Yachting: Cold front gives Volvo lead to Dalton

By JULIE ASH

Grant Dalton's Amer Sports One has sailed into the lead in the fourth leg of the round-the-world race from Auckland to Rio de Janeiro.

Its position east of the fleet has proved a good one as it picked up a cold front, which helped it to achieve a one- to two-knot higher average speed than the others.

Yesterday, it had a narrow lead over News Corp, illbruck, Assa Abloy and SEB, which were bunched together, south of New Zealand.

Only 14 nautical miles separated the top five.

Djuice and Tyco, who are west of the fleet, were sixth and seventh. Amer Sports Too was at the rear.

But Amer Sports One's lead has not come without drama.

A shark got caught around its propeller strut and no matter how hard the crew tried they could not dislodge it, forcing diver Stefano Rizzi over the side.

"We thought it was a shark, but didn't know for sure because it was dark," Dalton said.

"We stopped the boat and Stefano jumped in to take a look.

"It was a small one, just over a metre long, but still big enough to take a fair-sized bite."

The yachts are expected to start arriving in Rio on February 19.

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