Yachting: Ailing Dalton in catfight off Morocco

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Round-the-world yachting veteran Grant Dalton is popping pills and playing some old tricks trying to keep the lead in The Race.

Dalton has been gulping down antibiotics to beat the flu which has bugged him since his monster catamaran Club Med left Barcelona on New Year's Day.

At the same time he has been trying to beat his boat's sister ships - Team Adventure and Innovation Explorer - as they zigzag in difficult headwinds through the Atlantic.

"I have enough drugs in me to stop a small elephant," Dalton said yesterday.

"It's really difficult to run things on the boat with various people being ill, and that starts with me."

In the last 24 hours, all three boats have had a turn in the lead. No more than 30 miles separate them, now off the coast of Morocco.

Last night, Dalton was employing a trick learned from five global circumnavigations. Club Med was pointing her bow west towards the northwest trade winds - a move which has paid off for Kiwi boats in the last three Whitbread races.

The other three boats in the fleet have been battling to stay in the race - all making stops at Gibraltar for repairs.

PlayStation, the Kiwi-built, American-owned boat, was back racing yesterday after sitting out a 48-hour penalty for accepting outside help.

Steve Fossett's giant cat suffered multiple sail problems on the first two days at sea, but had to wait two days before it could rejoin the fleet.

Polish boat Warta Polpharma stopped at the British naval base on the island for only five hours to fix a broken satellite system, leaving just ahead of PlayStation.

Last night, British entry Team Legato was just outside Gibraltar, pulling into port to repair the mainsail headboard.

Tony Bullimore's crew, who started the race late, will also have to endure the 48-hour penalty.

But the three backmarkers are far from out of the picture. PlayStation and Warta Polpharma were just over 300 miles behind the leaders - concerning Dalton.

"PlayStation have been dead lucky. They're less than 350 miles behind after two days in port, which shows just how slow we've been going," he said.

"At the pace we're going now, we won't finish until July."

But the Kiwi skipper's mind is focused on what is going on immediately around him.

Yesterday morning, Club Med sneaked past American boat Team Adventure to take the lead, but six hours later the French Innovation Explorer was having its turn in front, 15 miles ahead of Dalton.

But Dalton was predicting big changes today, as he and Team Adventure skipper Cam Lewis sail westward, seeking the best of the northwesterly trades.

"It's a classic Whitbread move that we've used to good effect for the last three races," Dalton said. "We were in the lead but it meant nothing. But in the next 15 hours, the pace will go on and we will be off."

Dalton is not the only invalid on board Club Med. Frank Proffit has had stitches in a split eyebrow and Spanish crewman Guillermo Altadill twisted his ankle when he lost his grip up the mast.