Swedish yacht EF Language, skippered by Paul Cayard, won the first leg of the Whitbread Round the World race in Cape Town yesterday. EF Language took 30 days, 16 hours, 54 minutes and 26 seconds to cover the 7,350-mile haul from Cowes, England, setting sail on September 21st.
Nearest rivals Merit Cup of Monaco, with Grant Dalton at the helm, and Innovation Kvaerner of Norway, skippered by Knut Frostad, were running almost neck-and-neck and were expected to arrive 16 hours later, around midnight last night.
The leading three Whitbread-60 Class yachts were a considerable distance ahead of fourth positioned British yacht Silk Cut, skippered by Lawrie Smith, which is only expected in Cape Town sometime today. In fifth and sixth position were US boats Chessie Racing (Mark Fischer) and America's Challenge (Ross Field).
Ten vessels are competing in the 31,600-mile Whitbread race, which has attracted some of the best yachtsmen in the world.
New Zealander Chris Dickson, sailing Dennis Conner's American entry Toshiba, was an 11 to 4 favourite with bookmakers, with Grant Dalton's Merit Cup, racing for Monaco, at 3 to 1 and the Norwegian boat Innovation Kvaerner 7 to 2.
The second leg gets going on November 8th, when the yachts set sail across the Southern Ocean to spend Christmas and New Year around Australia and New Zealand.
