Graham Dalton's incident-packed race across the Atlantic ended in the early hours today when Hexagon limped across the finishing line into Torbay, England.
Hexagon, sixth across the line for the first leg of the Around Alone race, was greeted in Torbay by his family and a group of children from the
Brixham Sea Rangers.
Sailing under headsail for the final few days of the race, Dalton said he did not want to dwell on the problems he had encountered.
"Problems can be construed as excuses," he said.
"In this game there are no excuses."
He can look back on a two-week leg in which he held all five places behind race leader and transatlantic winner Bernard Stamm.
In the early stages of the race out of New York, he was pressing hard on Stamm but then his mainsail halyard broke in a squall and he dropped to fifth.
He fixed the halyard by some aerial acrobatics and with his mainsail back up fought his way back to third but by then Stamm and leg runner-up Thierry Dubois had established a sizeable lead on the rest of the fleet.
Five days into the race, a freak gust of wind flattened Hexagon and water cascaded down the companionway.
Dalton was left with the job of pumping out over 1000 litres of water before he could resume the race in earnest.
A 61-hour time penalty, imposed because of Hexagon's late arrival for pre-race scrutineering following a dramatic dismasting on his original qualifying voyage across the Atlantic, meant Dalton will finish last in the open-60 class yachts.
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
