Yachting: Nerves to fore as fleet heads south

A weary Mike Sanderson sat in a cafe by Wellington Harbour yesterday, his yellow, green and black ocean racer reflecting in his sunglasses on the table.

A day earlier Sanderson and his team ABN Amro One were locked in a tense battle with movistar in the third leg of the round-the-world race - a battle Sanderson lost by a mere 9 seconds.

Yesterday in the race village the friendly Auckland skipper could barely take a step without being stopped by someone to discuss the race or congratulate him on leading the charge in the lap of the planet.

While he was more than happy to stop and chat to some of the hundreds who streamed along the dock taking in the ocean racers and the rock star sailors busy aboard them Sanderson's mind was never far from the journey ahead.

It starts tomorrow when the fragile 21m yachts return to the deep, dark and cold Southern Ocean.

"There will be apprehension when we leave Wellington," Sanderson said.

"It is down south, you get the big westerlies and lots of running and lots of big breeze. These boats are extreme enough as it is without throwing house-size lumps of ice at them."

After their epic win, movistar will incur a two-hour penalty in tomorrow's start after they were forced to make repairs in Wellington which is against the rules.

Ericsson chose to suspend racing to make repairs just before the finish line in Wellington. They are at the dock but are expected to sail back out and across the finish line today which will avoid the two-hour penalty.

ABN Amro Two are expected to make a crew change for bowman Gerd Jan Poortman who seriously injured his tailbone and face after a wave sent him plummeting down the deck.

Despite their narrow loss to movistar, Sanderson's team have set the benchmark in the race.

They have so far had few problems with their reliable Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed yacht which has shown some scintillating speed.

Winning the first two legs, it appeared Sanderson had a chance of blasting around the world unbeaten in every leg, like a certain Kiwi knight did on a famous yacht nicknamed Big Red more than a decade ago.

"I tried not to think of the possibility of going around unbeaten," Sanderson said. "We all remember Steinlager II going around unbeaten and Sir Peter Blake being such a national icon."

Having been a part of Grant Dalton's campaigns with New Zealand Endeavour, Sanderson is in regular contact with the Emirates Team New Zealand boss.

"One of the best compliments I have ever had was that the campaign looked like a Grant Dalton campaign."