By Suzanne McFadden
After 7000 miles at sea, sailing buddies Mike Garside and Brad Van Liew yelled out to each other as they surfed to the finish-line of the Around Alone race in Auckland yesterday.
It had been 35 days since they had seen each other at the start-line in Cape Town.
But
here, five miles from the finish off Rangitoto Island, the rival skippers found themselves side by side.
Englishman Garside somehow managed to break off the conversation and slide in first - just two minutes and 21 seconds ahead of the American Van Liew.
Back on solid ground, the pair joked about the final 100 miles down the east coast of New Zealand, when the lead in their own personal battle frequently changed hands.
"It was such an intense day, I was out of control trying to catch him," said Van Liew. "Five miles from the finish line we were planing off waves at 15 knots and talking to each other."
Garside was thankful that Van Liew was in sight.
"I got lost. I was expecting to take another two days to get here. I was going to read my instructions on how to get into Auckland tomorrow," he said.
Van Liew: "So he followed me! I had all these great things planned, cutting every corner. And there he was."
A week ago, the 30-year-old American, sailing Balance Bar, had been 500 miles behind Garside.
The Englishman, who won class II for 50ft boats in the first leg, had been leading the class until he struck trouble in the Tasman Sea.
Frenchman JP Mouligne overtook him and won the division for leg two by almost a week.
Garside had his fair share of troubles at sea on his boat, Magellan Alpha.
"I blew the leach lines out of both head-sails, so I had these great lumps of raw sailcloth hanging there.
"I also hadn't done my homework and I didn't take a gyrocompass. My boat went through one crash jibe after another - I went through 10 to 15 a day."
Overall, Garside and Van Liew were the sixth and seventh boats to cross the finish-line.
Russian Viktor Yazykov, who had closed to within 20 miles of the pair, was expected to finish around midnight last night, with another five boats still racing.
