Yachting: Harrowing voyage ends well for women

By JULIE ASH

In pouring rain, the all-women crew on Amer Sports Too hobbled into Auckland early yesterday much to the delight of hundreds of spectators who lined the docks at the Viaduct.

Arriving a day-and-a-half after the rest of the fleet, Amer Sports Too, with New Zealanders Sharon Ferris, Bridget Suckling and Keryn Henderson on board, endured a gruelling third leg from Sydney to Auckland after breaking a forestay and damaging the rudder.

Skipper Lisa McDonald was more than grateful to be on dry land.

"It is a great sense of accomplishment that we have managed to overcome each and every obstacle which we have come up against in this leg," she said.

"I am very proud of the whole group."

Amer Sports Too's trouble started just out of Sydney in Bass Strait when the forestay, a mast support that runs from near the top of the mast to the bow, broke, forcing them to stop on an island just north of Hobart to make repairs.

Then on arrival in Hobart, their scheduled 3 1/2-hour stop turned into a nightmare when they discovered their rudder had been extensively damaged after they hit a large fish before their pitstop.

"I was gutted. We didn't realise just how bad it was until the rudder came out," said McDonald.

"It was pretty scary actually. I think we were quite lucky that the winds were good to us in getting to Hobart."

She said that 19 1/2 hours later, Amer Sport Too was en route to Auckland when the New Year was brought in with a spectacular lightning storm.

"We actually had to shut all the ship's power down twice during the night because the lightning was so big and so close and all around us."

Like all the other crews in the eight-boat fleet, the Amer Sports Too women will give their boat a thorough going over before the start of the fourth leg, from Auckland to Rio de Janeiro on January 27.

"We need to assess where we are at with the rudder," McDonald said. "We certainly need to look at the rig and the rest of the boat. There will be checks all round to make sure we are in good shape for the Southern Ocean."

When asked about her husband and Assa Abloy skipper Neal McDonald's victory in the third leg, McDonald replied: "It couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke. You can't beat finishing in Auckland.

"It is absolutely fantastic. Everybody knows about the race, everyone is really fired up."

Results of Leg 3 (Sydney to Auckland)

1st: ASSA ABLOY

2nd: Amer Sports One

3rd: Tyco

4th: illbruck

5th: News Corp

6th: djiuce

7th: Amer Sports Too

DNF: S|E|B

In the overall standings illbruck has a narrow lead over Amer Sports One, News Corp and Assa Abloy. Tyco, SEB, djuice and Amer Sports Too follow.