Yachting: Illbruck in Dalton's sights

By JULIE ASH

The round-the-world yacht race is at the halfway mark - and if anyone is going catch illbruck, now is the time.

The fleet set sail from Rio de Janeiro for Miami early tomorrow. The 4450-nautical-mile leg is expected to take 18 days.

It takes the fleet up the coast of Brazil, pasing through the Doldrums and into the North Atlantic trade winds, then past the West Indies and on to Miami.

Instead of dodging icebergs and battling freezing cold, the fleet will sail through windless holes in temperatures in the high 30-deg C.

After four legs of the nine-leg race, German entry illbruck is comfortably at the top of the table with 29 points. Rounding out the top three are Grant Dalton's Amer Sports One on 22 points and Assa Abloy on 20.

Ross Field's News Corp with 19 points, Kevin Shoebridge's Tyco on 18 and djuice on 17 are still in the running.

Further back, time is running out for SEB on 12 points and Amer Sports Too on 7.

Illbruck watch captain Mark Christensen, sailing in his third round-the-world race, said that after the rough ride through the Southern Ocean, this leg was a little more bearable.

"It is easier because the temperature is a lot warmer and there are lighter winds," the Lower Hutt sailor said. "But it is difficult to sleep because it's very hot and uncomfortable.

"The biggest thing is the clouds. At the end of this leg, most people will talk about how a cloud got them."

The light winds caused the clouds to hang around, often becalming the boats or creating thunderstorms and rain.

"The trick is to try to avoid the clouds."

Illbruck has dominated the longer legs, but in the shortest leg so far, from Sydney to Auckland, finished fourth.

"Our aim is for another good result," Christensen said. "One more and the other teams will just about be fighting it out for second."

Dalton agrees that illbruck are going to take some beating, but the advantage of eight new sails makes him confident his boat will be at full pace.

"In the second leg, from Cape Town to Sydney, we were woefully slow in the Southern Ocean, but this time we were bullet fast," he said.

"I think we are getting there with four legs down and five to go, and I think we just have to continue to improve and I think we are improving quicker than anyone else."

Dalton said that in the past this leg had been won by boats which had not featured in other legs.

"Normally with the Southern Ocean I have a picture of the leg in my mind and I know where to go. This leg it is very unusual.

"You can't look at a weather map necessarily and say that is the way to go because of the trade winds and different kinds of pressure. Navigation-wise, it is quite a tricky leg."

After losing their rudder in the last leg, Team News Corp is desperate for a good leg.

Field, the co-skipper, said: "The battle for points is on and we'll be pushing hard in the light airs for even the smallest gains out of our boat."

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