1997–1998 Whitbread Round the World Race

1997–98
Whitbread Round the World Race
Event title
Edition	7th
Yachts	Whitbread 60
Competitors
Competitors	10
Results
Winner	EF Language
	← 1993–94 2001–02 →

The 1997–98 Whitbread Round the World Race was the seventh edition of the around-the-world sailing event Whitbread Round the World Race. The Whitbread Round the World Race ran for the first time with all W60 boats and to a "points vs time" (instead of aggregate leg time) scoring system to enhance the value of the shorter race legs.

Also, in an effort to attract additional media coverage, the Whitbread race committee divided the race into no less than 9 legs for the 1997 to 1998 race, therefore increasing the number of ports visited.

Volvo had its first major association with the race in 1997 to 1998 by sponsoring the trophy (thus the race was officially known as the Whitbread 'round the world race for the Volvo Trophy) and some of the media coverage. For the first time running to W60-only specification, this year's Whitbread attracted just 10 entries—the fewest to date.

Participants

Boat	Nation	Designer	Skipper
America's Challenge	United States	Alan Andrews	Ross Field
Brunel Sunergy	Netherlands	Judel/Vrolijk	Roy Heiner
Chessie Racing	United States	Farr Yacht Design	George Collins
EF Education	Sweden	Farr Yacht Design	Christine Guillou
EF Language	Sweden	Farr Yacht Design	Paul Cayard
Innovation Kvaerner	Norway	Farr Yacht Design	Knut Frostad
Merit Cup	Monaco	Farr Yacht Design	Grant Dalton
Silk Cut	United Kingdom	Farr Yacht Design	Lawrie Smith
Swedish Match	Sweden	Farr Yacht Design	Gunnar Krantz
Toshiba	United States	Farr Yacht Design	Dennis Conner Paul Standbridge

America's Challenge

Led by Neil Barth and skippered by Ross Field, the team bought Yamaha before building America’s Challenge.^[1] The team struggled for funding and withdrew from the race in Cape Town.^[2]^[3] The crew included a group of New Zealanders, including Jared Henderson, and the UK's Matthew Humphries.

Brunel Sunergy

Skippered by Hans Bouscholte, the crew included Roy Heiner, Gerald Rogivue and Peter van Niekerk.^[4]

Chessie Racing

Skippered by 57-year-old George Collins, the crew included John Kostecki, Juan Vila, Gavin Brady and Ken Read.^[5]

EF Education and EF Language

EF Language was skippered by Paul Cayard and included a core crew from his AmericaOne challenge for the 2000 America's Cup.^[5] Lawrie Smith was originally intended to lead the boat, until transferring to Silk Cut. The crew included Steven Erickson and Magnus Olsson

The team's second boat, EF Education, had an all-female crew and was led by French woman Christine Guillou and included Isabelle Autissier. Leslie Egnot joined the crew on leg 4.^[5]

Kvaerner Innovation

Skippered by Knut Frostad, the crew included Marcel van Triest, Ross Halcrow, Tony Rae, Ed Baird, Torben Grael and Pierre Mas.

Merit Cup

Merit Cup was a Monaco flagged boat skippered by Grant Dalton. One of only two team's that built two boats, the crew included watch captain Kevin Shoebridge, Ian Stewart, Mike Sanderson, Jeremy Lomas, Dirk de Ridder, Ray Davies and Mike Quilter.^[5]

Silk Cut

Led by Lawrie Smith, Silk Cut was the last boat in the fleet designed by Bruce Farr. The crew included Jez Fanstone, Neil Graham, Gordon Maguire, Neal McDonald, Jan Dekker and Stu Bannatyne.^[5]

Swedish Match

Swedish Match was skippered by Gunnar Krantz and included Roger Nilson and Erle Williams.^[5] Matthew Humphries joined the crew following the withdrawal of America's Challenge.

Toshiba

Led by Dennis Conner and Paul Standbridge, Toshiba was originally skippered by Chris Dickson but Dickson was fired after Leg 1.^[6] Other crew members included Ross MacDonald, Murray Ross, Chris Ward, Alan Smith and Kelvin Harrap.

The crew had 13 Whitbread and 28 America's Cup campaigns between them.^[5]

Route

Ports visited

Event	Start date	Start	Finish	Distance (nmi)
Leg 1	21 September 1997	Southampton	Cape Town	7,340
Leg 2	11 November 1997	Cape Town	Fremantle	4,600
Leg 3	13 December 1997	Fremantle	Sydney	2,250
Leg 4	4 January 1998	Sydney	Auckland	1,270
Leg 5	1 February 1998	Auckland	São Sebastião	6,670
Leg 6	14 March 1998	São Sebastião	Fort Lauderdale	4,750
Leg 7	19 April 1998	Fort Lauderdale	Baltimore	870
Leg 8	3 May 1998	Baltimore	La Rochelle	3,390
Leg 9	22 May 1998	La Rochelle	Southampton	450

Results

	Leg 1	Leg 2	Leg 3	Leg 4	Leg 5	Leg 6	Leg 7	Leg 8	Leg 9	Total
EF Language	125	72	105	70	135	101	81	55	92	836
Merit Cup	110	48	70	105	78	66	50	66	105	698
Swedish Match	36	125	92	60	91	89	92	44	60	689
Innovation Kvaerner	97	110	60	40	65	77	70	33	81	633
Silk Cut	84	84	40	50	26 DNF	115	60	101	70	630
Chessie Racing	72	60	81	81	105	55	40	89	30	613
Toshiba	60	97	50	92	0 DSQ	44	20 PEN	115	50	528
Brunel Sunergy	12	24	30	30	119	33	105	22	40	415
EF Education	24	36	20	20	26 DNF	22	30	77	20	275
America's Challenge	0 DNS	0 DNS	0 DNS	0 DNS	0 DNS	0 DNS	0 DNS	0 DNS	0 DNS	48

References

^ "Whitbread 60 "Challenger" Whitbread Round the World Race | Miramar Sailing".
^ Volvo Ocean Race: History 1997–1998 – Leg 2
^ https://www.spartanoceanracing.com/boats
^ "16609 Text Pages_il.qxd" (PDF). Retrieved 10 July 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g "A Whitbread wake-up call". Yachting. 1 October 1997 – via Google Books.
^ Volvo Ocean Race: History 1997–1998

External links

Official website

[1] "Whitbread 60 "Challenger" Whitbread Round the World Race | Miramar Sailing".

[2] Volvo Ocean Race: History 1997–1998 – Leg 2

[3] ttps://www.spartanoceanracing.com/boats

[4] "16609 Text Pages_il.qxd" (PDF). Retrieved 10 July 2016.

[book-5] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g "A Whitbread wake-up call". Yachting. 1 October 1997 – via Google Books.

[6] Volvo Ocean Race: History 1997–1998

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e The Ocean Race
Whitbread Round the World Race	1973–1974 1977–1978 1981–1982 1985–1986 1989–1990 1993–1994 1997–1998
Volvo Ocean Race	2001–2002 2005–2006 2008–2009 2011–2012 2014–2015 2017–2018
The Ocean Race	2023 2026/2027
The Ocean Race Europe	2021 2025
Class	Volvo Open 70 Volvo Ocean 65 Volvo Ocean 60 IMOCA 60
Related articles	Maiden (film)
List of The Ocean Race sailors