1989–90 Whitbread Round the World Race
The 1989–90 Whitbread Round the World Race was run from Southampton to Southampton in 1989–90. It was run with several classes (for size of boat). This race featured the first all-woman crew on Tracy Edwards' Maiden. Although in a much smaller boat than many of their male counterparts the women fared well—claiming two leg victories in class.
Steinlager 2 skippered by Peter Blake won the race easily. For the first time since 1981–82 (when the race comprised just four legs), the victor won every leg (albeit closely chased by both Grant Dalton's Fisher & Paykel NZ and Pierre Fehlmann's Merit entries). The vast difference in speed and capability of the many different boats involved in the 1989 to 1990 race lead to the creation of a committee to examine the commission of a Whitbread class boat for use in future races. Many of the Maxi yachts in this year's race were nearly twice the size (LOA) of the smallest, and carried well over twice the sail area. The net result of this was that many of the smaller boats finished the longer legs more than ten days after the leg winner. In the overall results, the last finisher was some 52 days behind Blake's Steinlager 2 128-day aggregate time. In addition, the expense of the big yachts was getting to be too much - even for the well funded teams like Steinlager, Rothmans and Merit. Eventually, the new class would be called the W60 - but its gestation would not be quick or lack controversy.
Legs
Leg | Start | Finish | Leg winner | Skipper |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Southampton, England | Punta del Este, Uruguay | Steinlager 2 | Peter Blake(NZ) |
2 | Punta del Este, Uruguay | Fremantle, Australia | Steinlager 2 | Peter Blake (NZ) |
3 | Fremantle, Australia | Auckland, New Zealand | Steinlager 2 | Peter Blake (NZ) |
4 | Auckland, New Zealand | Punta del Este, Uruguay | Steinlager 2 | Peter Blake (NZ) |
5 | Punta del Este, Uruguay | Fort Lauderdale, United States | Steinlager 2 | Peter Blake (NZ) |
6 | Fort Lauderdale, United States | Southampton, England | Steinlager 2 | Peter Blake (NZ) |
Final standings:
Race results
Pos | Boat | Skipper | Country | Corrected time |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Steinlager 2 | Blake, Peter Peter Blake | New Zealand | 128d 9h |
2 | Fisher & Paykel NZ | Dalton, Grant Grant Dalton | New Zealand | 129d 21h |
3 | Merit | Fehlmann, Pierre Pierre Fehlmann | Switzerland | 130d 10h |
4 | Rothmans | Smith, Lawrie Lawrie Smith | Great Britain | 131d 4h |
5 | The Card | Nilson, Roger Roger Nilson & Ann Lippens | Sweden | 135d 7h |
6 | Charles Jourdan | Gabbay, Alain Alain Gabbay | France | 136d 15h |
7 | Fortuna Extra Lights | Gaudera, Javier de la Javier de la Gaudera, Jan Santana & José Luis Doreste | Spain | 137d 8h |
8 | Gatorade | Falck, Giorgio Giorgio Falck & Hervé Jan Preire Sicouin | Italy | 138d 14h |
9 | Union Bank of Finland | Ingvall, Ludde Ludde Ingvall | Finland | 138d 16h |
10 | Belmont Finland II | Harkimo, Harry Harry Harkimo | Finland | 139d 4h |
11 | Fazisi | Grischenko, Alexi Alexi Grischenko, Skip Novak & Valeri Alekseyev | Soviet Union | 139d |
12 | NCB Ireland | English, Joe Joe English | Ireland | 139d 19h |
13 | British Satquote Defender | Esson, Frank Frank Esson & Colin Watkins | Great Britain | 143d 12h |
14 | Equity & Law II | Nauta, Dirk Dirk Nauta | Netherlands | 148d 23h |
15 | Liverpool Enterprise | Salmon, Bob Bob Salmon | Great Britain | 151d 4h |
16 | Creighton's Naturally | Chittendon, John John Chittendon | Great Britain | 162d 6h |
17 | Esprit de Liberté | Tabarly, Patrick Patrick Tabarly | France | 164d 21h |
18 | Maiden | Edwards, Tracy Tracy Edwards | Great Britain | 167d 3h |
19 | Schlussel von Bremen | Renken, Rolf Rolf Renken, Ham Müeller-Röhlok, Jochen Orgelmann, Wilhelm-Otto Beck & Peter Weidner | Germany | 167d 19h |
20 | With Integrity | Coghill, Andy Andy Coghill | Great Britain | 170d 16h |
21 | La Poste | Mallé, Daniel Daniel Mallé | France | 181d 22h |
– | Rucanor Sport | Dubois, Bruno Bruno Dubois | Belgium | DNF |
– | Martela OF | Wilkeri, Markku Markku Wilkeri | Finland | DNF |
Legend: DNF – Did not finish;
The boat Creighton's Naturally suffered a serious broach on leg 2, at about 3 in the morning. Crew members Anthony (Tony) Philips and Bart van den Dwey were swept over board. They were both pulled back on deck. Van den Dwey successfully resuscitated, but, after three hours of trying, crewmembers were unable to revive Philips. A few days later, by radio agreement with relatives ashore, Philips was buried at sea.[2]