Yachting Encouraging start in One Ton campaign

Press, 15 July 1985, Page 28

Yachting Encouraging start in One Ton campaign

NZPA staff correspondent London

The Kiwi Admiral’s Cup team started its British campaign encouragingly in spite of battling fog and varying winds when the opening world One Ton Cup yacht race was sailed off Poole in southern England on Saturday. Canterbury Export proved Jier prowess in light winds to take sixth place from the first of five races. Seventh place went to Exador while Epic Lass was thirteenth from almost 40 entries.

The Canterbury’s skipper, Roy Dickson, said, “It was our day today. We were happy to be in there.” Mr Dickson added that Exador got “a great boost” because she recovered from being thirty-first on the first leg of the 27-mile Olympic course.

The veteran Exador, skippered by Graeme Woodroffe, is New Zealand’s top hope in the One Ton Cup — an individual contest — and she

made a telling recovery. “It was a magnificent race by her. She pulled right through,” said Dickson, the cohelmsman with Chris Bouzaid in New Zealand’s 1969 One Ton Cup win. Canterbury was always near the front, in third place through the first leg. The Dutch boat, The Way of Living, was first home on provisional results, with Rubin (Germany) second,. Phoenix (Britain) third and Hurricane (Sweden) fourth. The Way of Living and Rubin led Canterbury at the start of the second "The first beat was in dense fog. Frequently we couldn’t see any boats at all. "There was very light air and it was difficult,to know tactically what to do because we lost track of where we were.” A

Dickson said he had needed seven hours to finish a course which normally would take about four and a half hours.

The boats were “terribly spread out” after the first leg.

The breeze shifted 180 degrees, and it was a new race in the latter stages, he said.

Rain made conditions worse and a collision holed one entry. Dickson said sailing in practice had been “rather pleasant” all week with westerly winds.

The wind was south-easterly at one stage then northeasterly. Dickson said he would be surprised if the Dutch winner of the first race continued to be a force in the series.

Rubin had, however, already been identified by the New Zealanders as a boat to reckon with in the One Ton Cup and the Admiral’s Cup team event in two weeks. Dickson said his boat twice showed she “had the legs” on Phoenix but the British boat “played the last beat just right”.

While pleased with the first day’s result he said the series would "depend entirely on the conditions.”