at the halfway stage

was Dutch entry Phillips innovator

it's a tribute to Auckland that even the

last boat in the fleet to arrive sa

aspire a full ten days behind the

leaders would receive the same city of

sails welcome buyer was virtually

self-sufficient and only entered port

because the race regulations called for

it she's one of the few entries that

could probably have circumnavigated the

world without stopping off at all

the third leg of the Whitbread 6255

miles from Ogden New Zealand to the

border Punta del Este and Uruguay is for

many the most exciting leg of the race

it involves rounding Cape Horn his

southernmost tip of the Americas

patrolling the meeting point of two vast

ocean

[Applause]

[Applause]

[Applause]

since man first circumnavigated the

world the horn has held a particular

mystique particular fascination is the

one ocean landmark that still conjures

up a sense of danger calling every

Seafarer every ocean yachtsman to meet

its challenge so we're up to five for

the gun to be fired by the prime

minister of New Zealand the cannon

echoes around not here there's a

tremendous cheer from the thousands

trotting around the waterfront and the

third leg of the fort put bread round

the world your race is underway with a

squadron of aircraft helicopters all-sec

thing about the cavalry charge seems to

have started and seemed to be a whole

bunch of people anxious to impair the

progress of the boats milk and mckay

how's the view from above everybody

nicely tight reaching on starboard tack

and they're going up that Angus on a

channel neck-and-neck McCoy news even

taking a tool bar

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the southern ocean journeyed from

Auckland to Uruguay doesn't offer any

real tactical challenge the principal

aim being to stay on the north side of

the depressions that circle the bottom

of the world and to catch the prevailing

Airstream but the weather patterns are

so changeable often vicious that the

crews have to be constantly alert you be

as Switzerland sets the pace for the

fleet have best 24 hour run being a

dazzling 370 miles averaging over 15

knots of speed at Cape Horn was still a

hymn most experienced skippers in the

fleet I'm sure feel exactly the same way

you don't know what's gonna be down

there we know we're going into ice we're

going into colder conditions and we've

experienced after now apprehensive and

we're looking forward to getting it

behind us I don't really have any desire

to see the horn again as such I mean the

reason for doing this race was to was to

race a maxi against against the best

maxi skippers in the world and see how

we could do against those and and seeing

icebergs from sailing around the horn

and so on it wasn't the reason for doing

the race but I've got to admit that all

the same once we've gone around the horn

everyone on board I'm sure will heave a

sigh of relief it's a turning point and

you kind of turned the corner and you're

out of the Southern Ocean fetch and you

kind of sail into the Atlantic and

there's a bit of alley which doesn't

last long but it's kind of a symbolic

little Lee and the wind dies and you

think my god we've made it really this

is the whole purpose of the project to

go around that particular part of land

and start going home again

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from the outset of her design program

Lyon New Zealand was built to strength

able to withstand any onslaught of rough

weather but as a result she's happy

considerably more so than the other

purpose-built maxes in the race

Lyon also carries a bigger crew around

22 as a result she lacks that fine edge

of pace and only really comes into her

own when the going gets rough

so to steal an edge lion heads north

looking for win it doesn't pay off

she lags behind the other leading maxi's

but her archrival nzi suffers are far

worse trait we were sailing in model

days I guess I ran about 25 knots of

wind we were sailing with the wind part

of the beam the mast just came tummy him

down completely unexpectedly pretty

close to daybreak I guess we got fired a

pipe in the morning a local time on the

yacht there was some some sail damage

done both sails ended up quite the main

saw in the last three - ended up in the

water

it took us I guess a couple of hours to

hit the boat shipshape Digby Taylor's

Whitbread was over shattered in the

Southern Ocean he never made Cape Horn

and his crew would fly home disparity

[Applause]

one boats tragedy does not deter the

rest of the fleet to drive forward the

first sighting of icebergs reminds one

that we're in Dustin and waters in 60

degree latitude there eerie white beauty

is both reassuring and disturbing but

for SaaS buyer already days behind the

leaders the experience of the Southern

Ocean rounding the horn is a memorable

one

the very reason for their venturing into

these waters of course I guess we got

one of the best passes of Cape Horn

because we had 45 knots of wind and

sunshine and it was fantastic I know

that many of the other boats I had comms

and not very nice boys and so on so and

it was memorable because then you you

come home in the Atlantic it's like the

Atlantic is now your home waters

not very strong wind with Mossville

weber light weather and the between the

horn and here it was a little bit crazy

no wind or a very variable wind

[Applause]

predictably UBS is the first potent

appointed LST covering the 6255 miles

from Auckland in 24 days and 14 hours it

was I think the only bad wave of what we

have between New Zealand area secondly

out into Ponte is drum England who after

her disastrous start the race suffering

from series hull damage is suddenly

coming good our times we had on the

first and second leg didn't do very well

in the second leg and we had some damage

on the first leg on the third leg we we

did very well we came second and we had

a very good sail we sail tactically very

smart and I think it's because of the

the good tactics and good crew work we

came ahead a good morale booster for us

something we're gonna need for the last

leg of the trip fantastic I mean it was

amazing it's been such a long way we've

had big waves we've got a little ways

you've had a lot of wind we've had no

wind we've had whales we had dolphins

we've got the amazing crew on board and

what about did you compose I mean you

saw me during the trip no ha maybe later

but I thank you to everybody in Uruguay

for coming to see us in and make us feel

welcome here this is a fantastic day in

my life it's the same they sleep the

same and work the same and that's the

way it's always been planned and that's

how Simon has always wanted it I mean

he's trying to do the Whitbread

experience as a crew member and that's

to do it you have to do it full on

overall race leader on handicap op

surrounding the horn is the 58-foot les

Creed they keep with her French crew she

overcomes near-disaster by nursing a

mass that buckled below deck but

l'esprit manages to hold it together in

2.0 to keep her in the race she will now

be the yacht to beat on overall handicap

for the final leg the fourth and final

leg of the Whitbread 6280 one miles from

Uruguay smack across the Atlantic North

to Portsmouth is mostly sailing hard on

the wind the fleet must fetch across two

tradewind belts and the doldrums are

almost a relief this is the lane when

boats go as light as possible stripping

out any unwanted weight and if necessary

reducing the number of crew to give them

the best possible chance of a fast time

to the finish in England

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now

leaving Punta del Este the fleet head

north towards the equator hard on the

wind and pray not to get caught in the

doldrums for those that do like rockin

or try staff it can be a long wait

losing valuable hours even days glass

like seas for as far as the eye can see

absolutely no wind just boredom and

agonizing frustration hitting the

doldrums can lose about the race luck

plays its part when the wind comes it's

a glorious relief

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

for you we have Switzerland it's a quick

dash across the Atlantic untroubled by

the weather unaffected by the doldrums

with not a competitor near enough to

threaten and the Atlantic privateer it

takes a gamble and an obscure root Lion

cares too much weight drum lacks a meet

or two of length code or never finds a

potential

[Music]

UBS enters British waters over half a

day ahead of any rival refreshed

unstrained and exhilarated

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they've shattered the outright record by

over two days set by flyer in the

1981-82 race

[Music]

covering the four legs of the race in a

hundred and seventeen days 14 hours and

31 minutes the achievement is a tribute

to Pierre Feldman the lake sailor from

Switzerland who has striven to win for

the past 11 years this time he got

everything right and nobody could touch

him or his meticulous cruel

[Music]

[Music]

shortly before midnight on Monday the

truth of May Lisp read they keep a

58-foot French yawn from the port of Sam

Marlowe slips into Portsmouth to win the

final leg from Uruguay on handicap more

important she takes the overall handicap

honors for the race the victory is

particularly sweet because three days

earned the master list pre became

distorted as in the third minute and it

required the astute seamanship of

skipper Leonel paon and his crew to

bring the boat home in one piece

[Music]

for buyer the last of the feet to each

Portsmouth it is a moment to cherish and

a personal triumph for skipper just for

norsk for me it been a very long project

because all the building of the Pope's

and now finishing off with the race and

so on actually I cannot imagine not

having done it but I know that it would

be quite different next time because it

will be much more competitive with big

money involved I think we just got the

last call for the amateur business like

we did we've got a second out of it so

one must be very happy on it's not as

good as a first but we're head of drum

we're ahead of coated or we're ahead of

Atlantic privateer or ahead of all the

other big bunch so and why be sorry

about that

the first iceberg coming out of the mist

when we're doing 15 knots under

spinnaker it's pretty dramatic I mean

I've had masters break on me and every

other race it's cost me the race every

time so every time someone's lost the

mast we thought it's the best thing ever

because that's what exactly what this

race is all about its endurance the

Whitbread races it's a great contrast in

life in a sporting life and I think to

have completed it and having having it

been a success I think it's a great

satisfaction both physically and

emotionally it's a it's a combination of

all these things and to sit down at the

end of the day and put your feet up and

say I've done it it said it gives me

great satisfaction

[Applause]

[Music]

her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales

makes it official

for liners the Long John trophy to Pia

Thurman of the crew of euboea

Switzerland

and for winning on overall handicap the

wood bread trophy to Leonel pay off and

the crew of less played a key

before managers concluded for another

four years

the character of the Whitbread has

certainly changed since the first race

in 1973 as in all classic sports events

winning has become ever more important

stretching the ingenuity of the designer

and the courage and skills of the

yachtsman where once it was enough just

went ER and make it through the 27,000

miles now the challenge is to go all out

and win it's finding their perfect

balance between outright pace and

strength in both yacht and crew that has

made the Whitbread the ultimate Ocean

Race and such a fascinating event to

follow when you think about it the

ideals of today's ocean racer are not so

far removed from those of the owners and

skippers of the square riggers a century

ago

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]
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