Yachting: Dalton arrives in Tauranga on third leg of Around Alone

By ROSALEEN MACBRAYNE

Exhausted New Zealand skipper Graham Dalton finally made it to Tauranga tonight at the end of the punishing third leg of the Around Alone yacht race.

Flying the Tauranga Yacht Club's flag, he was relieved to be in his home port, where the now battle-weary 18m Hexagon was built.

Dalton crossed the line at 7.38pm local time, having had to throw a last tack for the final 15 boat lengths to the finish and came up on starboard with full main up.

He was greeted by 60 or so spectator craft as well as the Maori Waka.

He tacked once more for the finish on to port, and crossed the line waving and grinning, before his on shore team hopped on board to help furl the sails.

But a disappointed Dalton, the brother of reknown sailor Grant Dalton, has no hope now of realising his ambition to take out the overall title. A sail maker by trade, he set his sights on sailing single handed around the world back in 1967 when he heard of Sir Francis Chichester's achievements.

Race leader Bernard Stamm has a near-unshakeable grasp on the Around Alone trophy. The Swiss skipper of Bobst Group-Armor lux took line honours in Tauranga last Thursday in record breaking time.

In his wake was Frenchman Thierry Dubois on Solidaires on Friday night.

Dalton has been plagued by bad luck since a broken mast on Hexagon's transatlantic qualifying voyage to the race start in New York meant he missed the deadline for yacht scrutineering.

The penalties he accumulated effectively counted him out of the first leg to England.

On the second leg to Cape Town, auto pilot failures made for difficult racing.

The notorious 7000 mile Southern Ocean leg to Tauranga brought communciation problems and illness to contend with. Christmas was an emotional low point when Dalton was unable to talk to his family because a huge wave had smashed the communications dome on Hexagon's stern, meaning he was unable even to receive weather forecasts.

In the Tasman sea, the New Zealander got into an intense duel with Italian skipper Simone Bianchetti on Tiscali for third place.

After battling through torrential rain and head winds up to 60 knots, Tiscali is running on empty as it nears port. Bianchetti is almost out of water and ran out of food supplies four days ago.

Dalton's sponsor, HSBC Bank, is using the endurance race to raise awareness for its Global Education Programme, a new web-based teaching tool for children world-wide.

The fourth leg of the eight-month Around Alone event begins on February 7, when the boats leave Tauranga for Brazil.