Flyer first

Press, 12 April 1978, Page 32

Flyer first

NZPA staff correspondent London The Dutch yacht Flyer — with two New Zealanders in her crew — has been confirmed as the handicap winner of the Whitbread round-the-world yacht race. Flyer entered Portsmouth i Harbour last Thursday, a full week after the British entry, Heath’s Condor, gained the prestige of being the first yacht home. But the organisers of the; race, the Royal Naval Sailing Association, have confirmed Flyer as the yacht with the lowest aggregate corrected time around the world — a total of 2857.0073 hours, or just under 120 days. Owned and skippered by Cornelius' van Rietschoten, Flyer and her crew were praised for “an almost textbook race” which had re-

tsulted in winning the first [leg from Portsmouth to [Cape Town, coming fourth from Cape Town to Auckland, second on the third leg to Rio de Janeiro, and seventh on the final leg. The Whitbread Trophy for the race will be presented in London late in June. Meanwhile Rob James, the skipper of Great Britain 11, has been named as the “man *f the race” by Bob Fisher, yachting writer for the “Guardian” newspaper. James, who is the husband of the solo New Zealand yachtswoman, Naomi James, now circumnavigating the world alone in Express Crusader, stood out “head [and shoulders above the (others as the choice of nearly ail the competitors and (observers of this ocean marathon,” Fisher said.