Yachting: Global yachts set sails for Tasman dash

ABN Amro One skipper Mike Sanderson says to expect a cautious leg from his team in the sprint from Melbourne to Wellington for the third leg of the round-the-world yacht race.

Sanderson's team have a 7.5 point lead over their second team ABN Amro Two after two legs and three stopover races.

Seven points are up for grabs on the short 1450 nautical-mile blast across the Tasman, which starts tomorrow, but the difficulty for teams is that the stopover in Wellington is for just two days.

Under the new format Auckland was eliminated as a proper three-week stopover and Wellington took its place as a pitstop.

Under the Volvo Ocean Race rules for a pitstop, any boat taking on food, diesel, spare parts or needing outside assistance will have to delay its departure for Rio de Janerio by two hours after the start.

A tough call considering the leg to Rio, which starts next Sunday, is the longest and one of the most gruelling in the race.

As a result Sanderson said it could be a case of carefully, carefully for some teams during the leg that takes them through Bass Strait and into the often wild water of Cook Strait.

"We can't, as no one can, afford to be in bits when we get to Wellington," Sanderson said from Melbourne.

"To have a damaged boat, even worse a boat you couldn't get to Wellington in time for a restart, then suddenly you are talking about a huge potential points loss which would be devastating.

"We have a reasonably little buffer now and it would be well worth us taking the foot off the gas between here and Rio and just trying to make sure we get there and in one piece.

"I think everyone realises we have to get there and you can't earn points without finishing."

But Sanderson said that doesn't mean the fleet will be cruising.

"There is still lots of conditions, under 25 knots when you are still going to push at 100 odd per cent.

"It is only a fairly limited windspeed we are talking about when really the boat is starting to launch itself out of waves."

While the ABN Amro boats have so far achieved full points for sturdiness, the same can't be said about many others plagued with problems with their canting keel mechanisms. The break in Melbourne has allowed most teams to conduct full investigations of the failures and make repairs. As a result last weekend's in-port race was competitive and Sanderson believes that is going to be the nature of the race from now on.

Yesterday the intentions of Australian entry Brunel were still unclear. It has been suggested the team will pull out and rejoin the race in Baltimore in order to revamp their boat.

Sanderson said the changeable weather has made it difficult to predict how long the Wellington leg will take.

"We have had everything forecast from beautiful trips across the Tasman to the 50 knots in a forecast 36 hours ago.

"It will be interesting how it settles down.

"The Tasman being the Tasman it could be anything."

For Sanderson and the many other Kiwis in the fleet, the trip home is a much awaited one.

"We never dreamed of the boats being one and two at this stage."