N.Z. yacht wins in style

Press, 28 August 1978, Page 28

N.Z. yacht wins in style

NZPA staff correspondent London

The New Zealand yacht Waverider overcame the rare doldrums of the English Channel and some tough European opposition yesterday to sail away with the world Half Ton Cup. To cap the series victory, Waverider, skippered by Tony Bouzaid, won the 500 mile ocean race which capped off the series — a race which on Saturday looked to be beyond the New Zealand boat’s capabilities. “It was a surprise to see her coming in first today,’’ the team’s manager, Mr Bernie Petitit, admitted. “The lack' of wind and then flukey conditions at sea over the past three and a half days made sailing more difficult for Waverider than probably any other boat. “She likes good, strong winds and that’s not what we had for the past three days.”

The long race crisscrossed the Channel twice from the Dorset coast at Poole to the Cherbourg Peninsula and when the fleet turned back towards France on Saturday, Waverider was in the middle of the fleet. Her closest challenger, Britain’s Indulgence, was one place ahead. But she crept up in the trip across the Channel and sailing away from France for the last time, was in

’ ninth position, with Indulgence one back and two others in a position to win. France’s Anke and Britain's Smokey Bear, in thirteenth and eleventh places respectively.

i A Waverider crewman, i Helmer Pedersen said Indulgence was still just behind them when the sun went down. “There had been a bit of wind but it died and we just kept working all night, not knowing where the other boats were or how we were placed. “It was a pleasant • surprise this mcrning at dawn to see only one boat ahead. We overhauled her within an hour but we still weren’t sure we were in the lead. Then a Spanish boat that had pulled out came alongside and told us we were in the front. It was a great relief,” Pedersen said. Waverider, which kept the cup for the second year in New Zealand (it was won last year by Gunboat Rangiriri), made the final turn of the voyage off the Needles — 13 miles out from the finish — more than 3min ahead of the nearest yacht. Indulgence finished twentyseventh, nearly four hours after the New Zealanders had popped the first cham-pagne-bottle corks.

Waverider won with 314.75 points, ahead of Smokey Bear (287.5) and Anke (285).