Yachting: Kiwis retain Kenwood Cup

10:00 AM

After putting their lives at risk to search for a stricken yacht, Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker and his crew have been informed that they have successfully defended the Kenwood Cup in Hawaii.

New Zealand's three-boat team had to wait until a jury hearing this morning to discover if they had overtaken Australia after the dramatic 150-mile final race.

But this morning the race committee announced that the Kiwis will keep the cup for another two years.

Barker's boat, Big Apple III, was given a time compensation after it stopped racing in the middle of Tuesday night to go back to the aid of a distressed American yacht in huge rolling seas.

One of the three Australian boats, Smile, also responded to the mayday call and appealed for a correction to its finishing time. But Smile did not get the promotion to first place in the Molokai Race that it needed in order for the Australians to win the overall regatta.

An exhausted Barker was last night relieved by the jury's decision to credit Big Apple with 2h 38m. That moved the boat up into the top four finishers alongside the other two Kiwi yachts, Seahawk and Air NZ High 5, which sailed exceptionally in the final race.

But Barker was also still angry about putting his crew in danger looking in vain for a boat that accidentally sent out the mayday. Cha-Ching broke the top of its mast in strong 28-knot trade winds and called for help. But before anyone arrived on the scene, the boat began motoring towards Waikiki, without telling the other yachts.

Barker said he did not hesitate to respond to the distress call.

"You don't have a choice. If you hear a mayday call the competition stops and it becomes a case of seamanship - lives are at risk," he said. "We ended up sailing 40 minutes back the wrong way, and then we couldn't find the boat. Of course, we thought the worst.

"It was a shambles. We ended up very close to the surf looking for them. It got a bit nerve-racking, we were putting ourselves at risk looking for the other boat that wasn't even there.

"We were relieved to find out later on that the boat was safe - that it was a mistake - but we were brassed off, too. There should never have been a mayday call."

The Australian yacht sailed up to the spot where Big Apple was searching, and the two boats stood by for two hours until they heard from the Coastguard that the missing boat was safe. They then rejoined the race, finishing well behind the leaders.

Big Apple had been in a good position, about a minute behind Air NZ High 5, when they turned back.

High 5, skippered by Harry Dodson, was the fifth boat across the finish-line, and third on corrected time, just behind fellow Kiwi yacht Seahawk, with Ray Davies at the helm. The New Zealanders started the race 10 points behind the Australians - knowing that all three of their boats had to finish ahead of Australia's.