Yachting: Dalton's huge cat serves up shock in middle of ocean

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Kiwi skipper Grant Dalton's crew had a sharp shock yesterday. They lost control of their monster catamaran and it flipped on to one hull in the middle of the Atlantic.

Club Med, the leader of the non-stop circumnavigation The Race, ran into trouble when a steering cable broke as the boat was tearing towards the Equator at high speeds.

"The boat broached - unusual for a catamaran - with the gennaker up," Dalton said.

"It could have been over right there, but we were lucky, very lucky.

"We didn't break anything but it was a wake-up call for us all."

Further back in the fleet, rival PlayStation suffered yet another mishap when its mainsheet snapped - threatening to bring down the mast.

Skipper Steve Fossett said: "The mainsheet is one of the most loaded points of the boat, with a potential load of 15 tonnes. We were lucky."

After sitting out a 48-hour penalty for receiving outside help to fix torn sails, PlayStation lost more ground to the leading trio when it slowed to half speed to fix the mainsheet.

Yesterday it was more than 600 miles behind Club Med.

"But Dalton was conscious that his advantage could erode with his boat on the verge of entering the Doldrums.

"Our weatherman, 'Clouds' [Roger Badham], is sitting in Australia after only two hours of sleep a night, working around the clock trying to figure out the quickest way through this," Dalton said.

"But it's one of the really fun things about this race - with all the technology, we've basically got a perfect knowledge of the wind. No other race in history has ever been played at such a high-tech level.

"First over the Equator is really important to us. That's when you get into the new breeze."

At 5 pm yesterday, Club Med had a 65-mile lead over its nearest rival, American boat Team Adventure.

Innovation Explorer, the sister ship of the two frontrunners, dropped off the pace yesterday to be 345 miles in arrears.

Team Legato was already becalmed yesterday, although 2000 miles from the Doldrums.

As the boats near the Equator, they are being bombarded by thousands of flying fish.

Team Adventure skipper Cam Lewis said: "This kitty is a fish eater. One hull scares the fish up, then they fly, not realising that 60 feet away is another hull and [between] them a tennis court-sized cheese grater."

Dalton said: "Our boat is covered in sushi. There are fish eyes and blood everywhere."