Yachting: Dalton remembers duel with Sir Peter Blake

12.00 pm

As much as he was looking forward to a warm welcome home, Volvo round-the-world yacht skipper Grant Dalton was thinking of the past, not the future, today.

On the third stage of the Ocean Race, Dalton this morning sailed his yacht Amer Sports One into second place behind ASSA ABLOY in the Sydney-Auckland leg of the race. As Amer Sports One rounded the Whangaparoa Peninsula, Dalton said his thoughts were of 12 years ago.

"That was where I caught Peter and passed him," Dalton said, recalling an epic duel with the late Sir Peter Blake during the last round-the-world race.

Blake was killed by Brazilian river pirates on the Amazon River last month.

Although the moment was tinged with sadness, Dalton was ecstatic to be home, and thrilled with his yacht's second placing.

"If you'd said to me in England, 'you'll be second into Auckland, would you be happy with that?', I'd have said 'we won't be second into Auckland, we won't be that far off the fleet at that stage but we'll be coming,' so I'm ecstatic.

"The guys have done a really good job," he said.

Dalton was in some pain during the dash across the Tasman sea, having sustained cracked ribs and crushed vertebrae after a fall while enduring the rigours of the Southern Ocean on the second leg.

There had been some doubts as to whether he would be able to sail the third leg of the race, but a special body cast had been fashioned for him to wear. The new garment only lasted a few days however.

"The guys kept on ribbing me about it so I had to take it off," Dalton said.

"The bones are probably mended but the muscles are gone. I've got to get back in the gym, get back on the road running and get myself physically fit."

Also damaged is Amer Sports One, which had split some bulkheads on the way to Hobart after leaving Sydney at the start of the leg.

"You've always got a lot of maintenance to do, and we'll get on with that," Dalton said.

"We need some rest, so maybe a week at the beach, and get the boat back together. It's very hard to improve the boat's performance but we can work on sails. We'll be doing quite a lot to our sails while we're here."

Amer Sports One's crew will have earned their rest after a tough 24 hours.

After rounding Cape Reinga the wind died away and the current was actually pushing the yacht backwards before being totally becalmed. Dalton's concern was then not whether he could catch ASSA ABLOY but whether the chasing pack would catch him.

"The wind was tricky but that's sailing, it's never easy. I think in the end we did a good job," Dalton said.

"I think this leg, more than any, we started to gel as a team, and that bodes well for the future."

- NZPA