1989–1990 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 of yacht.

1989–90
Whitbread Round the World Race
Event title
Edition5th
YachtsMulti-class
Competitors
Competitors23
Results
WinnerSteinlager 2

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 in their division (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 cost of the big yachts was becoming too expensive to fund - even for the well sponsored teams like Steinlager, Rothmans and Merit. Eventually, the new class would be called the Whitbread 60.

The 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 Division D.[1] Edwards was named yachtsman of the year and appointed MBE. In 2018 a documentary has been made about the team's participation in the race.[2]

Route

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Race route
Event Start date Start Finish Distance (nmi) Winner
Leg 1 2 September 1989   Southampton   Punta del Este 5,938 Steinlager 2
Leg 2 28 October 1989   Punta del Este   Fremantle 7,260 Steinlager 2
Leg 3 23 December 1989   Fremantle   Auckland 3,272 Steinlager 2
Leg 4 4 February 1990   Auckland   Punta del Este 6,255 Steinlager 2
Leg 5 17 March 1990   Punta del Este   Fort Lauderdale 5,475 Steinlager 2
Leg 6 5 May 1990   Fort Lauderdale   Southampton 3,818 Steinlager 2

Results

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Pos Class Class
Pos
Sail Number Yacht Country Yacht Type LOA
(Metres)
Skipper Elapsed Time
d:hh:mm:ss
1 A 1 KZ 2 Steinlager 2   New Zealand Farr 84 Ketch Maxi 25.60 Peter Blake 128:09:40:30
2 A 2 KZ 400 Fisher & Paykel   New Zealand Farr 82 Ketch Maxi 25.30 Grant Dalton 129:21:18:22
3 A 3 Z 3333 Merit   Switzerland Farr 81 Sloop Maxi 24.60 Pierre Fehlmann 130:10:10:14
4 A 4 K 100 Rothmans   Great Britain Humphreys 81 Sloop Maxi 24.54 Lawrie Smith 131:04:54:23
5 A 5 US 42624 The Card   Sweden Farr 79 Ketch Maxi 24.17 Roger Nilson 135:07:15:43
6 A 6 F 8992 Charles Jourdan   France Ribadeau Dumas 72 Sloop Maxi 21.95 Max-Philippe Couteau
Alain Gabbay
136:15:14:51
7 A 7 E 1992 Fortuna Extra Lights   Spain Visiers 77 Sloop Maxi 23.47 Jan Santana 137:08:14:11
8 A 8 I 11441 Gatorade   Italy Farr 80 Sloop Maxi 24.38 Giorgio Falck 138:14:30:12
9 A 9 L 8008 Union Bank of Finland   Finland Joubert-Nivelt 82 Sloop Maxi 24.99 Ludde Ingvall 138:16:38:12
10 A 10 L 8009 Belmont Finland II   Finland Farr 80 Sloop Maxi 24.29 Harry Harkimo 139:04:31:13
11 A 11 SR 1989 Fazisi   Soviet Union Murnikov-Design Group VTK 82 Sloop Maxi 24.99 Alexei Greschenko
Skip Novak
139:09:01:04
12 A 12 IR 1992 NCB Ireland   Ireland Holland 81 Sloop Maxi 24.69 Joe English 139:19:22:38
13 A 13 K 303 Satquote British Defender   Great Britain Francis-Faroux 81 Sloop Maxi 24.69 Colin Watkins 143:12:42:23
14 C 1 H 400 Equity and Law II   Netherlands Judel Vrolijk 63 Sloop 19.11 Dirk Nauta 148:23:50:33
15 A 14 K 1996 Liverpool Enterprise   Great Britain Farr 80 Sloop Maxi 24.38 Bob Salmon 151:04:52:22
16 Cruiser 1 K 808 Creighton's Naturally   Great Britain Williams-Peterson Ocean 80 Sloop Maxi 24.54 John Chittenden 162:06:34:58
17 D 1 F 1789 L'Esprit de Liberté   France Briand 58 Sloop 17.58 Patrick Tabarly 164:21:36:16
18 D 2 K 1418 Maiden   Great Britain Farr 58 Sloop 17.75 Tracy Edwards 167:03:06:53
19 D 3 G 944 Schlüssel von Bremen   West Germany Judel Vrolijk Baltic 63 Sloop 19.20 Rolf Renken
Harm Müller-Röhlck
167:19:07:34
20 Cruiser 2 K 3566 With Integrity   Great Britain Gurney 77 Sloop Maxi 23.52 Andrew Coghill 170:16:19:07
21 D 4 F 9302 La Poste   France Frers First 51 Beneteau Sloop 15.54 Daniel Mallé 181:22:56:17
DNF D 5 B 763 Rucanor Sport   Belgium Ribadeau Dumas 58 Sloop 17.63 Bruno Dubois Retired-Leg 4
DNF A 15 L 9000 Martela O.F.   Finland Frers 81 Sloop Maxi 24.60 Markku Wiikeri Retired-Leg 4
References:[3][4][5]

The boat Creighton's Naturally suffered a serious broach on leg 2, at about 3  am. 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.[6]

Martela OF lost its keel and capsized 350 nautical miles from the finish of leg 4. The unharmed crew was picked up from the overturned hull by Charles Jourdan and Merit. Union Bank of Finland also broke off the race to participate in the rescue.[7]

References

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  1. ^ "Volvo Ocean Race 1989-90". Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  2. ^ Kylie Klein-Nixon (4 August 2019). "When Maiden bowled them over: Why we can never let up about women in sport". Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  3. ^ Histoiredeshalfs. "WHITBREAD ROUND THE WORLD RACES".
  4. ^ "Whitbread Round The World Race Entries". The Daily Telegraph. 2 September 1989.
  5. ^ John Jourdane, Icebergs, Port and Starboard, 1992, pages 175,186-209
  6. ^ Volvo Ocean Race: History - Leg 2
  7. ^ Volvo Ocean Race: Legends Race 2018