Yachting: Single-handers get colourful send-off

The fourth leg of the Around Alone yacht race started in a blaze of colour off Tauranga yesterday.

At least 300 water craft -- jet skis, kayaks, yachts and motor boats -- were on the water and five helicopters circled overhead as the 11 yachts took the start gun from Prime Minister Helen Clark.

They will cover 7880 nautical miles in the leg to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.

For the fourth time Canadian Derek Hatfield, sailing Spirit of Canada, crossed the start line first, followed closely by New Zealand's Graham Dalton aboard Hexagon.

Dalton then took a puff of wind to hit the lead but, in typical style, Swiss race leader Bernard Stamm majestically powered past Hexagon to windward by the time they reached the second marker buoy along Papamoa Beach.

French skipper Thierry Dubois on Solidaires and American Bruce Schwab on Ocean Planet were enjoying a close race just behind as the boats headed into the treacherous Southern Ocean.

The first boats are expected in Salvador de Bahia in early March. The next sighting of land for the sailors will be Cape Horn at the tip of South America.

- NZPA