Yachting: Global dream crushed

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Part-time yachtie Richard Thorpe had to pay more than $100,000 for the opportunity to sail around the world.

But a little broken bone in his wrist has crushed the Aucklander's ultimate dream - to round Cape Horn and sail home to New Zealand.

Thorpe was yesterday back in Pakuranga, his left arm in a cast, while his crewmates on board Spirit of Hong Kong were bashing through the Southern Ocean towards Wellington.

The 37-year-old's goal to circumnavigate the globe will have to wait another four years - when he will finally sail the Buenos Aires-Wellington leg in the next BT Global Challenge.

"I'm absolutely gutted," Thorpe said. "Everyone knew I signed up for this race four years ago because, more than anything, I wanted to sail around Cape Horn and into my home port.

"It doesn't seem fair. Twenty people got off the boat at the end of the last leg because they didn't want to do the race any more.

"And here was I, the last person who wanted to get off, and I had to stay on land."

Thorpe was playing a casual game of soccer with friends during the Buenos Aires stopover when he slipped over and put his hand down awkwardly to break the fall.

He wanted to stay on the boat doing mother watch - cooking and cleaning - but doctors ordered that he rest up.

"It's a very lumpy [race] leg, and you've got to have two good hands to hold on with," Thorpe said.

"It's very galling to be told, 'Sorry mate, you're not allowed on board.' "But I realise it was the right decision in the end."

While waiting to get a flight home, Thorpe charged race crew $US5 ($11.40) to sign his cast, and gave the money he raised to the Save the Children fund in Argentina.

He will be waiting in Wellington when the fleet arrives about January 15, and plans to sail the rest of the race to finish in England, where he was born.

Race organisers have told Thorpe that he can sail the third leg in the 2004 race, to complete his circumnavigation.

Crew in the BT Global Challenge - most of them amateur sailors - pay their own way to sail the wrong way around the world in purpose-built 72ft yachts.

"It cost me £24,850 ($83,215) to enter, plus another £1000 insurance - thank goodness," Thorpe said.

"I know it's a lot of money, but it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get to sail around the world. I've always said life isn't a rehearsal - you're only here once."

Thorpe spent four years saving up for the trip, raising money by running up the Sky Tower stairs and cycling around Lake Taupo.

"This is an investment for me. What I learn and gain out at sea, I will use in life," said Thorpe, who had to give up his manager's job with a freight firm to do the race.

Nine New Zealanders started the race from Southampton, but one Wellington woman pulled out after the second leg when she decided that it was not her idea of fun.

Thorpe's boat was the third around Cape Horn earlier this week, and is fifth in the 12-boat fleet. Isle of Man, with Wellington sailor Gavin MacFadyen on board, is leading the race.